US Congressman. He was born one of five children in West Whiteland Township, in the Province of Pennsylvania, to Richard Thomas Senior and his wife Phoebe Ashbridge Thomas on December 30, 1744. He was educated locally and at home by private teachers. He served in the Revolutionary Army with the rank of Colonel of the First Regiment, Chester County Volunteers. He had served under General George Washington and at the time had been a part of many conferences and conventions including the Provincial Conference Convention that was composed of different county committees which met on June 18, 1776, and at that time appointed the Pennsylvania Delegates who had signed the Declaration of Independence. He then entered politics and served as a Member of the Pennsylvania State Assembly from 1786 to 1789. He was elected and served a term as a Member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the 9th Senatorial District from 1791 to 1793. After his term expired in the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1793 he was succeeded in office by William Ross. He was appointed to the rank of Brigadier-General of Militia by then-Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Mifflin but he declined to accept the role in 1793. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Federalist Party, he then served Pennsylvania's 3rd District while representing the Fourth Congress, Fifth Congress, and Sixth Congress, in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1795, to March 3, 1801. During his time in the United States Congress, he had served alongside the United States Representatives Thomas Fitzsimons, John Wilkes Kittera, Thomas Hartley, Thomas Scott, James Armstrong, Peter Muhlenberg, Andrew Gregg, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg, Daniel Hiester, William Irvine, William Findley, John Smilie, and William Montgomery. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Joseph Hemphill on March 3, 1801. After leaving the United States Congress he engaged in agricultural pursuits and owned many properties including the Whitford Lodge, Whitford Hall, and Ivy Cottage. All were sold at auction after his death. He passed away while living with his daughter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 19, 1832, at the age of 87, and was buried in the now-defunct Friends Western Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was married to Thomzin 'Tammy' Downing at the Uwchlan Meeting House in Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, on October 20, 1774, and the couple had nine children together. She predeceased her husband and passed away in West Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, on May 4, 1817, but her resting place is currently unknown. She was the granddaughter of Thomas Downing, founder of Downingtown, Pennsylvania.