{{Short description|American soldier, lawyer and politician (1756–1839)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Aaron Ogden | image = Aaron Ogden).png | caption = portrait by [[Asher Brown Durand]] | order = 5th | office = Governor of New Jersey | term_start = October 29, 1812 | term_end = October 29, 1813 | predecessor = [[Joseph Bloomfield]] | successor = [[William Sanford Pennington]] | office2 = [[United States Senator]]<br/>from [[New Jersey]] | term_start2 = February 28, 1801 | term_end2 = March 3, 1803 | predecessor2 = [[James Schureman]] | successor2 = [[John Condit]] | office3 = Member of the [[New Jersey General Assembly]] | term3 = 1803–1812 | birth_date = {{birth date|1756|12|3}} | birth_place = [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabethtown]], [[Province of New Jersey]], [[British America]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1839|4|19|1756|12|3}} | death_place = [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]], New Jersey, [[United States|U.S.]] | party = [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]] | alma_mater = [[Princeton University|College of New Jersey]] | spouse = Elizabeth Chetwood | children = 7, including [[Elias B. D. Ogden|Elias]] | relations = [[Matthias Ogden]] (brother)<br>[[Frederick B. Ogden|Frederick Ogden]] (grandson)<br>[[William Chetwood]] (brother-in-law) | branch = {{Flagicon image|US flag 13 stars.svg}} [[Continental Army]] | allegiance = {{Flagcountry|United States|1795|size=23px}} | unit = [[1st New Jersey Regiment]] | rank = [[Brigade major]] | battles = [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] }} '''Aaron Ogden''' (December 3, 1756{{spaced ndash}}April 19, 1839) was an American soldier, lawyer, [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] and the fifth [[governor of New Jersey]].<ref name="AObioguide"/> Ogden is perhaps best known today as the complainant in ''[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]'' which destroyed the monopoly power of steamboats on the Hudson River in 1824.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 (1824) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/22/1/ |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Birkner2014"/>
==Early life== Ogden was born in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabethtown]] (known today as "Elizabeth") in the [[Province of New Jersey]]. He was the son of Robert Ogden, a lawyer and public official who served as Speaker of the New Jersey lower house immediately preceding the Revolution,<ref name="Birkner2014">{{cite book|last1=Birkner|first1=Michael J.|last2=Linky|first2=Donald|last3=Mickulas|first3=Peter|title=The Governors of New Jersey: Biographical Essays|date=2014|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|isbn=9780813571775|page=1789|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=alrqAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1789|language=en}}</ref> and Phebe ([[née]] Hatfield) Ogden.<ref>{{cite web|title=The New Netherlands Ancestors of Aaron Ogden |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nnnotables/zaaog.html |website=Rootsweb |publisher=Ancestry.com}}</ref> Ogden's brother [[Matthias Ogden]] (1754–1791) was a Revolutionary War soldier and his nephew, [[Daniel Haines]], also served as Governor of New Jersey on two separate occasions.<ref name="Longacre1834">{{cite book|last1=Longacre|first1=James Barton|title=The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans|date=1834|publisher=Bancroft|page=79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8glbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA40-IA79|access-date=23 February 2018|language=en}}</ref>
Ogden, a [[Presbyterian]], graduated from the College of New Jersey (now [[Princeton University]]) in 1773, and served as a grammar school tutor from 1773 to 1775.<ref>{{Cite book | title=10,000 Famous Freemasons from K to Z, Volume 3 | last=Denslow |first=William R. | year=1959 | page=282 | publisher=Missouri Lodge of Research | isbn=9781417975792 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-cCeOEXGyoC&pg=PA282 }}</ref>
==Career== In the [[American Revolutionary War]], Ogden was appointed a lieutenant in the [[1st New Jersey Regiment]]; his older brother Matthias Ogden was the lieutenant colonel. Aaron Ogden served in various roles throughout the war, seeing action and rising to the rank of brigade major.<ref>{{Cite book | title=Legislative history of the General staff of the Army of the United States: (its organization, duties, pay, and allowances), from 1775 to 1901 | year=1901 | publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] | page=60 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-a4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA60 }}</ref> In 1778, he visited the house occupied by the family of diarist [[Sally Wister]], who described him as "a genteel young fellow, with an aquiline nose."<ref>Sally Wister, ‘‘Sally Wister's Journal: A True Narrative: Being a Quaker Maiden's Account of Her Experiences with Officers of the Continental Army, 1777–1779’’. Applewood Books, Bedford, Massachusetts, 1994. Entry for May 11, 1778.</ref> Ogden was wounded at the [[siege of Yorktown]] in 1781.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/>
Ogden was admitted as an original member of The [[Society of the Cincinnati]] in the state of New Jersey when it was established in 1783.<ref>Metcalf, Bryce (1938). ''Original Members and Other Officers Eligible to the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783–1938: With the Institution, Rules of Admission, and Lists of the Officers of the General and State Societies'' Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., p. 239.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Officers Represented in the Society of the Cincinnati |url=https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/soldiers-and-sailors-of-the-revolutionary-war/officers-represented-in-the-society-of-the-cincinnati/ |website=The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati |access-date=9 April 2021}}</ref> He went on to serve as the President of the New Jersey Society from 1824 until his death in 1839, and President General of The Society of the Cincinnati from 1829 until his death.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Aaron Ogden | The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey|url=https://njcincinnati.org/aaron-ogden/|website=njcincinnati.org|access-date=14 May 2019}}</ref>
===Political career=== After the war, Ogden studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1784. He commenced practice in Elizabeth and served as a presidential elector in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1796|1796 electoral college]] that elected [[John Adams]]. He was clerk of [[Essex County, New Jersey|Essex County]] from 1785 to 1803.
He was elected as a [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]] to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[James Schureman]] and served from February 28, 1801, to March 3, 1803. He lost his bid for re-election to the Senate in 1802.<ref name="AObioguide" /> Ogden ran several times for [[New Jersey's at-large congressional district]], finishing 6th in 1800 (with the top 5 winning),<ref>{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/8k71nj07t |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}}</ref> and also running in 1803,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/kk91fm92h |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}}</ref> 1804,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/k3569581x |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}}</ref> 1806,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/7m01bn10h |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}}</ref> 1808 (both in the regular and special elections),<ref>{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/gh93h079m |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/5999n511s |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}}</ref> and 1810.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A New Nation Votes |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/zc77sq80n |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=elections.lib.tufts.edu}}</ref>
In 1803, Ogden was elected to the [[New Jersey General Assembly]], where he served until 1812. Ogden was elected trustee of the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University) in 1803, a post in which he served until his death.<ref name="AObioguide"/>
In 1812, Ogden was elected as [[Governor of New Jersey]] in a wave of Federalist victories across the state due to opposition to the [[War of 1812]].<ref name="Birkner2014"/> Ogden had been nominated by his Federalist colleagues as governor many times before, but the Republicans held the majority in the Assembly and elected their choice from 1803 to 1812.<ref name="Birkner2014"/> During his term as governor, "funds were secured for the military's use in the war against Britain."<ref name="nga">{{cite web|title=Aaron Ogden|url=https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_new_jersey/col2-content/main-content-list/title_ogden_aaron.default.html|website=www.nga.org|publisher=[[National Governors Association]]|access-date=23 February 2018|language=en}}</ref> After running unsuccessfully for re-election, the Federalists lost their majority in the Assembly and Ogden retired from political life.<ref name="Birkner2014"/> Ogden was nominated by President [[James Madison]] as major general of the Army in 1813, but declined the appointment.<ref name="AObioguide"/>
===Steamboat operations=== In 1811, he became engaged in steamboat navigation by building the [[steamboat]] ''Sea Horse'' to run between Elizabeth and [[New York City]].<ref name="nysed">{{cite web|title=Steamboats on the Hudson: An American Saga - Aaron Ogden|url=https://www.nysl.nysed.gov/mssc/steamboats/player_ogden.htm|website=www.nysl.nysed.gov|publisher=[[New York State Library]]|access-date=23 February 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409040450/http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/mssc/steamboats/player_ogden.htm|archive-date=April 9, 2018|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 1812, in ''Livingston v. Van Ingen'', the courts chose to upheld a steamboat monopoly over the [[Hudson River]].<ref name="nycourts1">{{cite web|title=Livingston v. Van Ingen {{!}} New York Steamboat Monopoly|url=http://www.nycourts.gov/history/legal-history-new-york/legal-history-eras-02/history-new-york-legal-eras-livingston-van-ingen.html|website=www.nycourts.gov|publisher=The Historical Society of the New York Courts|access-date=23 February 2018|language=en}}</ref><ref name="nycourts">{{cite web|title=Gibbons v. Ogden|url=https://www.nycourts.gov/history/legal-history-new-york/legal-history-eras-02/history-new-york-legal-eras-gibbons-ogden.html|website=www.nycourts.gov|publisher=The Historical Society of the New York Courts|access-date=23 February 2018|language=en}}</ref> In 1813, the [[New York State Legislature]] further upheld the monopoly created by Chancellor [[Robert Livingston (1746–1813)|Robert Livingston]] and [[Robert Fulton]], who had designed the steamboat.<ref name="Athearn1988">{{cite book|last1=Athearn|first1=Robert G.|title=American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States|date=1988|publisher=Choice Pub.|isbn=9780945260059|page=164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgTYAAAAMAAJ&q=Thomas+Gibbons+(1757-1826)|access-date=22 February 2018|language=en}}</ref> In response, Ogden agreed to pay them for a ten-year monopoly to run his line.<ref name="nysed"/>
As a result of a feud with his neighbor and competing steamboat operator who violated the statutory monopoly, [[Thomas Gibbons (politician)|Thomas Gibbons]], Ogden filed the complaint in ''Gibbons v. Ogden'', seeking to enjoin Gibbons from operating a steamboat on New York waters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 (1824) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/22/1/ |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref> As a result, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] declared unconstitutional [[New York (state)|New York]]'s attempted monopoly on steamboat operation between New York and New Jersey based on the Commerce Clause.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 (1824) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/22/1/ |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=Justia Law |language=en}}</ref> In the case, decided by the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] in 1824, Ogden was represented by [[Samuel L. Southard]] and [[Joseph Hopkinson]], while Livingston was represented by [[Thomas Addis Emmet]], and Gibbons by [[Daniel Webster]] and [[U.S. Attorney General]] [[William Wirt (Attorney General)|William Wirt]].<ref name="Cox2009">{{cite book|last1=Cox|first1=Thomas H.|title=Gibbons v. Ogden, Law, and Society in the Early Republic|date=2009|publisher=[[Ohio University Press]]|isbn=9780821418468|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcU6AQAAIAAJ&q=Thomas+Gibbons+(1757-1826)|access-date=22 February 2018|language=en}}</ref>
===Later life=== Ogden moved to [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]] in 1829 and resumed the practice of law. It was in Jersey City where he was arrested for debt and sent to a debtors' prison.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> He was released several months later under an act of the Legislature that provided "that no Revolutionary officer or soldier should be imprisoned for debt. The law was so framed as to cover the case of Col. Ogden, and he was released."<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> In 1830, he was appointed as [[Collector of the Port of New York|Collector of Customs]] of Jersey City, an office created specifically for him by an act of Congress,<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> and served until his death in Jersey City.<ref name="AObioguide"/>
==Personal life== [[File:Aaron Ogden Monument.jpg|thumb|right|Aaron Ogden Monument, First Presbyterian Churchyard, Elizabeth, NJ]] Ogden was married to Elizabeth Chetwood (1766–1826), the daughter of John Chetwood, an attorney, and Mary (née Emott) Chetwood (d. 1786). She was the older sister of [[U.S. Representative]] and [[Mayor of Elizabeth, New Jersey|Mayor of Elizabeth]] [[William Chetwood]] (1771–1857). Together, they were the parents of:<ref name="Alstyne1907">{{cite book|last1=Alstyne|first1=Lawrence Van|last2=Ogden|first2=Charles Burr|title=The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and his descendants, 1640-1906|date=1907|publisher=Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott company|page=[https://archive.org/details/ogdenfamilyiname00whee/page/138 138]|url=https://archive.org/details/ogdenfamilyiname00whee|access-date=23 February 2018|language=en}}</ref>
* Mary Chetwood Ogden (1789–1863), who was married to George Clinton Barber.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> * Phebe Ann Ogden (1790–1865), who served as Vice Regent of the [[Mount Vernon Ladies' Association]].<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> * Matthias Ogden (1792–1860), who married Lucille Robert.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> * John Robert Ogden (1794–1845).<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> * Elias Bailey Dayton Ogden (1797–1799), who died young.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> * [[Elias B. D. Ogden|Elias Bailey Dayton Ogden]] (1800–1865), who was named after his deceased brother. Elias, who married three times, served as an [[associate justice]] of the [[New Jersey Supreme Court]] from 1842 until his death in 1865.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/> * Aaron Ogden Jr. (1803–1803), who died young.<ref name="Alstyne1907"/>
Ogden died in Jersey City, [[New Jersey]] on April 19, 1839. Ogden's body is interred at the burial ground of the [[First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth]].<ref name="AObioguide">{{cite web|title=OGDEN, Aaron - Biographical Information|url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000041|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]|access-date=23 February 2018}}</ref> Ogden Street in [[Trenton, New Jersey]] is named in his honor.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.trentonhistory.org/streets.html | title=Trenton Historical Society, New Jersey }}</ref>
He was a slaveholder.<ref name="WaPo 012022">{{cite news |last1=Weil |first1=Julie Zauzmer |last2=Blanco |first2=Adrian |last3=Dominguez |first3=Leo |title=More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/ |access-date=30 January 2022 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=20 January 2022}}</ref>
===Descendants=== Through his son Elias, he was the grandfather of [[Frederick B. Ogden|Frederick Beasley Ogden]] (1827–1893), who served as [[Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey]] from 1865 to 1867; Aaron Ogden (1828–1896), who married Harriet Emily Travers; and Susan Dayton Ogden (1831–1878), who married [[John Biddle (Michigan politician)|William Shepard Biddle]], and were the parents of [[U.S. Army]] general [[John Biddle (United States Army general)|John Biddle]].<ref name="picton">{{cite web |title= Descendants of William Biddle III |date= May 2004 |author= Owen Picton |url= http://www.picton.us/biddle/williambiddle.htm |access-date= March 16, 2011 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101118032004/http://www.picton.us/biddle/williambiddle.htm |archive-date= November 18, 2010 }}</ref>
==See also== *[[List of governors of New Jersey]] *[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]
==References== ;Notes {{Reflist}}
;Sources * Baxter, Maurice G. ''Dictionary of American Biography'' *''The Steamboat Monopoly: Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824''. New York: [[Alfred A. Knopf]], 1972. * Ogden, Aaron. ''Autobiography of Col. Aaron Ogden, of Elizabethtown''. Paterson, NJ: Press Printing & Publishing Co., 1893. * Purcell, L. Edward. ''Who Was Who in the American Revolution''. New York: Facts on File, 1993. {{ISBN|0-8160-2107-4}}.
==External links== {{CongBio|O000041}} Retrieved on 2009-02-26 *[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20060326053459/http://www.njstatelib.org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/Governors_of_New_Jersey/GODGE.pdf Biography of Aaron Ogden (PDF)], [[New Jersey State Library]] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930034543/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=a2eb4fc0d5049010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD New Jersey Governor Aaron Ogden], [[National Governors Association]] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060512211233/http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2rdt7/DGovs/deadgovernorsnj.html#ogden Dead Governors of New Jersey bio for Aaron Ogden] * [https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org The Society of the Cincinnati] * [https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/soldiers-and-sailors-of-the-revolutionary-war/officers-represented-in-the-society-of-the-cincinnati/ American Revolution Institute]
{{S-start}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box | before=[[James Schureman]]| class=1 | state=New Jersey | years=1801–1803| after=[[John Condit]] | alongside=[[Jonathan Dayton]]}} {{s-off}} {{Succession box| before=[[Joseph Bloomfield]] |title=[[List of Governors of New Jersey|Governor of New Jersey]] | years=1812–1813 | after=[[William Sanford Pennington]]}} |- {{s-npo}} {{s-bef |before=[[Thomas Pinckney]]}} {{s-ttl|title=President General of the Society of the Cincinnati|years=1829–1839}} {{s-aft|after=[[Morgan Lewis (governor)|Morgan Lewis]]}} {{S-end}}
{{Governors of New Jersey}} {{USSenNJ}} {{Portal bar|Biography|Politics|United States}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogden, Aaron}} [[Category:1756 births]] [[Category:1839 deaths]] [[Category:Politicians from Elizabeth, New Jersey]] [[Category:People from colonial New Jersey]] [[Category:American Presbyterians]] [[Category:Federalist Party United States senators from New Jersey]] [[Category:Governors of New Jersey]] [[Category:Federalist Party state governors of the United States]] [[Category:New Jersey Federalists]] [[Category:Members of the New Jersey General Assembly]] [[Category:Princeton University alumni]] [[Category:Continental Army officers from New Jersey]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]] [[Category:19th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature]] [[Category:Candidates in the 1800 United States elections]] [[Category:Candidates in the 1803 United States elections]] [[Category:Candidates in the 1804 United States elections]] [[Category:Candidates in the 1806 United States elections]] [[Category:Candidates in the 1808 United States elections]] [[Category:Candidates in the 1810 United States elections]] [[Category:American people of English descent]]