James Pollock

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James Pollock (September 10, 1811 – April 19, 1890) was the governor of the State of Pennsylvania from 1855 to 1858.

1 Biography
2 Political career
3 Memorialization
4 Sources

[edit] Biography

Pollock completed his secondary education at the College of New Jersey and practiced law in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, before being elected its district attorney in 1836.

After a brief stint as a judge, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1844, where he pressed for the completion of a transcontinental railroad and telegraph line.

He returned to the judiciary in Pennsylvania's Eighth District in 1850.

[edit] Political career

Pollock was nominated by the Whig Party for the governor's race in 1854, amid controversy surrounding the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

During his administration, Pennsylvania began to sell its publicly held railroads and canals, and he helped steer the state through the financial Panic of 1857. He chaired the Pennsylvania delegation to the Washington Peace Convention in 1861, and was appointed director of the Philadelphia mint that same year. While leading the United States Mint, he was instructed by the Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase in a letter to come up with suggestions for including "the trust of our people in God" in a motto on America's coins. Pollock proposed a number of mottos, including "Our Trust Is In God" and "God Our Trust," which Chase ultimately revised to "In God We Trust."

[edit] Memorialization

Pollock has a residence area, dining commons, and campus road named for him on the University Park campus of Penn State University, the institution which received its charter during his term as governor.

[edit] Sources

Preceded by Henry Frick	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 29th congressional district 1844-1849	Succeeded by Joseph Casey
Preceded by William Bigler	Governor of Pennsylvania 1855–1858	Succeeded by William Fisher Packer