Rash's Surname Index
Notes for James Ashton BAYARD
Bayard, James Asheton, Sr. (1767-1815) — also known as "The Chevalier"; "The Goliath of His Party"; "High Priest of the Constitution" — of Wilmington, New Castle County, Del. Born in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pa., July 28, 1767. Double nephew and adoptive son of John Bubenheim Bayard; son-in-law of Richard Bassett; married, February 11, 1795, to Ann Bassett; father of Richard Henry Bayard and James Asheton Bayard, Jr.; grandfather of Thomas Francis Bayard, Sr.; great-grandfather of Thomas Francis Bayard, Jr.; great-great-great-grandfather of Alexis Irenee du Pont Bayard. U.S. Representative from Delaware at-large, 1797-1803; U.S. Senator from Delaware, 1804-13. Died in Wilmington, New Castle County, Del., August 6, 1815. Original interment at a private or family graveyard, Cecil County, Md.; reinterment in 1842 at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, Del.
James A, Bayard was born in Philadelphia, July 28, 1767. He was the second son of Dr. James A. Bayard, a physician of promising talents and increasing reputation, but who died on January 8, 1770, at an early age. Dr. Bayard was the brother of Colonel John Bayard, who, during the revolutionary war, was a member of the council of safety and many years speaker of the legislature of Pennsylvania. Their father whose name was James, married a Miss Ashton. The family was originally of French extraction, but being Huguenots, and dreading that spirit of religious persecution which belonged to the age, they abandoned their native country, and came to North America some time prior to the revocation of the edic of Nantes. A part of the family settled in the then province of New York, and one of them afterwards selected Cecil county, in the province of Maryland, for his future residence, from whom James Bayard, the grandfather of our subject was descended. Mr. Bayard having been left an orphan at a very early age, was placed under the guardianship of his uncle, Colonel John Bayard, in whose family he lived for several years. His education was, in the first instance entrusted to the Rev. Mr. Smith, a respectable clergyman of Lancaster county, with whom he remained some time, but eventually he returned to his uncle's family, and pursued his studies under the direction of a private tutor until his admission into Princeton college. He graduated from Princeton September 28, 1784, at little more than the age of seventeen; but from the early development of those talents, and the industry which distinguished him in after life, he succeeded in obtaining the highest honor of the institution. Upon leaving college, Mr. Bayard returned to Philadelphia, and having selected the profession of the law for his future occupation, he commenced his studies under General Joseph Reed,and after his death, in 1785, resumed and concluded them under the direction of the late Jared Ingersoll, Esq. Mr. Bayard resolved to pursue the practice of his profession in the adjoining state of Delaware, and with that view was admitted to the bar at the August term of the court of common pleas for the county of Newcastle, in 1787, when he was little more than twenty. On February 11, 1795, he married Miss Bassett, the eldest daughter of Richard Bassett, Esq., who later was governor of Delaware. Shortly after his marriage, Mr. Bayard became actively connected with the dominant party in the state, and in October 1796, was elected a member of congress, and took his seat in the house of representatives on May 22, 1797, at the first session of the fifth congress, which had been convened by the proclamation of the president, in consequence of the existing difficulties with France. Mr. Bayard had been re-elected to congress in October 1798, and was again elected in October 1800, at a period when the highest party feeling prevailed. At the presidential election which took place in November, 1800, the greatest number and majority of electoral votes which were in favor of Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, the democratic candidates, being equal, the election devolved upon the house of representatives. The mass of the federal party throughout the country, and most of the federal members of the house, deprecated the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to the presidential office, as an event that would be fatal to the federal government, and to the existing constitution. The greatest excitement prevailed, and the two parties viewed each other with feelings of mutual jealousy and distrust. The federalists seriously believed, that it was the design of their opponents, and particularly of Mr. Jefferson as their chief, to abase if not to destroy the federal government. With this belief, and the apprehensions and feelings resulting from it, the federal members of the house of representatives were called upon by the constitution to choose between the two candidates. The balloting in the house commenced on February 11, 1801, and terminated on February 17th, without any adjournment. On the first ballot, it was ascertained that Mr. Jefferson had eight states, Mr. Burr six, with two states divided. As there were sixteen states, Mr. Jefferson wanted the vote of one state which might have been given, either by Mr. Bayard, who had the vote of the state of Delaware, or by General Morris, who held the divided vote of Vermont, or by either Mr. Baer or Mr. Craik, who held the divided vote of Maryland. These gentlemen, possessing an absolute control over the election, so far as regarded the certainty of making a president and the duration of the contest, authorized Mr. Bayard to exercise his own discretion as to the precise period it should terminate, and pledged themselves to abide by his decision. Mr. Bayard then took pains to ascertain what were the probabilities of success; and becoming convinced that it was hopeless, and being resolved not to hazard the constitution and the safety of the union, he determined to put an end to the contest. On February 19, 1801, Mr. Bayard was appointed minister to France by John Adams, whose presidential term did not expire until March 4. Nothing could under any other circumstances have been more gratifying to him, but he instantly declined the appointment. In November 1804, Mr. Bayard was elected by the legislature of Delaware a senator of the United States, for the unexpired term of Mr. Wells, who had resigned that office; and in February 1805, was again elected by the legislature a senator for the ensuing term of six years. In 1811, He was reelected for another six years. It was in June, 1812, that the president communicated to congress his message recommending a declaration of war against Great Britain, and Mr. Bayard did not deny that there were sufficient cause for war, but insisted that the measure was premature; that it should be postponed for a few months, to furnish time for the return of our ships and seamen, and of the immense amount of property which was either in the ports of Great Britain or afloat on the ocean, as well as for putting the country in a situation of offensive and defensive operations. With this view, he moved, on June 16th, to postpone the further consideration of the bill declaring war, to October 31. War, however, was declared on June 18th, and Mr. Bayard, whose heart was truly American, and who never suffered any influence of inferior motive to interfere with his duty to his country, was prompt in advising the adoption of such measures and such line of conduct as to safety and honor demanded. He was the chairman of the committee of safety in the place of his residence, (Wilmington,) and, at the head of his fellow citizens, was the first to assist with his own hands in the erection of the temporary defenses of the town. His prevailing and uniform sentiment was that of devotion to the welfare and honor of his country, which demanded the sacrifice of all minor considerations. Mr. Bayard, together with Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Adams, were appointed on April 17, 1813, ministers plenipotentiary, for the purpose of negotiating a peace, with further power, in case of a successful issue, to make a treaty of commerce, after the emperor of Russia offered his mediation to both nations, to promote the restoration of peace. This appointment was entirely unexpected on the part of Mr. Bayard, and was accepted by him from an imperious sense of duty to his country, with the hope of rendering her some service, and with the confidence that his acceptance of it could be attended with no mischief. On May 9, 1813, Mr. Bayard and Mr. Gallatin departed from the United States in the Neptune, on their mission to join Mr. Adams, who was then at St. Petersburg in the capacity of American minister. After a stormy and disagreeable passage, they arrived at St. Petersburg, and on July 21st, they traveled to Revel. They left St. Petersburg on January 25, 1814. They traveled through Berlin arriving in Amsterdam on March 4th. They received dispatches from the government, appraising them of the fact, that Great Britain had refused the mediation of Russia, but had offered to negotiate directly, either at London or at Gottenburg; and that the president having acceded to his proposition, and selected the latter place, they were to go there. On January 18, 1814, the president appointed Mr. Bayard, in conjunction with Messrs. Adams, Clay, Russell, and Gallatin, ministers plenipotentiary, to negotiate directly with Great Britain. Mr. Bayard and Mr. Gallatin were in London when Clay and Russell reached Gottenburg on April 14th. On May 13th, after the receipt of their dispatches, they communicated the fact of their appointment to Lord Castlereagh. A few days later, they received a note from Lord Bathurst, suggesting the substitution of Ghent in preference to Gottenburg, as the seat of the negotiation, which was subsequently acceded to by the Americans. Mr. Bayard left London on May 23, and arrived in Paris on the 28, left it on the 15th of June for Ghent, and arrive there on the 27th and found Mr. Adams and Russell. The negotiations commenced, on the 7th of August, and terminated in a treaty of peace, which was signed on December 24, 1814. Mr. Bayard then left Ghent for Paris arriving on January 11, 1815. On March 4, he was attacked with a disease which was to prove fatal to his life. He left Paris on May 10th and embarking immediately on his arrival at Havre, the vessel sailed for Plymouth, where she arrived on the 14th. Here they waited for the arrival of Mr. Clay for five weeks. At length the ship was ordered to sale, and arrived in Delaware on August 1st, Mr. Bayard found himself once more, after an absence of more than two years, in the bosom of his family. He expired on August 6, 1815, at the age of forty-eight.
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