Henry A. P. Muhlenberg

Who was Henry A. P. Muhlenberg?

Henry Augustus Philip Muhlenberg was an American political leader and diplomat. He was a member of the Muhlenberg Family political dynasty.

Henry Augustus Philip Muhlenberg was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on May 13, 1782. Henry was the son of Gotthilf Henry Ernest Muhlenberg and Mary Catherine Hall Muhlenberg. Henry's uncles Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg and John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg were Revolutionary War leaders.

Henry studied theology and was ordained a Lutheran minister in 1802. He served as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, Pennsylvania from 1803 to 1829.

Muhlenberg was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1828 as a Jacksonian Democrat. He remained in Congress from 1829 until his appointment as the first United States Minister to the Austrian Empire on February 8, 1838. He served in Vienna from 1838 to September 18, 1840.

He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Pennsylvania twice in 1835 and 1837. He was nominated by the Democratic Party a third time in 1844, but died before the election took place.

Muhlenberg died in Reading, Pennsylvania on August 11, 1844. Henry's son, Henry Augustus Muhlenberg would later be elected to Congress.