Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1891 — HEREDITY IN STATEMANSHIP [ARTICLE]

HEREDITY IN STATEMANSHIP

What a Glance at the Senate Roster Reveals—Sons Who Have Succeeded Fathers, Indianapolis Journal. It has always been a matter of pride with Americans that have no “House of Lords” in our national legislative body, where a son succeeds a father simply because he is the son of his father, and yet a glance at the list of the Senators of the United States reveals the fact that there is a dangerous tendency towards hereditary succession. On no less than five occasions have sons succeeded fathers. The families who have held these honors are the Stockton, the Bayards, the Frelinghuysens, the Colquitts and the Camerons. Indeed, in the case of the Stocktons and the Frelinghuysens it would seem that to be born in that family meant to be born in to the United States Senate. The most prominent instance is that of Stocktons, who held the seat in the United States Senate for four successive generations. Richard Stockton, who died in 1781, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Jersey. He was a Senator of the United States from that State, and his son, his grandson and his great-grandson all in turn represented New Jersey in the Senate. So, too, with the Frelinghuysens. Frederick Frelinghuysen was a Senator from the State from 1793 till 1796. His son, Theodore Frelinghuysen, was in the Senate from the same State, and: his grandson, Frederick -T- Frelinghuysen, has also been a United States Senator from New Jersey.

To be a Bayard means to be a Senator. The original James A. Bayard was a Senator from Delaware in 1804 and it has been hard to imagine a United States Senate without a Bayard. Delaware has also been very kind to the Saulsburys, giving a senatorship to the brother when Willard Saulsbury retired. The Colquitts and the Camerons are represented in the Senate now, though in both these cases the heredity has only been from one generation, father to son.