Peter Muhlenberg | |
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United States Senator from Pennsylvania |
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In office March 4, 1801 – June 30, 1801 |
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Preceded by | William Bingham |
Succeeded by | George Logan |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 4th district |
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In office March 4, 1799 – March 4, 1801 |
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Preceded by | John Chapman |
Succeeded by | Isaac Van Horne |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's at-large district |
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In office March 4, 1793 – March 4, 1795 |
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In office March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1791 |
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8th Vice-President of Pennsylvania | |
In office October 31, 1787 – October 14, 1788 |
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Preceded by | Charles Biddle |
Succeeded by | David Redick |
Personal details | |
Born |
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg October 1, 1746 Trappe, Pennsylvania |
Died | October 1, 1807 Gray's Ferry, Pennsylvania |
(aged 61)
Profession | minister, politician, soldier |
Signature |
John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg (October 1, 1746 – October 1, 1807) was an American clergyman, Continental Army soldier during the American Revolutionary War, and political figure in the newly independent United States. A Lutheran minister, he served in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate from Pennsylvania.
Muhlenberg was born to Pennsylvania German parents Anna Maria and Henry Muhlenberg in Trappe, Pennsylvania. He was sent, together with his brothers, Frederick Augustus and Gotthilf Henry Ernst in 1763 to Halle. They were educated in Latin at the Francke Foundations. He left school in 1767 to start as a sales assistant in Lübeck, but returned that same year to Pennsylvania.
He served briefly in the British 60th Regiment of Foot, and also served briefly in the German dragoons, earning the nickname "Teufel Piet" (Devil Pete) before returning to Philadelphia in 1767, where he was given a classical education from the Academy of Philadelphia (the modern University of Pennsylvania). He was ordained in 1768 and headed a Lutheran congregation in Bedminster, New Jersey, before moving to . In 1770 he married Anna Barbara "Hannah" Meyer, the daughter of a successful potter. Together they had six children.