Andrew J. Harlan

Who was Andrew J. Harlan?

Andrew Jackson Harlan was a U.S. Representative from Indiana and later a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He was a cousin of Aaron Harlan.

Born near Wilmington, Ohio, Harlan attended the public schools. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1839 and commenced practice in Richmond, Indiana. He moved to Marion, Indiana, in 1839. He served as clerk of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1842 and a member 1846-1848.

Harlan was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first Congress.

Harlan was elected to the Thirty-third Congress. He served as chairman of the Committee on Mileage. In a Democratic congressional convention at Marion, Indiana in 1854, he was publicly read out of the Democratic Party for voting against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He declined the nomination from the People's Party in 1854 for the Thirty-fourth Congress, and afterward allied himself with the Republican Party.

He moved to Dakota Territory in 1861, where he served as member of the Territorial house of representatives in 1861 and served as speaker.