Representative George Cassedy

George Cassedy (September 16, 1783 – December 31, 1842) was a U.S. Representative from New Jersey in the early nineteenth century. He was born in Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey, where he spent virtually his entire life. Little is recorded about his parents or family background, but his early years were rooted in the local community of Hackensack, which at the time was a small but growing town in northeastern New Jersey.

Cassedy attended the common schools of Hackensack, receiving the basic education typical of the period. He pursued the study of law as a young man, preparing for a professional career in the legal field. After completing his legal studies, he was admitted to the bar in 1809 and commenced the practice of law in Hackensack. His legal practice established him as a figure of some standing in the community. Like a number of contemporaries in New Jersey and elsewhere in the United States during this era, he owned slaves, a fact that reflects the persistence of slavery in parts of the northern states in the early nineteenth century.

In addition to his legal work, Cassedy held a federal local appointment early in his career. He served as postmaster of Hackensack from June 10, 1805, to January 1, 1806, a position that would have placed him at the center of local communications and commerce. This role, undertaken even before his formal admission to the bar, marked his initial entry into public service and helped to build his connections within the community and the broader political networks of New Jersey.

Cassedy’s legal and civic experience provided a foundation for his subsequent political career at the national level. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Seventeenth Congress and took his seat on March 4, 1821, representing New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives. As national political alignments began to shift in the 1820s, he was reelected as a Jacksonian Democratic-Republican to the Eighteenth Congress and then reelected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congress. He served continuously from March 4, 1821, to March 3, 1827, during a period marked by the decline of the Democratic-Republican Party, the rise of Andrew Jackson’s political movement, and growing sectional and partisan tensions.

During his three consecutive terms in Congress, Cassedy participated in the legislative work of a nation undergoing rapid political and economic change, although specific details of his committee assignments and floor activity are sparsely documented in surviving records. As a Jacksonian-aligned member by the mid-1820s, he was associated with the emerging political coalition that would soon coalesce into the Democratic Party. His service concluded at the end of the Nineteenth Congress in March 1827, after which he did not return to the House.

Following his departure from Congress, Cassedy returned to Hackensack, where he resumed his legal practice and continued to live as a prominent local citizen. He remained in his native community for the rest of his life. George Cassedy died in Hackensack on December 31, 1842. He was interred in the First Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery in Hackensack, New Jersey, reflecting both his lifelong connection to the town and the Dutch Reformed heritage that was historically significant in the region.