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Biographical Sketches
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RICHARD BASSETT
Delware
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Richard Bassett
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Bassett was a well-to-do planter and lawyer who also
enjoyed careers as soldier, judge, legislator, and Governor. At the
Constitutional Convention, he played a silent role and confined himself
to casting votes on the issues as they arose.
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Bassett (Basset) was born in Cecil County, Md., in
April 1745. After his tavern-keeper father deserted his mother, he was
reared by a relative, Peter Lawson, from whom he later inherited Bohemia
Manor (Md.) estate. He read for the law at Philadelphia and in 1770
received a license to practice in Dover, Del. Prospering as a
lawyer-planter, he eventually came to own not only Bohemia Manor, but
also homes in Dover and Wilmington.
During the Revolution, Bassett captained a troop of
Dover cavalry militia, and served on the Delaware council of safety.
Subsequently, he participated in the constitutional convention and sat
in both the upper and lower houses of the legislature. In 1786, on
behalf of his State, he took part in the Annapolis Convention.
At the U.S. Constitutional Convention the next year,
Bassett attended diligently but made no speeches, served on no
committees, and cast no critical votes. Like several other delegates of
estimable reputation and talent, he allowed others to make the major
steps.
Bassett subsequently went on to a bright career in
the State and Federal governments. In the Delaware ratifying convention,
he joined in the 30-0 vote for the Constitution. Subsequently, in the
years 1789-93, he served as a U.S. Senator. In that capacity, he voted
in favor of the power of the President to remove governmental officers
and against Hamilton's plan for the Federal assumption of State
debts.
In 1793 Bassett returned to Delaware. From then until
1799 he held the chief justiceship of the court of common pleas.
Espousing the Federalist cause in the 1790's, he served as a
Presidential elector, on behalf of John Adams, in 1797. Two years later,
Bassett was elected as Governor of Delaware and continued in that post
until 1801. That year, he became one of President Adams' "midnight"
appointments, as a judge of the U.S. Circuit Court. Subsequently, the
Jeffersonian Republicans abolished his judgeship, and he spent the rest
of his life in retirement.
Twice married, to Ann Ennals and a woman named Bruff,
Bassett fathered several children. He was a devout Methodist, held
religious meetings at Bohemia Manor, and financially supported the
church. He died in 1815 at the age of 70 and is interred at the
Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington, Del.
Drawing: Crayon drawing (undated) by Charles B. J.
Fevret de Saint-Memin. Baltimore Museum of Art.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/constitution/bio2.htm
Last Updated: 29-Jul-2004
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