Theodore Frelinghuysen (1787-1862)
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This white person has 2 related events in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.
- Identifier
- NJS-PER-02562
- Given Name
- Theodore
- Family Name
- Frelinghuysen
- Birth Date
- 1787
- Death Date
- 1862
- Sex
- Male
- Biographical Description
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Theodore Frelinghuysen (1787-1862) was a prominent lawyer, politician, and university president from New Jersey. He was the son of Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804) and Gertrude Schenck (1752-1794). He was born near Millstone, Somerset County. He studied at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), graduating in 1804. Theodore Frelinghuysen then studied law under John Frelinghuysen (his brother) and under Richard Stockton, and he settled in Newark and opened a law practice there in 1808.
He was appointed New Jersey Attorney General in 1817 and served until 1829. During this period, he actively spoke out against the institution of slavery. As attorney general, in 1818 he pursued criminal charges against slave traders (including Charles Morgan and Nicholas Van Wickle) who were trafficking Black people from New Jersey to Louisiana. He was active in the American Colonization Society, which advocated for the removal of freed Black people from America and their relocation to Africa.
From 1829 until 1835, Theodore Frelinghuysen served as a U.S. Senator for the State of New Jersey. Frelinghuysen was the mayor of the city of Newark in 1837-1838. He then became the president of New York University from 1839 to 1850.
Frelinghuysen's family was closely associated with the founding of Queen's College (now Rutgers University) in the 18th century. He went on to serve as the 7th president of Rutgers from 1850 until his death in 1862. He died in New Brunswick and was buried at the First Reformed Church Cemetery there. - Keywords
- white person
- Rutgers University history
- government official
- U.S. Congress
- Relationship to Rutgers
- President (1850-1862)
- Relationship to Princeton
- Alumnus
- Child of
- Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804)
- Sibling of
- John Frelinghuysen (1776-1833)
- References
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Beatrice Adams, Tracey Johnson, Daniel Manuel, and Meagan Wierda, "From the Classroom to the American Colonization Society: Making Race at Rutgers," in Scarlet and Black: Vol. 1, Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History, edited by Marisa J. Fuentes and Deborah Gray White (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press: 2016), 123–149, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1k3s9r0.10.
“FRELINGHUYSEN, Theodore.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/f000373.
This person is represented on the following page(s):
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Frelinghuysen - Image Rights and Source
- Portrait of Theodore Frelinghuysen (1787-1862), by Thomas Sully, oil on canvas, 1865. Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, Object number 0022.
- Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Events
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Additional Participant in:
- 1818-06 Criminal action: victims children Augustus, Diana, Diana, Dorcas, Harriet Jane, Hercules, Mary, Rozenah, Susan (slave trafficking case, defendants Charles Morgan and Nicholas Van Wickle) (Role: Overseer of the Poor)
- 1818-06 Criminal action: victim Claus (slave trafficking case, defendants Charles Morgan, Lewis Compton, and James Edgar) (Role: Overseer of the Poor)
