Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck (November 29, 1791 – February 23, 1879) was a

United States Congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from New York and the sixth President of

Rutgers College Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

(now

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

) serving from 1840 to 1850. He was a slaveholder.

Biography

He was born in 1791 in

Kingston, New York Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the Unite ...

, to Jonathan Hasbrouck (1763–1846) and Catherine Wynkoop (1763–1846). He studied at the Kingston Academy in

before entering

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

where he graduated in 1810. Studying the law under Tapping Reeve, Elisha Williams, and James Gould, he returned to

, in 1814 to practice law. In 1817 he started a law practice with

Charles H. Ruggles Charles Herman Ruggles (February 10, 1789 – June 16, 1865) was an American lawyer and politician who was a U.S. Representative from New York and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Early life Ruggles was born on February 10, 1789, in ...

. He married on September 12, 1819, to Julia Frances Ludlum (1795–1869), the sister of Judge Gabriel W. Ludlum. Together they had eight children, including a son: Jonathan Howard Bruyn Hasbrouck (1820–1899), and a daughter, Caroline Hone Hasbrouck (1830-1898), who married

George H. Sharpe George Henry Sharpe (February 26, 1828 – January 13, 1900) was an American lawyer, soldier, Secret Service officer, diplomat, politician, and Member of the Board of General Appraisers. Sharpe was born in 1828, in Kingston, New York, into a p ...

, also a Hasbrouck descendant. Hasbrouck was elected to the

19th United States Congress The 19th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1825 ...

, holding office from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1827. In 1840, he was appointed as the sixth president of

. He was the first layman to hold the office. During his tenure as president, he taught

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...

constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

, and

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

. He worked to gain more independence from the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

and added modern languages to the curriculum, and expanded scientific instruction to the curriculum. He resigned from the office in 1849. He remained in office until 1850 when

Theodore Frelinghuysen Theodore Frelinghuysen (March 28, 1787April 12, 1862) was an American politician who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate. He was the Whig vice presidential nominee in the election of 1844, running on a ticket with Henry Clay. Bo ...

was appointed as his successor. Hasbrouck retired to

, where he died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

on February 23, 1879.

Legacy

Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck was a descendant of the Hasbroucks who founded

New Paltz New Paltz () is an incorporated U.S. town in Ulster County, New York. The population was 14,003 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county and is south of Kingston. New Paltz contains a village, also wit ...

in 1678. The Hasbroucks were

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster B ...

, Protestant followers of

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

who fled what is today Northern France and South Belgium who fled persecution by the ruling Catholics. The original settlement of their ancestors survives today as Historic Huguenot Street, a National Historic Landmark District. A street named after him in both Newburgh and Kingston, New York. The street in Kingston is named "Abruyn," because of the way he would sign his name, "A. Bruyn Hasbrouck," to differentiate himself from his first cousin, Abraham J. Hasbrouck.

References

External links

Historic Huguenot Street

Hasbrouck Family Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hasbrouck, Abraham Bruyn 1791 births 1879 deaths Hasbrouck family Yale University alumni Presidents of Rutgers University Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state) 19th-century American politicians Politicians from Kingston, New York National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Bruyn family