Representative John Andre Hanna

John Andre Hanna (1762 – July 23, 1805) was an American lawyer, slaveholder, and politician who served four terms as a United States Representative from Pennsylvania from 1797 to 1805. He was born in 1762 in Flemington, in the Province of New Jersey, then part of British North America. Little is recorded about his parents or early family life, but he received a classical education that prepared him for collegiate study. He attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and graduated in 1782, an achievement that placed him among the relatively small number of formally educated professionals in the early post-Revolutionary period. He was a slaveholder, reflecting the persistence of slavery in parts of the Mid-Atlantic region during his lifetime.

Following his graduation from Princeton, Hanna pursued legal studies and soon relocated to Pennsylvania, where he would spend the remainder of his public life. He studied law and was admitted to the bar of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1783, commencing the practice of law in Lancaster. Seeking broader opportunities, he moved to Harrisburg and was admitted to the Dauphin County bar in 1785. His legal practice in Harrisburg coincided with the formative years of both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal Union, and he quickly became involved in the political and constitutional debates of the era.

Hanna emerged as an active participant in the ratification of the United States Constitution. In 1787, he served as a delegate to the Pennsylvania state convention called to consider ratification of the federal Constitution, aligning himself with those engaged in shaping the new national framework. The following year, in 1788, he served as secretary of the anti-Federal conference, an assembly of those critical of certain aspects of the new federal system. This dual involvement illustrates his engagement with the intense constitutional controversies of the period and his prominence in Pennsylvania political circles.

Hanna’s state-level political and military career advanced in the early 1790s. He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1791, participating in the legislative affairs of the Commonwealth at a time of rapid institutional development. Concurrently, he held a series of militia commands that reflected both local trust and the unsettled nature of the new republic’s internal security. On December 29, 1792, he was elected lieutenant colonel of the Third Battalion of Dauphin County. He was appointed brigadier general of the Dauphin County Brigade on April 19, 1793, and in that capacity was in command during the Whiskey Rebellion of that year, when western Pennsylvania farmers resisted federal excise taxes. His responsibilities placed him at the intersection of federal authority and local unrest. Later, on April 23, 1800, he was appointed major general of the Sixth Division of Dauphin and Berks Counties, marking the peak of his militia career.

Hanna’s national political career began with an initial setback. He ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1794 but was defeated by Samuel Maclay. He stood again in a rematch in 1796 and this time was successful. He was elected as a representative from Pennsylvania to the Fifth Congress and was subsequently reelected to the four succeeding Congresses. He served continuously in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1797, until his death on July 23, 1805. During these years he sat in Congress through the administrations of Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, participating in the legislative life of the early republic. His service placed him among the generation of lawmakers who helped establish the precedents and practices of the federal legislature in its formative decades.

Hanna died in office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on July 23, 1805, while still serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives. His death made him one of the early members of Congress to die while in service during the period 1790–1899. He was interred in Mount Kalmia Cemetery. His public legacy extended into the next generation through his family: his grandson, Archibald McAllister, later also served as a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, continuing the family’s involvement in national legislative affairs.