Richard Bassett
Richard Bassett joined the Annapolis Convention, the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and the first Senate, blending Delaware law, militia service, and Federalist statecraft.
Born April 2, 1745 / Died September 15, 1815
On April 2, 1745, in Cecil County, Province of Maryland, Richard Bassett was born into a planter family and later established himself in Delaware after studying law. Military service in the Delaware militia during the Revolution broadened his public reputation beyond the courtroom. By the 1780s he was moving easily between state and continental politics.
Bassett attended the Annapolis Convention in 1786, represented Delaware at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and then entered the first U.S. Senate. He later served as governor of Delaware and as a federal judge, giving him experience in all three levels of the new order. His Federalist commitments tied Delaware's early politics to Washington's national program.
Bassett's career illustrates how small-state leaders used the Constitution to expand their influence rather than retreat from it. His later judgeship and governorship linked ratification politics to the mature institutions of the federal republic.
Key Contributions
- Richard Bassett was an American politician, attorney, slave owner and later abolitionist, veteran of the American Revolution, signer of the United States Constitution, and one of the Founding Fathers of America.
- Richard Bassett died on September 15, 1815.
- On September 17, 1787, Richard Bassett signed the United States Constitution in Philadelphia after representing Delaware in the federal convention.
Related Events
Constitutional Convention convenes
From May to September 1787, delegates in Philadelphia abandoned revision of the Articles of Confederation and drafted a new Constitution under George Washington's presidency.
United States Constitution signed
On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine delegates signed the Constitution in Philadelphia and sent the proposed frame of government to the states for ratification.
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