20 Facts About Theodore Frelinghuysen

Theodore Frelinghuysen was an American politician who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was the Whig vice presidential nominee in the election of 1844, running on a ticket with Henry Clay.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was the son of Senator Frederick Frelinghuysen and the adoptive father of Secretary of State Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen.

Theodore Frelinghuysen served as the New Jersey Attorney General from 1817 to 1829 and as a United States Senator from 1829 to 1835.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was selected as Clay's running mate at the 1844 Whig National Convention.

Theodore Frelinghuysen served as president of New York University from 1839 to 1850, and as president of Rutgers College from 1850 to 1862.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was born in 1787 in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, to Frederick Frelinghuysen and Gertrude Schenck.

Theodore Frelinghuysen's siblings include: Catharine Frelinghuysen; John Frelinghuysen the General who married Louisa Mercer and after her death married Elizabeth Mercereau Van Vechten; Maria Frelinghuysen ; and Frederick Frelinghuysen the lawyer who married Jane Dumont.

Theodore Frelinghuysen's great-grandfather Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen was a minister and theologian of the Dutch Reformed Church, influential in the founding of Queen's College, now Rutgers University, and one of four key leaders of the First Great Awakening in Colonial America.

Rodney Theodore Frelinghuysen, who represented New Jersey's 11th congressional district, is a descendant.

Theodore Frelinghuysen married Charlotte Mercer in 1809, but she died in the same year.

Theodore Frelinghuysen graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1804 and studied law under his brother John Frelinghuysen, and later, Richard Stockton.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1808 and as a counselor in 1811, and set up a law practice in Newark during this time period.

Theodore Frelinghuysen became Attorney General of New Jersey in 1817, turned down an appointment to the New Jersey Supreme Court and became a United States Senator in 1829, serving in that capacity until 1835.

Jackson supporters chided Theodore Frelinghuysen for mixing his evangelical Christianity with politics, and the Removal Act was passed.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, from 1837 until 1838.

Theodore Frelinghuysen took the lead on the first ballot and never lost it, eventually being chosen by acclamation.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was unpopular with Catholics because groups of which he was a member, such as the Protestant American Bible Society, promulgated the idea that Catholics should convert to Protestantism.

Theodore Frelinghuysen was the second president of New York University between 1839 and 1850 and seventh president of Rutgers College between 1850 and 1862.

Theodore Frelinghuysen died in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on April 12,1862, and he was buried there at the First Reformed Church Cemetery.