Joel R. Poinsett
| Joel Roberts Poinsett | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 15th United States Secretary of War | |
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In office March 7, 1837 – March 5, 1841 |
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| President |
Martin Van Buren William Henry Harrison |
| Preceded by | Lewis Cass |
| Succeeded by | John Bell |
| United States Minister to Mexico | |
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In office June 1, 1825 – 1829 |
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| Appointed by | John Quincy Adams |
| Preceded by | John H. Robinson (as Special Diplomatic Agent) |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Butler (as Chargé d'affaires) |
| Member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina's 1st district | |
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In office March 4, 1821 – March 7, 1825 |
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| Preceded by | Charles Pinckney |
| Succeeded by | William Drayton |
| Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from St. Philip's and St. Michael's Parish | |
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In office November 22, 1830 – December 17, 1831 |
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In office November 25, 1816 – December 18, 1819 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 2, 1779 Charleston, South Carolina |
| Died | December 12, 1851 (aged 72) Stateburg, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Izard Pringle |
| Profession | Physician, Botanist, Politician |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Joel Roberts Poinsett (March 2, 1779 – December 12, 1851) was an American physician and diplomat. He was the first U.S. agent in South America, a member of the South Carolina legislature and the United States House of Representatives, the first United States Minister to Mexico, a Unionist leader in South Carolina during the Nullification Crisis, Secretary of War under Martin Van Buren, and a co-founder of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts (a predecessor of the Smithsonian Institution).
Joel Roberts Poinsett was born in 1779 in Charleston, South Carolina, to a wealthy physician, Dr. Elisha Poinsett, and his wife Katherine Ann Roberts. He was educated in Connecticut and Europe, gaining expertise in languages, the law, and military affairs.
In 1800 Poinsett returned to Charleston hoping to pursue a military career. His father did not want his son to be a soldier. Hoping to entice his son to settle into the Charleston aristocracy, Dr. Poinsett had his son study law under Henry William DeSaussure, a prominent lawyer of Charleston. Poinsett was not interested in becoming a lawyer, and convinced his parents to allow him to go on an extended tour of Europe in 1801. DeSaussure sent with him a list of law books including Blackstone's Commentaries and Burn’s Ecclesiastical Law, just in case young Poinsett changed his mind regarding the practice of law.
Beginning in 1801, Poinsett traveled the European continent. In the spring of 1802, Poinsett left France for Italy traveling through the Alps and Switzerland. He visited the cities of Naples and hiked up Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. In the spring of 1803 he arrived in Switzerland and stayed at the home of Jacques Necker and his daughter, Madame de Stael. Necker, French Finance Minister from 1776 to 1781 under Louis XVI, had been driven into exile by Napoleon I.
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