Joseph Anderson (Tennessee politician)
American soldier, judge, and politician, who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee (1757-1837)
Joseph Inslee Anderson (November 5, 1757 – April 17, 1837) was an American soldier, judge, and politician, who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1797 to 1815, and later as the First Comptroller of the United States Treasury. He also served as one of three judges of the Southwest Territory in the 1790s, and was a delegate to the Tennessee state constitutional convention in 1796.
From January to December 1805, Anderson served as President pro tempore of the United States.
Biography
Early life
Anderson was born at White Marsh, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William Anderson and Elizabeth Inslee. He acquired a good education and studied law. In 1776, following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, he enlisted in the 3rd New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Army, and rose to the rank of captain and paymaster in less than two years. Anderson fought at the Battle of Monmouth, and was with the army during its difficult 1777 wintering at Valley Forge. In 1781, he transferred to the 1st New Jersey Regiment, and fought with this unit at the Battle of Yorktown.
At the end of the war, Anderson was discharged with the rank of major. Having studied law before the war, he was admitted to the Delaware bar, and practiced law in Delaware from 1784 to 1791.
The public source identifies “Joseph Anderson (Tennessee politician)” as american soldier, judge, and politician, who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee (1757-1837). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Joseph, Anderson and Tennessee.
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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 Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q925017. VIAF identifies the subject as 6418653. The Library of Congress control number is n86114913. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1757, 1837, 1797 and 1815.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph Anderson (Tennessee politician)” 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.