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Caesar A. Rodney
Posthumous portrait of Rodney,c. 1870
1stUnited States Minister to Argentina
In office December 27, 1823 – June 10, 1824
President	James Monroe
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	James A. Peden
United States Senator fromDelaware
In office January 24, 1822 – January 29, 1823
Preceded by	Outerbridge Horsey
Succeeded by	Thomas Clayton
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromDelaware'sat-large district
In office March 4, 1821 – January 24, 1822 2nd seat
Preceded by	Willard Hall
Succeeded by	Daniel Rodney
In office March 4, 1803 – March 3, 1805 sole seat
Preceded by	James A. Bayard
Succeeded by	James M. Broom
6thUnited States Attorney General
In office January 20, 1807 – December 5, 1811
President	Thomas Jefferson James Madison
Preceded by	John Breckinridge
Succeeded by	William Pinkney
Member of theDelaware House of Representatives
In office 1796–1802
Personal details
Born	(1772-01-04)January 4, 1772 Dover, Delaware Colony, British America
Died	June 10, 1824(1824-06-10) (aged 52) Buenos Aires, United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse	Susan Hunn
Education	University of Pennsylvania(BA)

Caesar Augustus Rodney (January 4, 1772 – June 10, 1824) was an American lawyer and politician fromWilmington, inNew Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of theDemocratic-Republican Party, who served in theDelaware General Assembly, as well as aU.S. Representative from Delaware,U.S. Senator from Delaware,U.S. Attorney General, and U.S. Minister toArgentina.

Rodney was born inDover in theDelaware Colony, son ofThomas Rodney and Elizabeth Fisher. He was the nephew ofCaesar Rodney, the signer of theDeclaration of Independence who is depicted on the Delaware state quarter. After graduating from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1789, he studied law under Joseph B. McKean inPhiladelphia and was admitted to the bar in 1793. He practiced law in Wilmington andNew Castle, Delaware, for the next three years. Rodney married Susan Hunn, the daughter of Captain John Hunn, and their home was "Cool Springs", located in Wilmington.

Rodney served six terms as State Representative, from the 1797 session through the 1802 session. There he became one of the leaders of the Jeffersonian party, now known as the Democratic-Republican Party.

Encouraged by Jefferson to compete for the U.S. House against the staunchFederalistJames A. Bayard, Rodney ran and won a lively campaign by fifteen votes. While in the U.S. House, he was a member of theCommittee on Ways and Means, and established a national reputation as one of theimpeachment managers appointed in January 1804 to prepare and prosecute thearticles of impeachment in theimpeachment proceedings againstJohn Pickering, judge of theUnited States District Court forNew Hampshire. Pickering was charged with conduct unbecoming a judge, and his acquittal was viewed as strengthening the independence of the judiciary. In December of the same year, Rodney served as an impeachment manager inanother such case againstSamuel Chase, Associate Justice of theSupreme Court of the United States.

After serving one term in the U.S. House from March 4, 1803, until March 3, 1805, he was defeated for reelection in 1804 by Bayard, by nearly as close a vote. The two men, always vigorous political opponents, remained good friends throughout their tumultuous political careers.

While Rodney spent most of his legal career in public service, he took on at least one notable case as a private advocate during the year before his appointment as Attorney General. In 1806, he made an appearance before the Mayor's Court of Philadelphia to defend thePhiladelphia Cordwainers against a common law charge of conspiracy. The conspiracy charge was instituted by retail shoe merchants, based on attempts by the journeyman shoe and boot makers, to organize for the purpose of setting their wages and hours. Rodney was unsuccessful in attaining an acquittal for the workers.

On January 20, 1807, U.S. PresidentThomas Jefferson named Rodney his U.S. Attorney General. He served in that office for the remainder of Jefferson's term and for nearly three years in PresidentJames Madison's first term. As Attorney General, Rodney participated as a member of the prosecution during the secondtreason trial of former Vice PresidentAaron Burr. Rodney resigned December 5, 1811, unhappy about being passed over for a U.S. Supreme Court appointment. During theWar of 1812, he was captain of a rifle corps which became the Delaware 1st Artillery. They served at Fort Union in Wilmington, on theCanadian frontier, and assisted in the defense ofBaltimore in 1814.

Rodney returned to politics, serving in theDelaware State Senate for three sessions from 1815 through 1817. In 1820 he was again elected to the U.S. House, serving from March 4, 1821, until January 24, 1822, when he resigned upon being elected to the U.S. Senate. He served there only a year as well, resigning January 29, 1823, to accept a diplomatic appointment. During that brief year Rodney was Delaware's only Democratic-Republican U.S. Senator ever.

Along withJohn Graham andTheodorick Bland, Rodney was selected by PresidentJames Monroe in 1817 for a special diplomatic mission toSouth America, the South American Commission of 1817–1818.^[1] Rodney was appointed to lead the commission to investigate whether the newly formedSouth American republics should be recognized. He strongly advocated such recognition and, with Graham, published his findings in 1819 asReports on the Present State of the United Provinces of South America. This report is thought to have contributed much to the thinking behind the policy that eventually became expressed as theMonroe Doctrine.

It also resulted in Rodney's 1823 appointment as United StatesMinister Plenipotentiary to theUnited Provinces of the Río de la Plata, now known as Argentina. He remained at this posting until his death.

Rodney died June 10, 1824, inBuenos Aires, and was buried there in the Victoria district British Cemetery. His remains were moved to a crypt at St. John's Cathedral in Buenos Aires. The crypt is at theperistyle of the entrance of the cathedral.^[2]

Elections were held the first Tuesday of October. Members of the General Assembly took office on the first Tuesday of January. State Representatives were elected for one year. U.S. Representatives took office March 4 and have a two-year term. The General Assembly chose the U.S. Senators, who also took office March 4, but for a six-year term. In this case the General Assembly failed to fill the position for nearly a year.

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard

• 1772 births
• 1824 deaths
• People from Dover, Delaware
• People from colonial Delaware
• Attorneys general of the United States
• Jefferson administration cabinet members
• Madison administration cabinet members
• Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Delaware
• Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Delaware
• Ambassadors of the United States to Argentina
• Members of the Delaware House of Representatives
• Politicians from Wilmington, Delaware
• 19th-century American diplomats
• Delaware lawyers
• University of Pennsylvania alumni
• American military personnel of the War of 1812
• Rodney family (Delaware)
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the Delaware General Assembly
• 19th-century United States representatives

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