March 26, 2023
SATT 019 - Caesar A Rodney
Tenure of Office: January 20, 1807 - December 5, 1811
A member of the politically prominent Rodney family of Delaware, Caesar A Rodney was recruited to service in the US House of Representatives by none other than Thomas Jefferson and a few years later was invited to join his Cabinet as Attorney General. With Åsa and Chris of A Flatpack History of Sweden, I explore Rodney's life and career in this episode to determine what legacy he leaves and whether it makes him worthy of a seat at the table of the Cabinet All-Stars.
Special thanks to Åsa and Chris of A Flatpack History of Sweden for joining me for this episode!
- Armstrong, Thom M. Politics, Diplomacy and Intrigue in the Early Republic: The Cabinet Career of Robert Smith 1801-1811. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co, 1991.
- "Caesar Augustus Rodney." Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10505428/caesar-a-rodney. [Last Accessed: 25 Dec 2023]
- Jefferson, Thomas. "To Caesar Augustus Rodney, 17 January 1807,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4896. [Last Accessed: 25 Dec 2023]
- Lewis, James E, Jr. The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis. Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2017.
- "LT George Clinton Rodney." Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3965071/george-clinton-rodney. [Last Accessed: 22 Dec 2023]
- Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President Second Term, 1805-1809: Jefferson and His Time, Volume Five. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1974.
- Rodney, Caesar A. "To James Madison, 7 June 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-0456. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 2, 1 October 1809–2 November 1810, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992, pp. 368–369.] [Last Accessed: 25 Dec 2023]
- Rodney, Caesar A. "To James Madison, 5 December 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-04-02-0057. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 4, 5 November 1811–9 July 1812 and Supplement 5 March 1809 – 19 October 1811, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, Jewel L. Spangler, Ellen J. Barber, Martha J. King, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 50–51.] [Last Accessed: 25 Dec 2023]
- "Rodney, Caesar Augustus 1772-1824." Biographical Guide of the United States Congress. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/R000377. [Last Accessed: 25 Dec 2023]
- Rutland, Robert Allen. The Presidency of James Madison. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1990.
- Stewart, David O. American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011.
- "Susan Hunn Rodney." Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73717705/susan-rodney. [Last Accessed: 25 Dec 2023]
- White, Leonard D. The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History 1801-1829. New York: The Macmillan Co, 1956 [1951].
Featured Image: "Caesar A Rodney," courtesy of Wikipedia
