Gunning Bedford Jr.


Gunning Bedford Jr. was a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, Attorney General of Delaware, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 which drafted the United States Constitution, a signer of the United States Constitution and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.

Education and career

Bedford was born in 1747, in Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania, British America, the fifth of eleven children to a wealthy family. He graduated from the College of New Jersey on September 25, 1771, with honors, as a classmate of James Madison and read law with Joseph Read in New York in 1779. He was admitted to the Delaware bar and entered private practice in Dover, Delaware from 1779 to 1783. He was a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from 1783 to 1785. He was Attorney General of Delaware from April 26, 1784, to September 26, 1789. He was appointed a commissioner to the Annapolis Convention in September 1786, but did not attend. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted the United States Constitution and was a signer of the Constitution. He was a member of the Delaware convention which ratified the Constitution in 1787. He was a member of the Delaware Legislative Council in 1788.

American Revolutionary War service

On July 17, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to elect Bedford to Deputy-Muster-General for New York in the Continental Army, during the American Revolutionary War. On February 28, 1776, he was assigned to the northern army in Canada to muster troops there monthly. On June 18, 1776, he was promoted to Muster-master-general and assigned to New York. He served briefly as an aide to General George Washington.

Constitutional Convention

During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Bedford's threat, "the small ones would find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith, who will take them by the hand and do them justice" was shouted down as treasonous by the other delegates.

Federal judicial service

Bedford was nominated by President George Washington on September 24, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, to a new seat authorized by. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on March 30, 1812, due to his death in Wilmington, Delaware.

Abolitionist

In his home state of Delaware, Bedford was a leading advocate for the abolition of slavery.

Family

Bedford was a cousin of Gunning Bedford Sr., a Governor of Delaware. In late 1772, or early 1773, Bedford married Jane Ballareau Parker, the daughter of James Parker, a printer who had learned his trade from Benjamin Franklin. He had 5 children, none of whom married. In 1793, he purchased from William Robison Lombardy Hall on 250 acres in Brandywine Hundred.

Death and legacy

He was interred first in the Presbyterian Cemetery in Wilmington. This cemetery is now the location of the Wilmington Institute Library and his remains were then moved to the Masonic Home Cemetery at Christiana, Delaware. In 2013, after the sale of the Masonic Home, the monument, Bedford and the remains of his family were relocated by to the Historic Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware. Upon re-intering Bedfords grave, a tooth that was discovered from the previous relocation was placed in the burial vault.
Bedford Street in Madison, Wisconsin is named in Bedford's honor.