James Asheton Bayard (bī´ərd), 1767–1815, U.S. Representative (1797–1803) and Senator (1805–13) from Delaware, b. Philadelphia. Admitted to the bar in 1787, he began practice at Wilmington, Del. Bayard, a prominent Federalist, played a leading part in securing Thomas Jefferson's election as President over Aaron Burr in 1801. Of an independent mind, he, unlike other Federalists, supported the Nonimportation Act of 1806 and the War of 1812, although he had used all his influence to prevent hostilities. In 1814 he served on the commission that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent (see Ghent, Treaty of) ending the War of 1812. His papers were edited (1915, repr. 1970) by Elizabeth Donnan.

See M. Borden, The Federalism of James A. Bayard (1954).

James Asheton Bayard, 1799–1880, U.S. Senator from Delaware (1851–64, 1867–69), b. Wilmington, Del.; son of James Asheton Bayard (1767–1815). His Unionist sentiments led him into the new Republican party, but he bitterly opposed the dominant radical Republicans and in 1864 he resigned. He was elected again, however, and served (1867–69) as a Democrat and supporter of President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policy. His son, Thomas Francis Bayard, was elected to succeed him in the U.S. Senate.