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Caesar A. Rodney
United States Minister to Argentina
In office December 27, 1823 – June 10, 1824
President	James Monroe
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	John Forbes (acting)
United States Senator from Delaware
In office January 24, 1822 – January 29, 1823
Preceded by	Outerbridge Horsey
Succeeded by	Thomas Clayton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware's at-large district
In office March 4, 1821 – January 24, 1822 2nd seat
Preceded by	Willard Hall
Succeeded by	Daniel Rodney
In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1805 sole seat
Preceded by	James A. Bayard
Succeeded by	James M. Broom
6th United States Attorney General
In office January 20, 1807 – December 5, 1811
President	Thomas Jefferson James Madison
Preceded by	John Breckinridge
Succeeded by	William Pinkney
Personal details
Born	(1772-01-04)January 4, 1772 Dover, Delaware Colony, British America
Died	June 10, 1824(1824-06-10) (aged 52) Buenos Aires, United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse	Susan Hunn
Education	University of Pennsylvania (BA)

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.

Early life and family

Rodney was born in Dover in the Delaware Colony, 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.

Professional and political career

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 impeachment managers appointed in January 1804 to prepare and prosecute the articles of impeachment in the impeachment proceedings 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 served as an impeachment manager in another such case against Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

After serving one term in the U.S. House from March 4, 1803, until March 3, 1805, he was defeated for reelection in 1804 by Bayard, by nearly as close a vote. The two men, always vigorous political opponents, remained good friends throughout their tumultuous political careers.

While Rodney spent most of his legal career in public service, he took on at least one notable case as a private advocate during the year before his appointment as Attorney General. In 1806, he made an appearance before the Mayor's Court of Philadelphia to defend the Philadelphia Cordwainers against a common law charge of conspiracy. The conspiracy charge was instituted by retail shoe merchants, based on attempts by the journeyman shoe and boot makers, to organize for the purpose of setting their wages and hours. Rodney was unsuccessful in attaining an acquittal for the workers.

Attorney general

On January 20, 1807, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson named Rodney his U.S. Attorney General. He served in that office for the remainder of Jefferson's term and for nearly three years in President James Madison's first term. As Attorney General, Rodney participated as a member of the prosecution during the second treason trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr. Rodney resigned December 5, 1811, unhappy about being passed over for a U.S. Supreme Court appointment. During the War of 1812, he was captain of a rifle corps which became the Delaware 1st Artillery. They served at Fort Union in Wilmington, on the Canadian frontier, and assisted in the defense of Baltimore in 1814.

Later political activity

Rodney returned to politics, serving in the Delaware State Senate for three sessions from 1815 through 1817. In 1820 he was again elected to the U.S. House, serving from March 4, 1821, until January 24, 1822, when he resigned upon being elected to the U.S. Senate. He served there only a year as well, resigning January 29, 1823, to accept a diplomatic appointment. During that brief year Rodney was Delaware's only Democratic-Republican U.S. Senator ever.

Along with John Graham and Theodorick Bland, Rodney was selected by President James Monroe in 1817 for a special diplomatic mission to South America, the South American Commission of 1817–1818. Rodney was appointed to lead the commission to investigate whether the newly formed South American republics should be recognized. He strongly advocated such recognition and, with Graham, published his findings in 1819 as Reports on the Present State of the United Provinces of South America. This report is thought to have contributed much to the thinking behind the policy that eventually became expressed as the Monroe Doctrine. It also resulted in Rodney's 1823 appointment as United States Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, now known as Argentina. He remained at this posting until his death.

Death and legacy

Rodney died June 10, 1824, in Buenos Aires, and was buried there in the Victoria district British Cemetery. His remains were moved to a crypt at St. John's Cathedral in Buenos Aires. The crypt is at the peristyle of the entrance of the cathedral.

Almanac

Elections were held the first Tuesday of October. Members of the General Assembly took office on the first Tuesday of January. State Representatives were elected for one year. U.S. Representatives took office March 4 and have a two-year term. The General Assembly chose the U.S. Senators, who also took office March 4, but for a six-year term. In this case the General Assembly failed to fill the position for nearly a year.

References

1. Rasmussen, Wayne D. (2006). "Diplomats and Plant Collectors: The South American Commission, 1817–1818". In Gerber, James; Lei Guang (eds.). Agriculture and Rural Connections in the Pacific, 1500–1900. The Pacific World: Lands, Peoples and History of the Pacific, 1500–1900. Vol. 13. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate Publishing Company. pp. 53–62. ISBN 978-0-7546-3978-7.
2. "Historias, Instituciones, Personajes". Archived from the original on December 9, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2018.

• Commonwealth v. Pullis ("The Philadelphia Cordwainers' Case"), Mayor's Court of Philadelphia (1806)
• Conrad, Henry C. (1908). History of the State of Delaware. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wickersham Company.
• Martin, Roger A. (1995). Memoirs of twenty-two years in the Delaware State Senate. Newark, Del.: Roger A. Martin. OCLC 34016846.
• Martin, Roger A. (2003). Delawareans in Congress. Middletown, Del.: Roger A. Martin. ISBN 0-924117-26-5. OCLC 56794580.
• Munroe, John A. (1954). Federalist Delaware 1775–1815. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. OCLC 1867660.
• Read, William T. (1853). Biographical Sketch of Caesar Augustus Rodney. Wilmington, Del.: C. P. Johnson. OCLC 13813351.
• Ryden, George Herbert (1943). Biographical Sketches of Caesar Rodney (the Signer) Thomas Rodney and Caesar A. Rodney. Dover, Del.: Public Archives Commission. OCLC 8230494.
• Scharf, John Thomas (1888). History of Delaware 1609–1888. 2 vols. Philadelphia: L. J. Richards & Co. ISBN 0-87413-493-5.
• Wilson, W. Emerson (1969). Forgotten Heroes of Delaware. Cambridge, Mass.: Deltos Publishing Company. OCLC 56456.

External links

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard

v t e United States attorneys general
Randolph Bradford Lee Lincoln Breckinridge Rodney Pinkney Rush Wirt Berrien Taney Butler Grundy Gilpin Crittenden Legaré Nelson Mason Clifford Toucey Johnson Crittenden Cushing Black Stanton Bates Speed Stanbery Evarts Hoar Akerman Williams Pierrepont Taft Devens MacVeagh Brewster A. Garland Miller Olney Harmon McKenna Griggs Knox Moody Bonaparte Wickersham McReynolds Gregory Palmer Daugherty Stone Sargent W. D. Mitchell Cummings Murphy Jackson Biddle T. C. Clark McGrath McGranery Brownell Rogers Kennedy Katzenbach R. Clark J. N. Mitchell Kleindienst Richardson Saxbe Levi Bell Civiletti Smith Meese Thornburgh Barr Reno Ashcroft Gonzales Mukasey Holder Lynch Sessions Barr M. Garland

v t e United States senators from Delaware
Class 1	Read Latimer White Horsey C. A. Rodney T. Clayton McLane Naudain R. Bayard J. M. Clayton Wales J. Bayard Jr. Riddle J. Bayard Jr. T. Bayard Sr. Gray Ball H. du Pont Wolcott T. C. du Pont T. Bayard Jr. Townsend Tunnell Williams Roth Carper Blunt Rochester (elect)
Class 2	Bassett Vining J. Clayton Wells J. Bayard Sr. Wells Van Dyke D. Rodney Ridgely J. M. Clayton T. Clayton Spruance J. M. Clayton Comegys Bates W. Saulsbury Sr. E. Saulsbury Higgins Kenney Allee Richardson W. Saulsbury Jr. Ball T. C. du Pont Hastings Hughes Buck Frear Boggs Biden Kaufman Coons

v t e Members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware
Vining Patten Latimer Bayard C. A. Rodney Broom Van Dyke Ridgely Cooper Clayton McLane Hall D. Rodney Johns Milligan Robinson G. B. Rodney J. W. Houston Riddle Cullen Whiteley Fisher Temple Smithers Nicholson Biggs Lofland J. Williams Martin Lore Penington Causey Willis Handy J. H. Hoffecker W. O. Hoffecker Ball H. A. Houston Burton Heald Brockson Miller Polk Layton Boyce R. G. Houston Adams Stewart Allen G. S. Williams Traynor Willey Boggs Warburton McDowell Haskell Roth du Pont Evans Carper Castle Carney Blunt Rochester McBride (elect)

v t e Cabinet of President Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
Secretary of State	James Madison (1801–1809)
Secretary of the Treasury	Samuel Dexter (1801) Albert Gallatin (1801–1809)
Secretary of War	Henry Dearborn (1801–1809)
Attorney General	Levi Lincoln Sr. (1801–1805) John Breckinridge (1805–1806) Caesar Augustus Rodney (1807–1809)
Secretary of the Navy	Benjamin Stoddert (1801) Robert Smith (1801–1809)

v t e Cabinet of President James Madison (1809–1817)
Secretary of State	Robert Smith (1809–1811) James Monroe (1811–1817)
Secretary of the Treasury	Albert Gallatin (1809–1814) George W. Campbell (1814) Alexander J. Dallas (1814–1816) William H. Crawford (1816–1817)
Secretary of War	William Eustis (1809–1813) John Armstrong Jr. (1813–1814) James Monroe (1814–1815) William H. Crawford (1815–1816)
Attorney General	Caesar Augustus Rodney (1809–1811) William Pinkney (1811–1814) Richard Rush (1814–1817)
Secretary of the Navy	Paul Hamilton (1809–1813) William Jones (1813–1814) Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1814–1817)

v t e United States ambassadors to Argentina
Chargé d'Affaires	Rodney Forbes Baylies Brent Harris Pendleton
Minister Resident	Peden Yancey Cushman Palmer Kirk Asboth Worthington Kirk White Osborn Hanna
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	Hanna Pitkin Buchanan Lord Barrett Beaupre Eddy Sherrill Garrett
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	Stimson Riddle Jay Bliss Weddell Armour Braden Messersmith Bruce Griffis Bunker Nufer Beaulac Rubottom McClintock Martin Burgess Lodge Hill Castro Shlaudeman Ortiz Gildred Todman Cheek Godard (a.i.) Rocha (a.i.) Walsh Gutierrez Wayne Martínez Mamet Prado Carlson (a.i.) Stanley

• 1772 births
• 1824 deaths
• People from Dover, Delaware
• People from colonial Delaware
• Attorneys general of the United States
• Jefferson administration cabinet members
• Madison administration cabinet members
• Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware
• Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Delaware
• Ambassadors of the United States to Argentina
• Members of the Delaware House of Representatives
• Politicians from Wilmington, Delaware
• 19th-century American diplomats
• Delaware lawyers
• University of Pennsylvania alumni
• American military personnel of the War of 1812
• Rodney family of Delaware
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the Delaware General Assembly
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives