Caesar A. Rodney | |
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United States Senator from Delaware |
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In office January 24, 1822 – January 29, 1823 |
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Preceded by | Outerbridge Horsey |
Succeeded by | Thomas Clayton |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware's Second At-large district |
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In office March 4, 1821 – January 24, 1822 |
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Preceded by | Willard Hall |
Succeeded by | Daniel Rodney |
6th United States Attorney General | |
In office January 20, 1807 – December 5, 1811 |
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President |
Thomas Jefferson James Madison |
Preceded by | John Breckinridge |
Succeeded by | William Pinkney |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware's At-large district |
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In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1805 |
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Preceded by | James A. Bayard, Sr. |
Succeeded by | James M. Broom |
Member of the Delaware House of Representatives | |
In office January 3, 1797 – January 4, 1803 |
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Member of the Delaware Senate | |
In office January 3, 1815 – January 6, 1818 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Wilmington, Delaware |
January 4, 1772
Died | June 10, 1824 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
(aged 52)
Political party | Democratic-Republican |
Spouse(s) | Susan Hunn |
Residence | Wilmington, Delaware |
Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
Profession | lawyer |
Caesar Augustus Rodney (January 4, 1772 – June 10, 1824) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly, as well as a U.S. Representative from Delaware, U.S. Senator from Delaware, U.S. Attorney General, and U.S. Minister to Argentina.
Rodney was born in Dover, Delaware, son of Thomas Rodney and Elizabeth Fisher. He was the nephew of Caesar Rodney, the signer of the Declaration of Independence who is depicted on the Delaware state quarter. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1789, he studied law under Joseph B. McKean in Philadelphia and was admitted to the bar in 1793. He practiced law in Wilmington and New Castle, Delaware, for the next three years. Rodney married Susan Hunn, the daughter of Captain John Hunn, and their home was "Cool Springs", located in Wilmington.
Rodney served six terms as State Representative, from the 1797 session through the 1802 session. There he became one of the leaders of the Jeffersonian party, now known as the Democratic-Republican Party. Encouraged by Jefferson to compete for the U.S. House against the staunch Federalist James A. Bayard, Rodney ran and won a lively campaign by fifteen votes. While in the U.S. House, he was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, and established a national reputation as one of the managers appointed in January 1804 to prepare the articles of impeachment against John Pickering, judge of the United States District Court for New Hampshire. Pickering was charged with conduct unbecoming a judge, and his acquittal was viewed as strengthening the independence of the judiciary. In December of the same year, Rodney led another such case against Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.