Theodore Frelinghuysen
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(1787–1862)
Theodore Frelinghuysen (March 28, 1787–April 12, 1862) was a American politician, serving as New Jersey's Attorney General, United States Senator, and Mayor of Newark, New Jersey before running for as a candidate for Vice President with Henry Clay on the Whig ticket in the election of 1844.
He became Attorney General of New Jersey in 1817, resigning in 1829 to become a United States Senator, serving in that capacity until 1835. He was Mayor of Newark, New Jersey from 1837 until 1838.
He was a Whig vice-presidential candidate in 1844. He then served as president of the American Bible Society from 1846 until 1862. He was the seventh President of Rutgers College between 1850 and 1862.
Frelinghuysen served as the president of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the American Bible Society, among other Christian organizations. His strong religious convictions greatly influenced his politics, and he was widely known as the "Christian Statesman." As a U.S. Senator, he led the opposition to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. His six-hour speech against the Removal Act was delivered over the course of three days, and warned of the dire consequences of the policy: "Let us beware how, by oppressive encroachments upon the sacred privileges of our Indian neighbors, we minister to the agonies of future remorse." Frelinghuysen was chided for mixing his evangelical Christianity with politics, and the Removal Act was passed.1
He was the son of Frederick Frelinghuysen, uncle of Frederick T. Frelinghuysen and great-great-grandfather of Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.. Current New Jersey Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen is a direct descendant.
Notes and references
- Note 1: Anthony F.C. Wallace, The Long, Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians (New York: Hill and Wang, 1993), pp. 68-9, and Francis Paul Prucha, The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians, Volume I (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984), pp. 204-5.
External links
- Congressional biography (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000373)
- Rutgers University (http://www.rutgers.edu)
- Leadership on the Banks: Rutgers' Presidents, 1766–2004 (http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/university_archives/leaders.shtml)
| Preceded by: John Tyler | Whig Party Vice Presidential candidate 1844 | Succeeded by: Millard Fillmore |
| Preceded by: Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck | President of Rutgers University 1850–1862 | Succeeded by: William H. Campbell This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. |