Frederick T. Frelinghuysen

Frederick T. Frelinghuysen
Born	Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen 4 8, 1817
Birthplace	Millstone, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	Template:Death date and age Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Lawyer, politician
Known for	29th United States Secretary of State; U.S. Senator from New Jersey
Education	Rutgers College
Spouse(s)	Matilda Elizabeth Griswold (m. 1842)
Children	6

Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (August 4, 1817 – May 20, 1885) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the 29th United States Secretary of State under President Chester A. Arthur from 1881 to 1885. A member of one of New Jersey's most prominent political families, Frelinghuysen also served as a United States Senator from New Jersey during two separate periods — first from 1866 to 1869 to fill a vacancy, and again from 1871 to 1877 — and as the 22nd Attorney General of New Jersey from 1861 to 1867. Born in Millstone, New Jersey, and orphaned at a young age, Frelinghuysen was raised and mentored by his uncle, Theodore Frelinghuysen, a former senator and vice-presidential candidate. His career in public service spanned the critical decades of the Civil War and Reconstruction era, and as Secretary of State he shaped American foreign policy in the Pacific and Latin America, including negotiating a treaty with Hawaii that provided for American use of Pearl Harbor as a naval base. Frelinghuysen died in Newark, New Jersey, less than three months after leaving office.

Early Life

Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen was born on August 4, 1817, in Millstone, Somerset County, New Jersey. He was a member of the Frelinghuysen family, one of the most distinguished political and clerical dynasties in New Jersey history, whose roots in the state extended back to the colonial era. The family had produced ministers, lawyers, and statesmen across several generations, and their influence in New Jersey politics was considerable.

Frelinghuysen's father died when Frederick was young, and the boy was subsequently adopted by his uncle, Theodore Frelinghuysen, who had served as a United States Senator from New Jersey (1829–1835) and had been the Whig Party's candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1844, running on the ticket with Henry Clay. Theodore Frelinghuysen, a prominent attorney, educator, and political figure in his own right, assumed responsibility for raising his nephew and guiding his intellectual and professional development.

Under his uncle's guardianship, the young Frelinghuysen grew up in an environment steeped in law, politics, and public service. The Frelinghuysen household provided him with access to the networks of New Jersey's political elite, and the example set by his uncle — who combined legal practice, political engagement, and moral seriousness — would prove formative in shaping Frederick's own career trajectory.

The family's deep ties to New Jersey institutions, particularly to the Dutch Reformed Church and to Rutgers College, ensured that Frederick received a thorough education and was well-positioned to enter public life. His upbringing in the Frelinghuysen household instilled in him a commitment to the Republican Party's principles, and he would carry the family name into a new era of American politics defined by the issues of slavery, civil war, and national reconstruction.

Education

Frelinghuysen attended Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he completed his undergraduate education. Rutgers had long-standing connections to the Frelinghuysen family; his uncle Theodore Frelinghuysen had served as president of the institution from 1850 to 1862.

After graduating from Rutgers, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen studied law under the direction of his uncle Theodore. This apprenticeship model of legal education was common in the mid-nineteenth century, and the mentorship of a former United States Senator and accomplished attorney provided Frelinghuysen with a rigorous grounding in legal theory and practice. He was admitted to the bar and subsequently established a successful legal practice in Newark, New Jersey, which would serve as his professional base for much of his career.

Career

Early Legal and Political Career

Frelinghuysen built a prominent legal career in Newark, New Jersey, where he became known as a skilled attorney. His early political affiliations were with the Whig Party, consistent with his uncle Theodore Frelinghuysen's prominent role in that party. As the Whig Party dissolved in the 1850s over the question of slavery, Frederick, like many Northern Whigs, transitioned to the newly formed Republican Party.

In 1860, Frelinghuysen served as a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. This role marked Frelinghuysen's entry into national Republican politics and aligned him with the party's anti-slavery platform at a critical moment in American history.

Attorney General of New Jersey

In 1861, as the nation plunged into the Civil War, Frelinghuysen was appointed the 22nd Attorney General of New Jersey, succeeding William L. Dayton, who had been appointed as the United States Minister to France by President Lincoln. Frelinghuysen served as Attorney General from 1861 to 1867, a tenure that encompassed the entirety of the Civil War and the opening years of Reconstruction. During this period, he served under three successive governors: Charles Smith Olden, Joel Parker, and Marcus Lawrence Ward.

As the state's chief legal officer during wartime, Frelinghuysen was responsible for navigating complex legal questions arising from the conflict, including matters related to conscription, civil liberties, and the enforcement of federal and state law during a period of unprecedented national crisis. His successor as Attorney General was George M. Robeson, who would later serve as Secretary of the Navy under President Ulysses S. Grant.

United States Senate: First Term (1866–1869)

In November 1866, Frelinghuysen was appointed to fill the vacancy in the United States Senate caused by the death of Senator William Wright of New Jersey. He took his seat on November 12, 1866, and served until March 3, 1869. His successor was John P. Stockton.

During this first period of Senate service, Frelinghuysen served during the tumultuous years of Reconstruction, when Congress and President Andrew Johnson clashed repeatedly over the terms on which the former Confederate states would be readmitted to the Union and over the rights of newly freed African Americans. As a Republican senator, Frelinghuysen was aligned with the party's Reconstruction agenda.

A notable episode during this period was Frelinghuysen's involvement in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868. The Senate trial of President Johnson, which arose from disputes over Reconstruction policy and Johnson's removal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act, was one of the defining political events of the era. Frelinghuysen participated in the proceedings as a sitting senator.

Declined Ambassadorship to the United Kingdom

In 1870, Frelinghuysen was nominated by President Grant to serve as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. This was a prestigious appointment, reflecting the high regard in which Frelinghuysen was held within Republican circles. However, Frelinghuysen declined the position, choosing instead to remain in New Jersey and continue his legal and political career closer to home.

United States Senate: Second Term (1871–1877)

Frelinghuysen returned to the United States Senate in 1871, succeeding Alexander G. Cattell and serving a full six-year term from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877. During this second term, he continued to be an active participant in Senate deliberations on Reconstruction, economic policy, and the expansion of federal authority.

This period was marked by significant political turbulence, including the contested presidential election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden, which resulted in the creation of the Electoral Commission to resolve the dispute. Frelinghuysen was appointed as one of the members of this commission, which ultimately awarded the presidency to Hayes in a decision that effectively ended Reconstruction in the South.

Frelinghuysen's Senate career concluded in 1877, and he was succeeded by John R. McPherson, a Democrat, reflecting the shifting political dynamics in New Jersey during this period.

Secretary of State (1881–1885)

On December 19, 1881, President Chester A. Arthur appointed Frelinghuysen as the 29th United States Secretary of State, succeeding James G. Blaine, who had served under the assassinated President James A. Garfield. Frelinghuysen served as Secretary of State from December 19, 1881, until March 6, 1885, spanning the remainder of Arthur's presidency and briefly into the administration of President Grover Cleveland.

Frelinghuysen's appointment came at a time of transition in American foreign policy. The United States was beginning to assert a more active role in international affairs, particularly in Latin America and the Pacific, while also grappling with the legacy of Blaine's more assertive diplomatic style. Frelinghuysen's approach to the office was characterized by a measured, legalistic temperament shaped by his decades of legal practice and legislative experience.

War of the Pacific

One of Frelinghuysen's first significant actions as Secretary of State was to withdraw the United States from its involvement in mediating the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), a conflict between Chile on one side and Peru and Bolivia on the other over control of mineral-rich territories along the Pacific coast of South America. Blaine had pursued an active mediation role during his brief tenure, but Frelinghuysen reversed this course, pulling back from direct American involvement in the conflict and adopting a more restrained posture toward the warring nations.

Hawaiian Treaty and Pearl Harbor

Perhaps the most consequential diplomatic achievement of Frelinghuysen's tenure as Secretary of State was the negotiation of a revised treaty with the Kingdom of Hawaii. Building on existing reciprocity agreements between the United States and Hawaii, Frelinghuysen negotiated a treaty change that included a provision granting the United States the right to establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu.

This provision was of enormous strategic significance, as it laid the groundwork for the American military presence in the central Pacific that would later become one of the most important naval installations in the world. Although the full realization of Pearl Harbor as a major American naval base would not come until subsequent decades, Frelinghuysen's treaty represented a critical early step in establishing American strategic interests in the Hawaiian Islands and the broader Pacific region.

Latin American and Canal Diplomacy

Frelinghuysen's tenure also saw engagement with questions of inter-oceanic canal construction in Central America. The prospect of a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Central America was one of the major diplomatic and engineering questions of the era, and Frelinghuysen negotiated with Nicaragua regarding a potential canal route through that country. These negotiations reflected the growing American interest in controlling any future canal across the isthmus, an interest that would eventually culminate in the construction of the Panama Canal in the early twentieth century.

End of Tenure

Frelinghuysen served as Secretary of State until March 6, 1885, when he was succeeded by Thomas F. Bayard following the inauguration of President Grover Cleveland. By the end of his tenure, Frelinghuysen's health had deteriorated significantly, and the demands of the office had taken a considerable toll on his constitution.

Personal Life

In 1842, Frelinghuysen married Matilda Elizabeth Griswold, and the couple had six children together. Among their children were Frederick Frelinghuysen and George Griswold Frelinghuysen, both of whom maintained the family's prominence in New Jersey society.

The Frelinghuysen family continued to be active in New Jersey public life for generations. The family's legacy in the state encompassed not only politics but also law, education, philanthropy, and the arts. Later members of the family would carry the Frelinghuysen name into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including in the United States Congress, where descendants served as representatives from New Jersey.

Frelinghuysen maintained his primary residence in Newark, New Jersey, throughout much of his career, and it was there that he returned after completing his service as Secretary of State in March 1885.

After leaving office, Frelinghuysen's already declining health worsened rapidly. He died on May 20, 1885, at his home in Newark, less than three months after the conclusion of his service as Secretary of State. His funeral was attended by numerous distinguished persons, reflecting the respect in which he was held across the political establishment.

He is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey.

Recognition

Frelinghuysen's contributions to American public life were recognized in several ways during and after his lifetime. His funeral in May 1885 drew many distinguished attendees, including political leaders, diplomats, and members of the New Jersey bar, testifying to the esteem in which he was held at the time of his death.

In 1917, Frelinghuysen University, a historically Black institution of higher education in Washington, D.C., was named in honor of the Frelinghuysen family, reflecting the family's long association with education and public service.

The Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, New Jersey, a 127-acre public garden and park, bears the family name and serves as a popular cultural and recreational destination in the state.

Frelinghuysen's entry in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress records his service as senator and Secretary of State, preserving his record of public service for future generations.

Legacy

Frederick T. Frelinghuysen's career bridged some of the most consequential periods in American history, from the sectional crisis of the 1850s and 1860s through the Reconstruction era and into the early phase of American expansion in the Pacific. As Attorney General of New Jersey during the Civil War, as a senator during Reconstruction, as a member of the Electoral Commission that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, and as Secretary of State during the Arthur administration, Frelinghuysen was involved in many of the central events of his time.

His most enduring diplomatic legacy was the negotiation of the treaty with Hawaii that established American access to Pearl Harbor. While the full strategic implications of this agreement would not become apparent for decades — Pearl Harbor would become the primary American naval installation in the Pacific and, following the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, a symbol of American entry into World War II — Frelinghuysen's treaty represented an important early step in the projection of American power into the Pacific Ocean.

Frelinghuysen was also representative of a broader phenomenon in American politics: the multi-generational political dynasty. The Frelinghuysen family's involvement in New Jersey and national politics spanned from the colonial period well into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with family members serving in the Continental Congress, the United States Senate, the Cabinet, and the United States House of Representatives across multiple generations. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, raised by a senator and vice-presidential candidate and himself elevated to the Senate and the Cabinet, embodied this tradition of inherited public service.

His withdrawal of the United States from the War of the Pacific and his cautious approach to Latin American diplomacy reflected a more restrained foreign policy sensibility than that of his predecessor, James G. Blaine. Yet his engagement with canal diplomacy in Central America and his strategic positioning in Hawaii pointed toward the more expansive American role in global affairs that would characterize the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The New York Times, in its obituary of Frelinghuysen published on May 21, 1885, provided a detailed account of his career and contributions to American public life, noting his long service in both legal and political capacities.