Barent Gardenier (July 28, 1776 – January 10, 1822) was an American lawyer and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was a

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from 1807 to 1811.

Biography

Barent Gardenier was born in

Kinderhook, New York Kinderhook is a town in the northern part of Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 8,330 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous municipality in Columbia County. The name of the town means "Children's Corner" in the ...

on July 28, 1776. He received a liberal education, studied law at

Litchfield Law School The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut, was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietary school was unaffiliated with any college or university. (Wh ...

and was admitted to the bar. In November 1801 he married Sally (Sarah) Lawrence. Gardenier practiced 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 ...

and was also editor and publisher of a Federalist newspaper, the ''New York Courier''. He was elected as a

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to the

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and

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es, and served from March 4, 1807, to March 3, 1811. He had a heated controversy with Senator John Armstrong relating to the latter's alleged authorship of the famous Newburgh letters, anonymous circulars in which the author (presumably Armstrong) had attempted unsuccessfully to instigate

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soldiers to act against Congress at the end of the

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in order to secure back pay, pensions and land grants that had been promised but were not immediately forthcoming. Armstrong denied writing the letters, but historians are of the view that Armstrong was the author. By the early 1800s Armstrong was a

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politician and follower of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, which caused the Federalist Gardenier to highlight Armstrong's supposed authorship of the Newburgh letters as a campaign issue. In 1808 Gardenier fought a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and ...

with George W. Campbell, a congressman from

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, resulting from Gardenier's opposition to the Jefferson administration's

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with

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and

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. Campbell was angered at Gardenier's speech, and in Gardenier's view included personal insults in his rebuttal speech. Gardenier challenged Campbell, and their duel was notable as being the first to be fought on what became the

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. Gardenier was wounded, but subsequently recovered and won reelection. From 1813 to 1815, Gardenier was

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of the First District which included

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Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

and Westchester Counties. Gardenier died in

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on January 10, 1822.Hale Cemetery Inscriptions, 1675-1934, entry for Barent Gardenier, retrieved via Ancestry.com, September 23, 2013. He is buried at Kingston's First Reformed Church.

Congressional record

His speeches given in the

and

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first atteste ...

congresses appear in: * Abridgement of the Debates of Congress from 1789-1856, D. Appleton & Co. 1857, vol. 3, p. 612. * The Rep. from N.Y. on building gunboats, pp. 627–629. * inquiry into conduct of Gen. Wilkinson, 1807; vol. iv. 1808-1813, p. 87. * re submission to the late edicts of

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, p. 137. * on remunerating those who resisted the law for direct tax, p. 139. * on prosecutions for libel, p. 192. * re the call on the President (

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...

, 1809) for papers, p. 215. * supports petition of Elizabeth Hamilton; also referenced on pp. 48, 124, 191, and 350.

References

External links

Biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pp. 69 and 448 ddenda Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardenier, Barent 1776 births 1822 deaths American people of Dutch descent New York County District Attorneys People from Kinderhook, New York Politicians from Kingston, New York Litchfield Law School alumni New York (state) lawyers Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) American duellists 19th-century American lawyers