Samuel Sitgreaves

Samuel Sitgreaves (March 16, 1764 – April 4, 1827) was a United States representative from Pennsylvania during the late eighteenth century and an influential Federalist lawyer, legislator, and civic leader. He was born in Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania, where he pursued classical studies before turning to the law. His family connections extended into public life; his sister Julianna married Lewis Allaire Scott and was the mother of John Morin Scott (1789–1858), who later served as mayor of Philadelphia.

Sitgreaves studied law in Philadelphia and was admitted to the bar there on September 3, 1783. After qualifying as an attorney, he moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1786 and began the practice of law. His legal ability and growing reputation in Northampton County soon brought him into public affairs. In 1790 he served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, participating in the framing and revision of the state’s fundamental law during the early years of the republic.

As a member of the Federalist Party representing Pennsylvania, Samuel Sitgreaves contributed to the legislative process during two terms in office. He was elected as a Federalist to the Fourth and Fifth Congresses and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1795, until his resignation in 1798. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, when the new federal government was consolidating its authority at home and defining its position abroad. In the House of Representatives he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents in eastern Pennsylvania.

During his congressional tenure, Sitgreaves played a notable role in one of the early constitutional crises of the United States. In 1798 he was appointed one of the impeachment managers by the House of Representatives to conduct the impeachment proceedings against Senator William Blount, arising from Blount’s alleged conspiracy involving British interests and Spanish territory. That same year, on August 11, 1798, he resigned from Congress after being appointed United States commissioner to Great Britain under the terms of the Jay Treaty. In this diplomatic capacity he dealt with British debt claims and other issues lingering from the American Revolution, helping to implement the treaty’s provisions and to manage sensitive financial disputes between the two nations.

After his involvement in the Blount affair of 1797 and his work on impeachment, Sitgreaves came to be regarded in Congress as an expert on the law of treason. Because of this reputation, he was called upon to lead the federal prosecution of John Fries and others involved in Fries’s Rebellion, an armed tax revolt among Pennsylvania Dutch farmers that took place between 1799 and 1800. Sitgreaves successfully obtained treason convictions from a jury in the initial proceedings, though a second trial and an eventual presidential pardon by John Adams ultimately spared the defendants from execution. His role in the Fries cases underscored both his prominence as a Federalist legal advocate and the contentious nature of federal authority in the early republic.

In the years following his national service, Sitgreaves returned to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he resumed the practice of law and became a leading figure in local civic and economic life. He served as a burgess of Easton from 1804 to 1807 and was instrumental in the cultural development of the community, helping to found the Easton Library, now known as the Easton Area Public Library. He also played a central role in the town’s financial institutions, serving as president of the Easton Bank from 1815 until his death in 1827, and as treasurer of Northampton County from 1816 to 1819. A committed Episcopalian, he founded Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton on February 9, 1819, donated the land for its building, and saw the church consecrated by Bishop William White in October 1820. In the final years of his life he further supported education as a trustee of Lafayette College from 1826 to 1827.

Samuel Sitgreaves died in Easton, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1827. He was initially interred in the churchyard of Trinity Episcopal Church that he had founded. After the establishment of Easton Cemetery in 1849, his remains were reinterred there, reflecting the continued local recognition of his contributions as a lawyer, legislator, diplomat, and civic leader in both state and national affairs.