Representative Charles McClure

Charles McClure (1804 – January 10, 1846) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and a state official who played a notable role in the early development of Pennsylvania’s public-school system. He was born on Willow Grove farm, near Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1804, into a region that was then an important center of education and law in the Commonwealth. Raised in the rural environs of Carlisle, he came of age in the post-Revolutionary generation that increasingly viewed education and internal improvements as central to the state’s progress.

McClure pursued formal education at Dickinson College in Carlisle, one of the leading institutions of higher learning in Pennsylvania at the time. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1824, receiving a classical education that prepared him for the legal profession and public life. Following his graduation, he studied law in Carlisle, where he read under established practitioners in the traditional apprenticeship model then prevailing in American legal training. He was admitted to the bar in 1826 and commenced the practice of law, building a professional reputation that would support his later entry into politics.

McClure’s public career began in state politics. As a young attorney, he became involved in Democratic Party affairs in Pennsylvania during a period marked by debates over banking, internal improvements, and the expansion of democratic participation. He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1835, representing his constituency in the state legislature. In the House, he participated in the legislative work of a state undergoing rapid economic and social change, gaining experience in lawmaking and party organization that would serve as a foundation for his subsequent service in the national government.

Advancing to the federal level, McClure was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress, representing Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives during a time of intense national controversy over issues such as the financial policies following the demise of the Second Bank of the United States and the broader realignment of political parties. He was later elected to the Twenty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative William S. Ramsey, thereby continuing his service in the national legislature. His tenure in Congress placed him among the Democratic lawmakers of the late Jacksonian and early Van Buren era, when questions of federal power, economic policy, and territorial expansion were central to congressional debate.

After his service in Congress, McClure returned to state office and assumed one of the most important executive posts in Pennsylvania government. He served as secretary of state of Pennsylvania from 1843 to 1845, during the administration of Governor David R. Porter. In this capacity, he oversaw a range of administrative and governmental functions at a time when the Commonwealth was refining its institutions and expanding its public responsibilities. As secretary of state, McClure was particularly active in promoting the public-school system of Pennsylvania, supporting the implementation and strengthening of the common-school laws that were transforming education from a largely local and private matter into a more uniform, state-supported system. His advocacy contributed to the consolidation of public education as a central feature of civic life in Pennsylvania.

In his later years, McClure continued his professional and public engagements in western Pennsylvania. He died in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on January 10, 1846. At the time, Allegheny was a growing municipality across the river from Pittsburgh, reflecting the westward shift of population and commerce within the state. Charles McClure was interred in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of the region’s principal burial grounds, where his grave marks the resting place of a lawyer, legislator, congressman, and state officer who participated in the political and educational development of Pennsylvania in the first half of the nineteenth century.