Morton McMichael

McMichael was born on October 2, 1807, in Burlington County, New Jersey, to John and Hannah McMichael. His father was a soldier during the War of 1812 and worked with Joseph Bonaparte, the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte and former King of Spain. His family moved to Philadelphia when he was young and he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He read law under David Paul Brown and William M. Meredith and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1827, ==Newspaper career==

McMichael became an editor of The Saturday Evening Post in 1826. From 1831 to 1836 he was editor-in-chief of the Saturday Courier. In 1836 he founded the Saturday News along with Louis A. Godey and Joseph C. Neal. ==Political career==

McMichael served in a number of political positions throughout his life. He began his service as a police magistrate and then as an Alderman in the Spring Garden neighborhood of Philadelphia. McMichael began his political career in 1838 as a Jacksonian Democrat but drifted away from that ideology and became a Democrat, a Whig in 1843 and a Republican in 1857. McMichael was attracted to the Republicans' strong stance on high tariffs and less so on their abolitionist beliefs. In 1843 he was elected Sheriff of Philadelphia County, serving until 1846. His newspaper also argued for a new street numbering system to replace the city’s confusing address system, which often numbered houses in the order they were built rather than by location and resulted in fractional house numbers along streets. Thoroughout the American Civil War, He saw the succession of the South as treason and that slavery was incompatible with re-consolidation of the Union and Confederacy. After the assassination of Lincoln, he became a strong advocate for Republicanism and anti-slavery. In 1865, McMichael defeated Democrat Daniel M. Fox by 5,000 votes and was elected as the Mayor of Philadelphia. While he was mayor, the Fairmount Park Commission was established. McMichael served on the board and, once his term ended in 1869, was appointed as president of the commission, serving until his death. He was offered a position as minister to Great Britain by President Ulysses S. Grant but declined. ==Personal life==

McMichael married Mary Estell (1822-1877) and had four children: • Morton McMichael Jr. served as Lt. Colonel under General John Reynolds during the American Civil War. He served as a senior staff member in the Army of The Potomac under Reynolds at the Battle of Gettysburg, where Gen. Reynolds was killed in action during siege. McMichael Jr. became a prominent banker after the war, serving as President of the First National Bank, and of The Penn Club from 1888 to 1904. • William McMichael served during the American Civil War. He was captured at the Battle of Shiloh and endured four months as a prisoner of war before being exchanged. He rose to the rank of Brevet Colonel and served as adjutant-general under Gen. Henry Halleck. After the war, he embarked on a legal career. He served as Minister to Santo Domingo, Asst. Attorney General, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and as a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners. He was also President of the Law Academy of Philadelphia. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1867. He served as president of the Union League after Horace Binney. and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery. ==Legacy==

A statue of McMichael, unveiled in 1882, sits in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park at Sedgely Drive and Lemon Hill Drive. Several things in Philadelphia were named in his honor, including: • McMichael Park in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia • The Morton McMichael Elementary School in the Philadelphia public school system • The McMichael Room in the Union League building ==References==