Daniel Dougherty
American lawyer
Daniel Dougherty (October 15, 1826 – September 5, 1892) was a Philadelphia lawyer involved in Democratic Party politics. Known as a great orator, he is most famous for having delivered the nominating speeches for Winfield Scott Hancock at the 1880 Democratic National Convention and for Grover Cleveland at the 1888 convention.
Upbringing and law career
Dougherty was born in Philadelphia in 1826, the son of an Irish-born surveyor and his native-born wife. From a young age, Dougherty gained a reputation as a natural orator; he made his first political speech in 1847, before he was old enough to vote. Dougherty's family was poor, and he left home at a young age after his mother died and his father remarried to a woman with whom Dougherty did not get along. After several years as a "careless youth," he began to study law at the age of eighteen in the law office of William and Samuel Badger. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1849.
His powers of oratory helped him as a lawyer. He achieved an acquittal in a homicide case early in his career when the defendant was widely perceived to be guilty; the result was largely attributed to Dougherty's speech to the jury. The verdict swelled Dougherty's reputation and helped him to build a successful law practice.
The public source identifies “Daniel Dougherty” as american lawyer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Daniel, Dougherty and American.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q16062284. VIAF identifies the subject as 75316604. The Library of Congress control number is n85367639. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1826, 1892, 1880 and 1888.
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This entry incorporates text from “Daniel Dougherty” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.