James Asheton Bayard Sr., politician and diplomat, was born in Philadelphia on 28 July 1767. He graduated from Princeton College in 1784, was admitted to the bar in 1787, and began practice in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1795 he married Ann Bassett (1777–1854); their children would include two sons who became U.S. senators. A Federalist, James Sr. served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1797–1803) and the U.S. Senate (1804–13). In 1813 he was appointed to the commission to negotiate peace with Great Britain.