 william strong (may 6, 1808 &ndash; august 19, 1895) was an american jurist and politician. he was a justice on the supreme court of pennsylvania and an associate justice on the supreme court of the united states. ==early life== strong was born in connecticut and later moved to pennsylvania. he was the cousin of u.s. representative theron rudd strong of new york. william strong attended the munson academy in massachusetts, and graduated from yale university in 1828 phi beta kappasupreme court justices who are phi beta kappa members, phi beta kappa website, accessed oct 4, 2009 before starting his legal practice in reading, pennsylvania. ==house of representatives== in 1846, strong was elected to the united states house of representatives as an abolitionist democrat. strong served two terms in the house, and was the chairman of the u.s. house committee on elections during his second term. he did not seek reelection in 1850, but returned to private practice. ==judicial service== ===supreme court of pennsylvania=== strong was elected to the supreme court of pennsylvania in 1857 as a democrat. strong switched to the republican party soon after taking the bench. he resigned from the court in 1868 to return to a lucrative private practice in philadelphia. ===united states supreme court=== when justice robert c. grier retired from the u.s. supreme court, strong was suggested as a possible replacement. however, president ulysses s. grant was heavily lobbied to nominate former secretary of war edwin stanton. stanton was nominated, and confirmed by the united states senate, but he died just four days later without having served on the court. grant then nominated strong, who was confirmed without a recorded vote and was sworn in on march 14, 1870. justice strong wrote t
1808_births 1895_deaths American_Presbyterians Democratic_Party_members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives George_Washington_University_faculty Members_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_from_Pennsylvania Pennsylvania_Democrats Pennsylvania_Republicans Pennsylvania_lawyers People_from_Reading,_Pennsylvania Supreme_Court_of_Pennsylvania_justices United_States_Supreme_Court_justices United_States_federal_judges_appointed_by_Ulysses_S._Grant Yale_University_alumni