Background

James De Lancey was born on November 27, 1703 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the eldest son of Stephen De Lancey and Anne van Cortlandt. His father, a refugee from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, came to New York in 1686, having first obtained letters of denization in England. By virtue of his success in business, his marriage into the Van Cortlandt family, and the vigorous part which he took in the politics of the city and province, he came to occupy a place in the provincial aristocracy.

Education

James was sent to England for his education, and was a fellow commoner at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, later reading law in the Inner Temple.

Career

During his period of residence in England he made personal acquaintances and connections which were of great importance in his subsequent career.

Returning to New York in 1725, he was shortly afterward admitted to the bar, was called to the Council on January 26, 1729.

With advantages afforded by social position enhanced by his considerable gifts he began his career in New York politics. At first he threw in his fortunes with the group who supported the governor and the official class, and in June 1731 received an appointment as second judge of the supreme court.

During the administration of William Cosby, from 1732 to 1736, a period when the violence of factional passion and popular excitement reached dangerous heights, De Lancey was promoted to be chief justice (1733), the governor thus brusquely dismissing the veteran Lewis Morris from that office.

De Lancey now engaged without reserve in the defense of Cosby and the supreme court against their opponents who, through the use of the press, a weapon then first becoming effective in provincial politics, were making dangerous headway.

In the government prosecution of Peter Zenger for libel, the passionate boldness of both sides led the youthful chief justice to disbar James Alexander and William Smith, the two leaders of his profession in the province, for a plea which in his judgment called in question the very existence of his court. From his part in the Zenger trial, which the eloquence of Andrew Hamilton turned into a triumph for the freedom of the press, De Lancey reaped much unpopularity. But, considering the circumstances and standards of the time, his conduct professionally seems to have been altogether reputable and what would naturally be expected from his training.

During the administration of George Clarke, from 1736 to 1743, he figured less conspicuously, though he was an active and increasingly influential member of the Council. It was at this period that the Assembly became the dominant element of the provincial government, attaining at last the key position of complete financial control.

With the accession of George Clinton to the governorship, however, especially after his grant (September 14, 1744) to the Chief Justice of a commission for his office for good behavior instead of during pleasure, De Lancey completely reversed his political role.

Undeterred by any scruples touching the nonpartisanship of the judicial office, he developed with great energy and success a system of control of both Council and Assembly which effectually blocked all the governor’s efforts to lead New York’s participation in the third intercolonial war with the vigor desired by other colonies and by the Home Government. Clinton’s “interest” at Whitehall proved inferior in effectiveness to that of De Lancey, reinforced as the latter was by the prestige of his brother-in-law, Sir Peter Warren. At Clinton’s departure in 1753 he was obliged to deliver to De Lancey a commission for the lieutenant-governorship which he had kept suppressed for six years. The immediate exercise of this commission came unexpectedly as a result of the suicide of the new governor, Sir Danvers Osborne. De Lancey was thus put in an extremely delicate position, for Gov. Osborne’s instructions required an enforcement upon the Assembly of a complete surrender of those features of legislative “encroachment” upon prerogative which had been developed out of their financial control under the leadership of De Lancey himself. By the exercise of great political dexterity, and undoubtedly favored by the emergency conditions imposed by the fourth intercolonial war, he succeeded in keeping both of his great offices and at the same time in preserving for the Assembly the essential features of the position of dominance in the provincial government which were retained until the Revolutionary period.

In 1754 he presided over the Albany convention and in the following year attended the conference of governors with Gen. Braddock at Alexandria, Virginia. He signed the charter for King’s College in 1754, thus helping to fix the charge of “Episcopalianism” upon “the De Lancey party, ” and raising a Presbyterian opposition under William Livingston which soon came to be known as “the Livingston party. ” These issues, groupings, and names survived for long after De Lancey's death. He remained the leading figure in New York during the term of Gov. Hardy, 1755-57, and again, as lieutenant-governor, administered the affairs of the province in 1757-60.

He died suddenly on July 30 of the latter year, being succeeded in the lieutenant-governorship by his political opponent, Cadwallader Colden, president of the Council.

Achievements

• James DeLancey was an active and increasingly influential member of the Council. It was at this period that the Assembly became the dominant element of the provincial government, attaining at last the key position of complete financial control.

Connections

James DeLancey married Anne, elder daughter of Hon. Caleb Heathcote, receiver general of customs of North America, who brought him additional wealth.

Father:

Stephen De Lancey

Mother:

Anne van Cortlandt

Wife:

Anne Heathcote