Joseph E. McDonald

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title: "Joseph E. McDonald" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1819-births", "1891-deaths", "people-from-butler-county,-ohio", "democratic-party-united-states-representatives-from-indiana", "democratic-party-united-states-senators-from-indiana", "indiana-attorneys-general", "people-from-lafayette,-indiana", "indiana-lawyers", "wabash-college-alumni", "depauw-university-alumni", "burials-at-crown-hill-cemetery", "19th-century-american-lawyers", "19th-century-united-states-representatives", "19th-century-united-states-senators"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._McDonald" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

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

Field	Value
name	Joseph E. McDonald
image name	Joseph E. McDonald - Brady-Handy.jpg
jr/sr	United States
state	Indiana
party	Democratic
term_start	March 4, 1875
term_end	March 3, 1881
preceded	Daniel D. Pratt
succeeded	Benjamin Harrison
office1	Attorney General of Indiana
term_start1	1856
term_end1	1860
governor1	Joseph A. Wright
Ashbel P. Willard
preceded1	James Morrison
succeeded1	James G. Jones
state2	Indiana
district2	8th
term_start2	March 4, 1849
term_end2	March 3, 1851
preceded2	John Pettit
succeeded2	Daniel Mace
birth_name	Joseph Ewing McDonald
birth_date	August 29, 1819
birth_place	Butler County, Ohio, US
death_date
death_place	Indianapolis, Indiana, US
profession	Politician, lawyer, saddler
alma_mater	Wabash College, Asbury University
resting_place	Crown Hill Cemetery and Arboretum, Section 13, Lot 13
::

| name = Joseph E. McDonald | image name = Joseph E. McDonald - Brady-Handy.jpg | jr/sr = United States | state = Indiana | party = Democratic | term_start = March 4, 1875 | term_end = March 3, 1881 | preceded = Daniel D. Pratt | succeeded = Benjamin Harrison | office1 = Attorney General of Indiana | term_start1 = 1856 | term_end1 = 1860 | governor1 = Joseph A. Wright Ashbel P. Willard | preceded1 = James Morrison | succeeded1 = James G. Jones | state2 = Indiana | district2 = 8th | term_start2 = March 4, 1849 | term_end2 = March 3, 1851 | preceded2 = John Pettit | succeeded2 = Daniel Mace | birth_name = Joseph Ewing McDonald | birth_date = August 29, 1819 | birth_place = Butler County, Ohio, US | death_date = | death_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, US | spouse = | profession = Politician, lawyer, saddler | alma_mater = Wabash College, Asbury University | resting_place = Crown Hill Cemetery and Arboretum, Section 13, Lot 13

Joseph Ewing McDonald (August 29, 1819 – June 21, 1891) was an American politician who served as a United States representative and Senator from Indiana. He also served as Indiana's 2nd Attorney General and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for President in 1884.

Life and career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Grave_of_Joseph_Ewing_McDonald_(1819–1891)_at_Crown_Hill_Cemetery,_Indianapolis_1.jpg" caption="McDonald's grave at Crown Hill Cemetery"] ::

McDonald was born in Butler County, Ohio, the son of Eleanor (Piatt) and John McDonald. He moved with his mother to Montgomery County, Indiana, in 1826 and apprenticed to the saddler's trade when twelve years of age in Lafayette, Indiana. He attended Wabash College (Crawfordsville) and graduated from Indiana Asbury University (Greencastle, Indiana; now DePauw University) in 1840. Also in 1840, he worked on the Wabash and Erie Canal. He studied law in Lafayette and was admitted to the bar in 1843, after which he practiced. He was prosecuting attorney from 1843 to 1847 and in the latter year moved to Crawfordsville where he practiced law until 1859.

McDonald was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1851. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1850, and was elected Indiana Attorney General in 1856 and was reelected in 1858. In 1859, He moved to Indianapolis in 1859, where he formed a law partnership with former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Addison Roache. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Indiana in 1864, and was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Public Lands (Forty-sixth Congress). McDonald sought his party's nomination for U.S. President at the 1884 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but was defeated by New York Governor Grover Cleveland.

McDonald died in Indianapolis in 1891; interment was in Crown Hill Cemetery (Section 13, Lot 13).

References

| state=Indiana | district=8 | before=John Pettit | after=Daniel Mace | years=March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851 |state=Indiana |class=1 |before=Daniel D. Pratt |after=Benjamin Harrison |alongside=Oliver P. Morton, Daniel W. Voorhees |years=1875–1881}}

References

1. (1916). "Courts and lawyers of Indiana". Federal Publishing Company.

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