John Schwartz

John Schwartz (October 27, 1793 – June 20, 1860) was a 19th-century American merchant, iron manufacturer, and Anti-Lecompton Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, serving from 1859 until his death in 1860. He was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, to Philip Schwartz and Maria Magdalena (Magaretha) Schlosser. His family background was steeped in the early military history of the United States: his father, Philip Schwartz, served in the Revolutionary War and was present at Valley Forge, and documents relating to his mother, including her birth and wedding certificates, have been displayed by the National Archives and sold as prints, reflecting the historical interest in the family’s early American roots.

As a young man, Schwartz was apprenticed to a merchant in Reading, Pennsylvania. This apprenticeship provided him with practical training in commerce at a time when Reading was an important regional center of trade and industry. At the expiration of his apprenticeship, he became a partner in the business, marking his early emergence as a merchant in the growing economy of southeastern Pennsylvania. His commercial experience laid the foundation for his later prominence in manufacturing and public life.

During the War of 1812, Schwartz served in the United States forces and attained the rank of major. His military service during this conflict, which was widely regarded as a second war of independence, contributed to his standing in the community and connected him to the generation of Americans who defended the young republic in its early decades. This experience also complemented his family’s tradition of military service established by his father in the Revolutionary War.

After the war, Schwartz became engaged in the manufacture of iron products, an industry that was central to Pennsylvania’s economic development in the first half of the nineteenth century. He operated at Flying Hills Furnace in Flying Hills, Pennsylvania, where he was associated with one of the early uses in the Americas of the Irish double furnace method. This technique, which used less wood to maintain kiln temperatures, represented an important innovation in iron production, improving efficiency at a time when fuel and resource management were critical to industrial growth. Through his work in iron manufacturing, Schwartz contributed to the broader expansion of Pennsylvania’s industrial base.

Schwartz’s prominence in business and his standing in the community eventually led him into politics. Identifying with the Democratic Party but breaking with its pro-slavery leadership, he became associated with the Anti-Lecompton Democrats, a faction that opposed the Lecompton Constitution and the extension of slavery into Kansas Territory. In this capacity he aligned himself with northern Democratic opponents of the policies of President James Buchanan, a fellow Pennsylvanian, and with others who resisted the pro-slavery direction of the national party in the 1850s.

In 1858, Schwartz was elected as an Anti-Lecompton Democrat to the Thirty-sixth Congress, representing Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives. His term began on March 4, 1859, and he served until his death in 1860. As a member of the Anti-Lecompton Democrat Party representing Pennsylvania, he contributed to the legislative process during one term in office. His service in Congress occurred during a significant and turbulent period in American history, as sectional tensions over slavery and states’ rights intensified in the years immediately preceding the Civil War. Schwartz stood firm against fellow Pennsylvanian James Buchanan, then the Democratic President, and against influential Democratic figures such as Clancy Jones, taking a northern, anti-slavery position that placed him at odds with much of his party’s leadership.

Schwartz’s outspoken independence and willingness to challenge his own party’s stance on slavery drew strong reactions. In local Congressional printing office publications, he was compared to John Brown as a “traitor” to American values by critics who opposed his positions, a reflection of the heated rhetoric of the time. Despite such attacks, contemporaries in Congress remembered him as a man of convictions who combined firmness of principle with personal kindness and a warm spirit, showing respect toward colleagues across political divides. At the close of the congressional session, Senator Charles Sumner, a leading antislavery voice, recalled Schwartz in this manner, underscoring the regard in which he was held by those who shared his opposition to the expansion of slavery.

John Schwartz died in office in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 1860, while still serving in the Thirty-sixth Congress. His death placed him among the members of the United States Congress who died in office between 1790 and 1899. He was interred in Charles Evans Cemetery in Reading, Pennsylvania, reflecting his long association with that city as a merchant and manufacturer. In addition to his burial in Reading, a cenotaph in his honor was erected at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., a customary tribute to members of Congress who died while in service to the nation.