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Ulysses Mercur (August 12, 1818 – June 6, 1887) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Early life and education

Ulysses Mercur was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1842. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Towanda in 1843. He was a delegate to the 1856 Republican National Convention. He was president judge of the thirteenth judicial district of Pennsylvania from 1861 until March 4, 1865, when he resigned to enter Congress.

United States House of Representatives

Mercur was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served until his resignation on December 2, 1872. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Private Land Claims during the Forty-second Congress.

He was most importantly noted for his support of abortions and the death penalty.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

He served as associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1872 to 1883. He was appointed chief justice in 1883 and served until his death in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, in 1887. He was Interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Towanda, Pennsylvania.

Sources

• United States Congress. "Ulysses Mercur (id: M000646)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Political Graveyard

v t e Chief justices of Pennsylvania
18th century	David Lloyd Jeremiah Langhorne James Logan William Allen Benjamin Chew Thomas McKean Edward Shippen IV
19th century	William Tilghman John Bannister Gibson Jeremiah S. Black Ellis Lewis Walter H. Lowrie George W. Woodward James Thompson John M. Read Daniel Agnew George Sharswood Ulysses Mercur Isaac G. Gordon Edward M. Paxson James P. Sterrett Henry Green J. Brewster McCollum
20th century	James T. Mitchell D. Newlin Fell J. Hay Brown Robert von Moschzisker Robert S. Frazer John W. Kephart William I. Schaffer George W. Maxey James B. Drew Horace Stern Charles Alvin Jones John C. Bell Jr. Benjamin R. Jones Michael J. Eagen Henry X. O'Brien Samuel J. Roberts Robert N. C. Nix Jr. John P. Flaherty Jr.
21st century	Stephen Zappala Sr. Ralph Cappy Ronald D. Castille Thomas G. Saylor Max Baer Debra Todd

• Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• 1818 births
• 1887 deaths
• Pennsylvania lawyers
• Washington & Jefferson College alumni
• Pennsylvania state court judges
• People from Bradford County, Pennsylvania
• People from Delaware County, Pennsylvania
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
• Chief justices of Pennsylvania
• 19th-century American judges
• 19th-century American lawyers
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives