Read, William T. Biographical Sketch of Caesar Augustus Rodney. Wilmington, DE: C.P. Johnson, 1853.
RODNEY, Caesar Augustus
1772–1824
Biography
RODNEY, Caesar Augustus, (son of Thomas Rodney, cousin of George Brydges Rodney, and nephew of Caesar Rodney), a Representative and a Senator from Delaware; born in Dover, Del., January 4, 1772; completed preparatory studies and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1789; studied law; admitted to the bar and began practice in Wilmington, Del., in 1793; member, State house of representatives 1796-1802; elected as a Democratic Republican to the Eighth Congress (March 4, 1803-March 3, 1805); was not a candidate for renomination in 1804; one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in January 1804 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against John Pickering, judge of the United States District Court for New Hampshire, and in December of the same year against Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Attorney General of the United States in the Cabinet of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison 1807-1811, when he resigned; served in the War of 1812; member of the Delaware Committee of Safety in 1813; member, State senate 1815-1816; was sent to South America by President James Monroe as one of the commissioners to investigate and report on the propriety of recognizing the independence of the Spanish-American Republics; elected to the Seventeenth Congress and served from March 4, 1821, to January 24, 1822, when he resigned; elected as a Democratic Republican to the United States Senate and served from January 24, 1822, to January 29, 1823, when he resigned; appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Argentina in 1823, and served until his death in Buenos Aires, June 10, 1824; interment in British Cemetery, Victoria district; reinterred, 1923, in British Cemetery, Charcarita district, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]External Research Collections
American Antiquarian Society
Worcester, MA
Papers:
1789-1791, 1793, 1795, 1799, and 1809. 7 diaries. Include notes on world geography, mathematics, and surveying; comments on trips to Dover; lists of personal purchases; reference to election as treasurer of Philadelphia Law Society and as president of Literary Society.
Boston Public Library
Boston, MA
Papers:
7 items.
Brown University
Providence, RI
Papers:
In Thomas Rodney papers, [ca. 1784-1810?].
Hagley Museum and Library
Greenville, DE
Papers:
Miscellaneous letters in Victor du Pont papers, 1753-1847; Pierre S. du Pont collection, 1749-1939; Eleuthere Bradford du Pont collection, 1799-1834; Eleuthere Irenee du Pont papers, 1782-1838; Pierre S. du Pont collection, 1438-1921; and Benjamin Henry Latrobe papers, 1788-1820, on 315 microfiche.
Hall of Records
Dover, DE
Papers:
1728-1784. .33 cubic foot. Personal and business papers. In part photocopies of originals in Historical Society of Delaware. Finding aid.
Historical Society of Delaware
Wilmington, DE
Papers:
Personal, business, and congressional papers and correspondence and portraits (1772-1824) in the Rodney collection and H.F. Brown collection. Finding aid.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
Personal letters in Richard Renshaw family papers, 1683-1911 (bulk 1789-1865); and biographical sketch (1853) in William Thomson Read manuscripts, 1776-1869.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers:
Chiefly family correspondence in Rodney family papers, 1771-1824, 5 containers; and correspondence in Albert Gallatin papers, 1783-1847.
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
Papers:
1794-1823. 52 letters.
New York Public Library
New York, NY
Papers:
Letters to Caesar Augustus from John Quincy Adams, William M. Armstrong, James Barron, Aaron Burr, Tench Coxe, Joseph Hopkinson, Charles J. Ingersoll, and Edward Livingston in Caesar Rodney correspondence, 1749-1823; and a letterbook containing copies of letters to Rodney about public affairs in Washington in 1812, his mission to Russia, and European travels in James Asheton Bayard correspondence, 1800-1814.
Pierpont Morgan Library
New York, NY
Papers:
1771-1822. 12 items.
Rosenbach Museum and Library
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
[ca. August 1811]. 1 letter. From Alexander James Dallas.
University of Iowa Libraries
Special Collections Department
Iowa City, IA
Papers:
January 9, 1809. 1 letter. To Secretary of War Eustis.
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Papers:
1788, 1804. 3 items.
Western Reserve Historical Society
Cleveland, OH
Papers:
Correspondence in Joseph Buell papers, 1806-1811, 1836.
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Bibliography / Further Reading
Ryden, George Herbert. Biographical Sketches of Caesar Rodney (the Signer) Thomas Rodney and Caesar A. Rodney. Dover, DE: Public Archives Commission, 1943.