Gov. Mahlon Dickerson

• BIRTH 17 Apr 1770 Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey, USA
• DEATH 5 Oct 1853 (aged 83) Succasunna, Morris County, New Jersey, USA
• BURIAL First Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Succasunna, Morris County, New Jersey, USA, MEMORIAL ID 7079592, Photos by Frank McGady, Bio by: RPD2

1st Biography

New Jersey Governor, US Senator, Presidential Cabinet Secretary. Born in Hanover Township, Morris County, New Jersey five years before the Revolutionary War, he graduated from Princeton University in 1789, and after reading law he was admitted to the New Jersey State Bar Association in 1793. During the 1791 to 1794 Whiskey Rebellion, he served as a Private in a New Jersey militia cavalry regiment, and saw no action, but the experience solidified in him the Jeffersonian belief against a standing professional military in favor of citizen-soldier militias in time of need. In 1797 he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he would serve as a Court Judge and a member of the city’s Common Council.

He rose in the political ranks of the state, serving as Pennsylvania’s Adjutant General from 1805 to 1808 and as it’s Attorney General from 1808 to 1809. When his father died in 1810 he returned to his family home in New Jersey to manage the family’s iron mining business, which he then built into one of the most successful in the country, providing ore to over one hundred forges across the state. He became a Court Judge in 1811, and served several terms in the New Jersey State Legislature. The negative effect of the subsequent War of 1812 on the mining and iron industry in the United States convinced him of the necessity of protective high tariffs, which was another belief he advocated for the rest of this political career. In 1815 he was elected as the 7th Governor of New Jersey, succeeding interim Governor William Kennedy.

His two years in office were marked by internal infrastructure improvements in the state, the creation of a fund that eventually was used to establish a public school system, and his advocacy on behalf of the mining and iron industry and for a transportation canal across the state (which eventually became the Delaware and Raritan Canal). It was also marked by his refusal to use government relief to help New Jerseyans distressed by failed crops and severe droughts caused by unusually cold weather in 1816, justifying the inaction due to his Jeffersonian belief of minimal government activity. In 1817 he was elected as a Democratic-Republican Senator to the United States Senate, resigning is Governorship in February of that year.

He would serve the next sixteen years in the Senate, where, as the chairman of the Chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures (and later the Committee of Manufactures) he was one of the leading voices for the protective tariffs he strongly believed in. In 1832 he was one of the contenders for the office of Vice President during President Andrew Jackson’s second election campaign, but he was politically outmaneuvered by Martin Van Buren for the spot on the ticket. He left the United States Senate after his last term expired in 1833, and was then re-elected to the New Jersey State Legislature.

As a reward though for his staunch support of President Jackson in 1834 he was offered the post of Secretary of the Navy, which he accepted. Wholly unfamiliar and inexperienced with the Naval arm of the United States military, he tenure as Secretary, which extended into President Martin Van Buren’s term, was marked by his strong resistance to reforms, advancements and expenditures advocated by those in the Navy and outside to modernize it and keep it competitive with the other navies of the world. His hostility towards proposed advancements led to great delays in what became known as the 1838 to 1842 South Seas Exploring Expedition, a scientific endeavor authorized by Congress in 1836 (when it did finally go it was much altered due to Secretary Dickerson’s obstruction).

The controversy surrounding the Expedition was such that Mahlon Dickerson resigned in June 1838 rather than face a Congressional inquiry about the matter. In 1840 he was appointed and confirmed as Judge of the United States District Court of New Jersey, serving a year in the office. His last political activity was to serve as a delegate to the 1844 New Jersey Constitution Convention, after which he retired to his home in Succasunna, New Jersey, where he passed away at age 83 in 1853. His younger brother, Philemon Dickerson, served as New Jersey’s 12th Governor, and as a United States Congressman. A United States Navy destroyer, the “USS Dickerson” (DD-157) was named in his honor. [1]

2nd Biography

Mahlon Dickerson (April 17, 1770 – October 5, 1853) was an American judge and politician. He was elected Governor of New Jersey as well as United States Senator from that state. He was twice appointed Secretary of the Navy - under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin van Buren. He was the elder brother of New Jersey Governor Philemon Dickerson.

Born in Hanover Township, New Jersey, he was educated by private tutors and graduated with an A.B. from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1789. He then studied the law to be admitted to the bar in 1793. During the Whiskey Rebellion, he served as a private in the Second Regiment Cavalry, New Jersey Detached Militia. Dickerson died in 1853 in Succasunna, New Jersey and is interred at Presbyterian Cemetery, Succasunna.

Career
After his militia service, he settled in Philadelphia, and began practicing in Pennsylvania courts in 1797. He served as a Judge of the Mayor's Court, and as a member of the Philadelphia Common Council in 1799. He was named state commissioner of bankruptcy in 1802, served as adjutant general of Pennsylvania from 1805 to 1808, and as Philadelphia city recorder from 1808 to 1810.

He returned to New Jersey, settling in Morris County in 1810. Elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1811, he served one term. He was law reporter for the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1813 to 1814, and a justice of the same from 1813 to 1815. He was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1815 and served until 1817, having been elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States Senate in 1816.

Dickerson served in the Senate from March 4, 1817 to January 30, 1829, when he resigned, but he was immediately reelected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Ephraim Bateman and served from January 30, 1829, to March 4, 1833, for a total of 16 years of service. Dickerson served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Library during the 15th Congress, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce and Manufactures for the 16th through 18th Congresses and the U.S. Senate Committee on Manufactures from the 19th through 22nd Congresses.

In 1833, upon leaving the Senate, he was elected Member of the New Jersey Legislative Council for Morris County and served as Vice President for that term. In 1834 he declined appointment as Minister to Russia. In June of that year, he was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Andrew Jackson and was reappointed by President Martin Van Buren, serving until June 1838. The destroyer USS Dickerson was named in his honor.

On July 14, 1840, Dickerson was nominated by President Martin Van Buren to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey vacated by William Rossell. Dickerson was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 21, 1840, and received his commission on July 23, 1840. However, Dickerson was appointed as a place holder so his brother Philemon wouldn't have to give up his seat in the closely divided House of Representatives until very near the end of the Congress and the Van Buren Administration, so he served less than one year, resigning on February 16, 1841. He was also a delegate to the New Jersey constitutional convention of 1844.

Societies
During the 1820s, Dickerson was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions. [2]

Inscription
MAHLON DICKERSON
SON OF
JONATHAN & MARY DICKERSON
BORN APRIL 17 1770
DIED OCT 5 1853

Parents
Jonathan Dickerson 1747–1805
Mary Coe Dickerson 1752–1827

Half Siblings
Mary Dickerson Canfield unknown–1830
Silas Dickerson 1771–1807
Philemon Dickerson 1788–1862 [1]

References

[1] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7079592/mahlon-dickerson

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahlon_Dickerson