Representative Samuel Wells Morris

Samuel Wells Morris (September 1, 1786 – May 25, 1847) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Benjamin Wistar Morris, a member of a prominent Pennsylvania family whose descendants were active in public and professional life in the state. Growing up in Philadelphia at the close of the Revolutionary era, Morris came of age in a period of political formation and institutional development that would shape his later legal and legislative career.

Morris pursued higher education at Princeton College (now Princeton University), where he undertook an academic course of study consistent with the classical curriculum of the early nineteenth century. After completing his studies at Princeton, he read law in the traditional manner of the period. He was admitted to the bar and subsequently moved to the northern interior of Pennsylvania, where he commenced the practice of law in Wellsboro, in what is now Tioga County. His relocation from Philadelphia to Wellsboro reflected the broader westward and inland movement of Pennsylvania’s legal and political institutions during the early republic.

In Wellsboro, Morris quickly became a leading figure in the civic and legal life of the community. He served as a judge of the district court, exercising judicial responsibilities in a region that was still being organized and settled. He also served as the first treasurer of Wellsboro County, a role that placed him at the center of local fiscal administration and underscored the trust placed in him by his neighbors and colleagues. In addition, he was appointed postmaster of Wellsboro, holding that federal position from July 1, 1808, to April 1, 1813. As postmaster, he oversaw mail service at a time when the postal system was a critical conduit for commerce, news, and political communication in rural Pennsylvania.

Morris’s growing prominence in local affairs led naturally to service in the state legislature. He became a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he participated in shaping state policy during a period marked by internal improvements, banking questions, and the continuing development of Pennsylvania’s legal and political institutions. His experience as a lawyer, judge, local treasurer, and postmaster informed his legislative work and helped establish his reputation as a capable Democratic leader in the northern tier of the state.

Building on his state-level experience, Morris was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives. He won election to the Twenty-fifth Congress and was subsequently reelected to the Twenty-sixth Congress, serving from September 4, 1837, until March 3, 1841. His service began with a special session convened in September 1837, called in response to the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1837, and thus his congressional tenure coincided with a period of significant economic and political turmoil. As a Democratic representative from Pennsylvania, he served during the administrations of Presidents Martin Van Buren and, briefly at the end of his term, William Henry Harrison, participating in debates over banking policy, federal finance, and other national issues characteristic of the late Jacksonian era.

Morris chose not to be a candidate for reelection in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh Congress, thereby concluding his federal legislative service at the close of the Twenty-sixth Congress on March 3, 1841. After leaving Congress, he returned to Wellsboro, where he resumed his involvement in local and legal affairs. He remained a respected figure in the community he had helped to shape from its early years, drawing on decades of experience in law, local administration, and public office.

Samuel Wells Morris died in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, on May 25, 1847. His career, spanning roles as attorney, judge, local treasurer, postmaster, state legislator, and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, reflected the trajectory of many early nineteenth-century American public servants who combined legal practice with extensive service at multiple levels of government.