Andrew Hamilton (lawyer) - Philadelphia Lawyer

Philadelphia Lawyer

On September 7, 1717, Hamilton was appointed as attorney-general of Pennsylvania by Governor William Keith. In March 1721, he was called to the provincial council, and accepted on condition that his duties should not interfere with his practice. Hamilton resigned the office in 1724, and traveled to London to oversee the formal approval of William Penn’s will on behalf of the Penn family.

When a man named Cartledge killed a Seneca man in 1722 in an area outside the boundaries of Philadelphia County, tension rose between the tribes in the area and the colonists. Colonists feared the Seneca would cause violence unless Cartledge could be brought to trial. A new Court Act was deemed necessary and created under the advisement and supervision of Hamilton, as Attorney-General, and the Chief Justice, David Lloyd. Lloyd's older laws were consolidated into the Judiciary Act of 1722, which was passed by Governor Keith on May 22, 1722. One feature allowed the Chief Justice to act as a justice of the peace anywhere in the colony if conditions called for it, a clear response to the Cartledge situation. As the murdered man was a Seneca, colonists feared the powerful Iroquois Confederacy might move against it. Lloyd prepared for a trial on Cartledge. But, the Iroquois wrote to Lloyd on July 30, 1722 urging that Cartledge be forgiven. At once the Assembly ordered one hundred pounds set aside for expenses and one hundred pounds for gifts. They authorized Hamilton as Attorney-General, Judge Hill, and a Mr. Norris to be a committee to visit the Five Nations.

In 1727 Hamilton was appointed prothonotary of the Supreme Court, Master of the Rolls, and Recorder of Philadelphia. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from Bucks County in the same year, chosen speaker in 1729, and re-elected annually until his retirement in 1739, with the exception of a single year, 1733.