Richard BASSETT, Congress, DE (1745-1815)

BASSETT, Richard, (grandfather of Richard Henry Bayard and James Asheton Bayard, Jr.), a Senator from Delaware; born in Cecil County, Md., April 2, 1745; pursued preparatory studies; studied law; admitted to the bar and practiced in Delaware; captain of a Delaware troop during the Revolutionary War; member of the State constitutional conventions in 1776 and 1792; member, State senate 1782; member, State house of representatives 1786; delegate to the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States in 1787; member of the Delaware convention which ratified the Federal Constitution in 1787; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1793; chief justice of the court of common pleas 1793-1799; Governor of Delaware 1799-1801; appointed United States circuit judge by President John Adams in 1801; died on his estate, ‘Bohemia Manor,’ in Cecil County, Md., August 15, 1815; interment Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, Del.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Pattison, Robert E. The Life and Character of Richard Bassett. Wilmington, Del.: Delaware Historical Society, 1900.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present