Joel Parker (November 24, 1816 – January 2, 1888) was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who served two non-consecutive terms as the 20th governor of New Jersey from 1863 to 1866 and 1872 to 1875.

In 1833, his father became cashier of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Bank of Trenton and Joel was sent to Monmouth to tend the family's recently purchased farm.

[2] After graduation, he worked in the law office of Henry W. Green, who later became chief justice and chancellor of the New Jersey courts.

[2] Parker became active in Democratic Party politics in Freehold, campaigning for Martin Van Buren in 1840 and James K. Polk in 1844.

[2] In May 1863, Parker condemned the arrest, trial and deportation of Copperhead Clement Vallandigham, saying the measures "were arbitrary and illegal acts.

Because a peace agreement would end the war and allow the South to remain outside the Union, Republicans nationwide condemned them as nothing less than an endorsement of secession.

In November, Parker attended the ceremonies dedicating the Soldiers' National Cemetery at which Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

[2] When a levy of 12,000 men was made on New Jersey in 1864, to make good a supposed deficiency in her former quotas, he obtained from President Lincoln the withdrawal of the order.

[3] In his first annual address, he criticized the Emancipation Proclamation but agreed with Lincoln that it was the duty of state authorities to "furnish the men necessary to destroy the armed power of the rebellion.

[2] Parker's criticisms of the Lincoln administration reached their peak in August 1864, when he delivered a speech in his native Freehold calling for a peaceful settlement of the war.

[2] While he continued to supply the necessary troops to repel Confederate invasions of the Union, Parker now blamed Republicans for obstructing efforts to end the war and continued to criticize efforts to abolish slavery, including the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which he found inferior to gradual emancipation by the states.

[2] Without the ongoing war, his second term focused more heavily on domestic policy, including corruption in state government.

[2] They included salary adjustments and an oath for legislators, guarantees for free education, prohibition on the passage of certain special or local laws, and a line-item veto in appropriation bills.