Joshua Van Sant (December 31, 1803 – April 8, 1884) was a United States Congressional representative from Maryland. Van Sant was born in Millington in Kent County, Maryland. He moved with his parents to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1807, and later to Philadelphia in 1812. He attended the common schools before moving to Baltimore, Maryland. He engaged in hat making in 1817, became a journeyman, and continued at that trade until 1835. He was an unsuccessful candidate as a Jackson Democrat (supporting seventh President Andrew Jackson) to the lower chamber Maryland House of Delegates of the General Assembly of Maryland in 1833 and 1834, but served as a delegate to the State constitutional convention (version unratified) in 1836. He also served as U.S. Postmaster of Baltimore from 1839 to 1841, ser