Barent Gardenier was born in
Kinderhook, New York, on July 28, 1776. He received a liberal education, studied law at
Litchfield Law School and was admitted to the bar. In November 1801 he married Sally (Sarah) Lawrence. Gardenier practiced in
Kingston, New York, and was also editor and publisher of a Federalist newspaper, the
New York Courier. He was elected as a
Federalist to the
10th and
11th United States Congresses, and served from March 4, 1807, to March 3, 1811. He had a heated controversy with Senator
John Armstrong relating to the latter's alleged authorship of the famous
Newburgh letters, anonymous circulars in which the author (presumably Armstrong) had attempted unsuccessfully to instigate
Continental Army soldiers to act against Congress at the end of the
American Revolution in order to secure back pay, pensions and land grants that had been promised but were not immediately forthcoming. Armstrong denied writing the letters, but historians are of the view that Armstrong was the author. By the early 1800s Armstrong was a
Democratic-Republican politician and follower of
Thomas Jefferson, which caused the Federalist Gardenier to highlight Armstrong's supposed authorship of the Newburgh letters as a campaign issue. In 1808 Gardenier fought a
duel with
George W. Campbell, a congressman from
Tennessee, resulting from Gardenier's opposition to the
Jefferson administration's
trade embargo with
Great Britain and
France. Campbell was angered at Gardenier's speech, and in Gardenier's view included personal insults in his rebuttal speech. Gardenier challenged Campbell, and their duel was notable as being the first to be fought on what became the
Bladensburg Dueling Grounds. Gardenier was wounded, but subsequently recovered and won reelection. From 1813 to 1815, Gardenier was
District Attorney of the First District which included
New York,
Queens,
Kings,
Suffolk,
Richmond and
Westchester Counties. Gardenier died in
New York City on January 10, 1822. He is buried at Kingston's First Reformed Church. ==Congressional record==