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Charles Jared Ingersoll

Ingersoll, Charles Jared (ĭngˈgərsôl) [key], 1782–1862, American political leader and author, b. Philadelphia; son of Jared Ingersoll (1749–1822). In several influential publications, including Inchiquin: The Jesuit's Letters on American Literature and Politics (1810), he argued for more intellectual independence and national self-sufficiency. Admitted to the bar in 1802, Ingersoll served (1813–15) as a Jeffersonian in Congress and was (1815–29) U.S. district attorney for Pennsylvania. He returned to Congress (1841–49), where he was chairman of the committee on foreign affairs and was influential in securing the annexation of Texas. Besides several plays, including Julian: A Tragedy (pub. 1831), he wrote a four-volume history of the War of 1812 (1845–52) and his recollections (1861).

See biography by W. M. Meigs (1897, repr. 1970).


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