Jonathan Russell

---

title: "Jonathan Russell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1771-births", "1832-deaths", "brown-university-alumni", "members-of-the-massachusetts-house-of-representatives", "ambassadors-of-the-united-states-to-sweden", "politicians-from-milton,-massachusetts", "19th-century-american-diplomats", "democratic-republican-party-united-states-representatives-from-massachusetts", "19th-century-massachusetts-politicians", "19th-century-united-states-representatives", "19th-century-members-of-the-massachusetts-general-court"] description: "American politician (1771–1832)" topic_path: "people/1770s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Russell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1771–1832) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Jonathan Russell
state1	Massachusetts
district1	11th
term1	March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823
preceded1	Benjamin Adams
succeeded1	Aaron Hobart
office2	Chair of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
term_start2	March 4, 1821
term_end2	March 3, 1823
preceded2	Office established
succeeded2	John Forsyth
office3	Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from Mendon
alongside3	Daniel Thurber
term_start3	1820
term_end3	1822
preceded3	Daniel Thurber
succeeded3	Daniel Thurber
office4	U.S. Ambassador to Sweden and Norway
term_start4	January 8, 1814
term_end4	October 22, 1818
preceded4	None (position created)
succeeded4	Christopher Hughes
office5	U.S. Minister to the Court of St James's (Chargé d'Affaires)
term_start5	July 27, 1811
term_end5	June 18, 1812
preceded5	William Pinkney
succeeded5	John Quincy Adams
office6	Collector of the Port of Bristol, Rhode Island
term_start6	March 2, 1801
term_end6	February 23, 1804
preceded6	None (position created)
succeeded6	Charles Collins Jr.
birth_date
birth_place	Providence, Rhode Island Colony, British America
death_date
death_place	Milton, Massachusetts, U.S.
restingplace	Russell Family Cemetery (Milton, Massachusetts)
spouse
children	8, including George and Jonathan
alma_mater	Rhode Island College
profession
party	Democratic-Republican Party
::

|name= Jonathan Russell |image name= |state1=Massachusetts |district1=11th |term1= March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823 |preceded1= Benjamin Adams |succeeded1= Aaron Hobart |office2 = Chair of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs |term_start2 = March 4, 1821 |term_end2 = March 3, 1823 |preceded2 = Office established |succeeded2 = John Forsyth |office3= Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from Mendon |alongside3 = Daniel Thurber |term_start3= 1820 |term_end3 = 1822 |preceded3 = Daniel Thurber |succeeded3 = Daniel Thurber |office4 = U.S. Ambassador to Sweden and Norway |term_start4 = January 8, 1814 |term_end4 = October 22, 1818 |preceded4 = None (position created) |succeeded4 = Christopher Hughes |office5 = U.S. Minister to the Court of St James's (Chargé d'Affaires) |term_start5 = July 27, 1811 |term_end5 = June 18, 1812 |preceded5 = William Pinkney |succeeded5 = John Quincy Adams |office6 = Collector of the Port of Bristol, Rhode Island |term_start6 = March 2, 1801 |term_end6 = February 23, 1804 |preceded6 = None (position created) |succeeded6 = Charles Collins Jr. |birth_date= |birth_place= Providence, Rhode Island Colony, British America |death_date= |death_place= Milton, Massachusetts, U.S. |restingplace= Russell Family Cemetery (Milton, Massachusetts) |spouse= |children= 8, including George and Jonathan |alma_mater= Rhode Island College |profession= |party= Democratic-Republican Party |}} ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/George_Peter_Alexander_Healy_-_Portrait_of_Mrs.Jonathan_Russell(Lydia_Smith,1786–1859)-B.71.39-_Museum_of_Fine_Arts.jpg" caption="Portrait of Lydia Smith"] ::

Jonathan Russell (February 27, 1771 – February 17, 1832) was a United States representative from Massachusetts and diplomat. He served the 11th congressional district from 1821 to 1823 and was the first chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Early life

Jonathan Russell was born in Providence, Rhode Island on February 27, 1771, the son of Jonathan and Abigail (Russell) Russell. He attended the local schools and graduated from Rhode Island College (now Brown University) with a Bachelor of Arts in 1791 and a Master of Arts in 1794. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but did not practice. He engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with Otis Ammidon, importing goods from Europe for sale in America. In 1801 he was appointed U.S. Collector of Customs for the Port of Bristol.

Diplomatic career

In 1811, Russell was appointed by President James Madison as Chargé d'Affaires and in Paris and he acted as Minister to France following the departure of John Armstrong Jr. and prior to the arrival of Armstrong's successor, Joel Barlow. He soon transferred to England, where he was Chargé d'Affaires and acting Minister when war was declared by the United States in 1812. He was Minister to Sweden and Norway from January 18, 1814 to October 16, 1818.

Russell was one of the five commissioners who negotiated the Treaty of Ghent with Great Britain in 1814, which ended the War of 1812. In 1817, Russell received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Brown University. He returned to the United States in 1818 and settled in Mendon, Massachusetts.

He became a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1820, and also served as a delegate to that year's state constitutional convention.

Member of Congress

In November 1820, Russell was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He served in the Seventeenth Congress (March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1823), and was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the first individual to hold this position.

Feud with John Quincy Adams

In 1822, Russell authored a pamphlet accusing John Quincy Adams, one of Russell's fellow negotiators at Ghent in 1814, of having favored British interests in those treaty talks. Russell intended the pamphlet to further Henry Clay's presidential candidacy against Adams in the 1824 election. Adams's responsive pamphlets were so devastating in impugning Russell's veracity that they engendered the phrase "to Jonathan Russell" someone, meaning to refute an attacker's falsehoods so effectively that it destroys the attacker's reputation.

When the Marquis de Lafayette visited the United States in 1824 and 1825, his itinerary while in Massachusetts included an August 23, 1824 visit to Russell's home in Mendon. Russell had known Lafayette since 1811, and decorated his home for a lavish celebration with the anticipation of renewing their friendship. As United States Secretary of State and a longtime friend of Lafayette, Adams was part of Lafayette's traveling party. On the day of the planned visit, Adams humiliated Russell again by having the schedule changed without informing Russell, so that Lafayette bypassed Mendon and traveled directly to Providence.

Later life

Russell died in Milton, Massachusetts on February 17, 1832. He was interred in the family plot on his estate in Milton.

Family

In 1796, Russell married Sylvia Ammidon (1773–1811) of Mendon. In 1817, he married Lydia Smith (1786–1859). He was the father of eight children, four with each wife: Amelia, George, Caroline, Anna, Ida, Geraldine, Rosalie, and Jonathan.

References

References

1. Tremblay, Bob. (April 30, 2016). "Mr. Know-It-All: Mendon man had hand in Treaty of Ghent". [[The Milford Daily News]].
2. (1904). "The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans". The Biographical Society.
3. (2012). "The Encyclopedia of the War of 1812". ABC-CLIO.
4. (1914). "Historical Catalogue of Brown University, 1764–1914". F. A. Bassette Company. Brown University.
5. (1950). "Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949". U.S. Government Printing Office. United States Congress.
6. Metcalf, John G.. (1880). "Annals of the Town of Mendon from 1659 to 1880". E. L. Freeman & Co..
7. Stone, Kurt F.. (December 29, 2010). "The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members". Scarecrow Press.
8. (1888). "The History of Milton, Mass., 1640 to 1887". Rockwell & Churchill.
9. Bartlett, John Russell. (1879). "Genealogy of that Branch of the Russell Family which Comprised the Descendants of John Russell of Woburn, Massachusetts, 1640–1878". Providence Press Company.
10. Downs, Jacques. (1997). "The Golden Ghetto". Hong Kong University Press.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::