Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg by Joseph Wright, 1790.


Oil on canvas portrait of Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg seated in a large blue chair, with quill and paper in hand.
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Born in Trappe, Pennsylvania, Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg (1750-1801) was the younger brother of famed Revolutionary War general John P.G. Muhlenberg. During the war, Muhlenberg served in the Continental Congress, and then as the speaker of the Pennsylvania legislature from 1780-1783. President of the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention called to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1787, Muhlenberg then served in the first four U.S. Congresses. At first a Federalist, Muhlenberg ran against Thomas Mifflin for governor of Pennsylvania in 1793 and 1796, as a Democratic Republican or "Jeffersonian."