Richard Henry Bayard

Background

Richard Henry Bayard was born on September 26, 1796, at Wilmington, Delaware, the son of James A. and Ann Bassett Bayard. Richard was named for his grandfather Richard Bassett.

Education

Richard Bayard was educated under Rev. Louis Guillaume Valentin Dubourg of the College of Saint Mary in Baltimore from 1805 to 1810, following which he went to Princeton College, New Jersey. Upon his graduation he began the study of law. This was temporarily interrupted by military service during the closing period of the War of 1812 in a position secured for him by his mother while his father was absent in Europe. Upon the conclusion of the war he returned to his law studies.

Career

Richard Bayard was admitted to the New Castle bar in December 1818. For the next decade he pursued his practise seriously and with success. Many of the clients of his late father came to him, and he soon became prominent in the professional and social life of Delaware. His purchase of the John Dickinson mansion at Ninth and Market Sts. , Wilmington, which he occupied for years and made a center of social entertainment, increased his popularity in that city. On October 6, 1824, at the time of Delaware's greeting to Lafayette, Bayard was on the committee which extended hospitality to the visitor, and in 1829 he represented one group in the state at the dinner to Louis McLane upon the latter's appointment by President Jackson as minister to Great Britain.

Bayard's participation in politics had begun in 1828 when he was defeated for the national House of Representatives by Kensey Johns, Jr. In January 1830 he was at Washington at the time of the famous Webster-Hayne debate, with manuscripts and other material to aid Senator John M. Clayton in his defense of Bayard's father from the accusations of Jefferson in his memoirs. Returning to Wilmington, he was elected first mayor of the city under the charter of 1832, holding the office for three years. On June 17, 1836, he was chosen to the Senate following the resignation of Arnold Naudain, and served from June 1836 until September 1839. During this period he was among the most resolute opponents of Benton's resolution to expunge from the Senate records the censure of March 28, 1834, passed upon Jackson for his removal of the national deposits in the United States Bank, as Bayard considered such action a "mutilation of the Senate Journal. "

When the elections of November 1838 gave the newly formed Whig party control of the Delaware Senate, Bayard resigned his national senatorship to become chief justice of his own state. In 1840 he was once more elected to the United States Senate and served until March 3, 1845. He then resumed his law practise until he was appointed chargé d'affaires to Belgium, from December 10, 1850, to September 12, 1853. Upon his return from Europe, he maintained his legal position in Delaware and Pennsylvania for fifteen years but took no active part in politics. After his removal to Philadelphia he lived in retirement until his death.

Achievements

• Richard Bayard served as the first Mayor of Wilmington (1832); Chief Justice of Delaware (1839-1841); and the Charge d’Affaires to Belgium (1850-1853).

Membership

Richard Bayard was a member of the Whig Party; the United States Senate from Delaware (1836-1839, 1841-1845).

Connections

On February 28, 1815, Richard Bayard married Mary Sophia, daughter of Charles and Harriet (Chew) Carroll and granddaughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

Father:

James A. Bayard

Mother:

Ann (Bassett) Bayard

Sister:

Ann Caroline Bayard

Wife:

Mary Sophia (Carroll) Bayard

Grandfather:

Richard Bassett

Daughter:

Caroline (Bayard) Powel

Son:

Richard Bassett Bayard

Brother:

James Asheton Bayard