Theodore Frelinghuysen

Theodore Frelinghuysen (* March 20, 1787 in Franklin Township, New Jersey, † April 12, 1862 in New Brunswick, New Jersey) was an American politician who has held the offices of the Attorney General of New Jersey, U.S. Senator and Mayor of Newark, before he ran as a Whig for the office of Vice President in 1844. The community Frelinghuysen Township was named after him in 1848.

Biography

Frelinghuysen was born on March 20, 1787 in Somerset County, the son of Frederick Frelinghuysen and Catharine Frelinghuysen. He graduated in 1804 from the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, and then studied with his brother John and later with Richard Stockton law. In 1808 he was admitted to the bar and opened a law firm.

In 1809 he married Charlotte Mercer ( 1790-1854 ). The marriage remained childless, but after the death of his brother Frederick (1788-1820) adopted the couple whose son Frederick Theodore (1817-1885), who later became Secretary of State. Theodore Frelinghuysen married his second wife, Harriet Pumpelly in 1857.

He was appointed in 1817 to the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, declined to appeal to the Supreme Court of the State, and in 1829 became senator for the National Republican Party. In this role, he held a six- hour long speech against the Indian Removal Act (English for Indian resettlement Act), which he declined deeply. He held until 1835 this office.

From 1839 to 1844, he was mayor in Newark and was a candidate in 1844 on the side of Henry Clay unsuccessful as Vice President. From 1839 to 1850 he was president of the New York University; then he moved to the Office of the President of Rutgers College, where he remained until 1862. He was from 1826 to 1861 as vice president of the American Sunday School Union and the American Colonization Society, from about 1841 to 1857 President of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and conducted in the years 1846-1862 the " American Bible Society ". He was a staunch opponent of slavery and was also referred to as the Christian statesman.

Frelinghuysen died on April 12, 1862 in New Brunswick, where he was buried in the cemetery of the " First Reformed Church ".