Richard Jackson

Richard Jackson Jr. (often referred to simply as Richard Jackson) was an American merchant and politician who served as a United States Representative from Rhode Island and was a member of the Federalist Party. As a member of the Federalist Party representing Rhode Island, Richard Jackson contributed to the legislative process during four terms in office. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, during the early national era of the United States, when the young republic was consolidating its institutions and political parties were emerging in their modern form.

Jackson was born in 1764, in Providence, in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He came of age during the final decade of British colonial rule and the American Revolution, experiences that shaped the political and commercial environment in which he would later build his career. Although detailed records of his early education are limited, he was educated in local schools and entered mercantile pursuits at a young age, reflecting the strong maritime and trading traditions of Providence and Rhode Island more broadly.

Before entering national politics, Jackson established himself as a successful merchant and became active in civic and commercial affairs in Rhode Island. His business activities placed him among the rising commercial class that was closely aligned with Federalist principles of strong national government, stable finance, and support for commerce and industry. This background in trade and business informed his later legislative interests and his approach to representing a state whose economy was heavily dependent on maritime commerce and manufacturing.

Jackson was elected as a Federalist to the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island. He served four terms in Congress, sitting in the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Congresses, which met from March 4, 1807, to March 3, 1815. During these years he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents at a time marked by intense partisan conflict between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, as well as by mounting tensions with Great Britain that culminated in the War of 1812. As a Federalist, he was associated with the party’s emphasis on commercial interests, maritime protection, and skepticism toward the war, positions that resonated strongly in New England. In Congress, he contributed to debates over trade restrictions, embargoes, and wartime policy, reflecting the concerns of Rhode Island’s mercantile community.

Jackson’s congressional service coincided with major national developments, including the Jefferson and Madison administrations, the Embargo Act and related trade legislation, and the onset and prosecution of the War of 1812. Representing a small but economically significant state, he was part of the broader Federalist effort to safeguard New England’s commercial economy during a period of international conflict and domestic political realignment. His four consecutive terms in office underscored the confidence his constituents placed in his ability to articulate and defend Rhode Island’s interests in the national legislature.

After leaving Congress in 1815, Jackson returned to private life and his business pursuits in Rhode Island. He remained a respected figure in his community, identified with the generation of Federalist leaders who had guided New England through the early decades of the republic. Richard Jackson Jr. died in 1838, closing a life that spanned from the late colonial era through the formative years of the United States and that was marked by sustained public service on behalf of Rhode Island in the House of Representatives.