Duane, James, 1733-1797

James Duane (February 6, 1733 – February 1, 1797) was an American Founding Father, attorney, jurist, and American Revolutionary leader from New York. He served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, Second Continental Congress and the Congress of the Confederation, a New York state senator, the 44th Mayor of New York City, the 1st post-colonial Mayor of New York City and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New York. Duane was a signatory of the Continental Association and the Articles of Confederation.

Born in New York City, Duane completed preparatory studies before reading law and being admitted to the bar. He maintained a private practice in New York City from 1754 to 1762, when he became a clerk of the Chancery Court of New York. Duane was acting attorney general of the Province of New York in 1767 and a boundary commissioner in 1768 (and again in 1784), before returning to private practice in New York City in 1774 and 1775. Duane was a delegate to the First Continental Congress held in Philadelphia during the autumn of 1774 in reaction to the British Navy's blockade of Boston Harbor and the passage of the Intolerable Acts by Parliament in response to the December 1773 Boston Tea Party. He was a delegate to the Provincial Convention held in New York City on April 20, 1775, where delegates were elected to the Second Continental Congress. In July 1778 he signed the Articles of Confederation in Philadelphia. Duane was a member of the Congress of the Confederation from 1781 to 1783.

Duane was a member of the New York State Senate from 1782 to 1785, and from 1788 to 1790. In 1785, Duane was one of 32 prominent New Yorkers who met to create the New York Manumission Society, intended to put pressure on the state of New York to abolish slavery, as every state in the north had done except New York and New Jersey. He was Mayor of New York City from 1784 to 1789, appointed by the Council of Appointment. During his time in office, he strove to help the city revive itself after the damage done by the war and the British occupation, but he was unable to maintain the city's status as the capital of the United States. Duane was nominated by President George Washington on September 25, 1789, to the United States District Court for the District of New York. Confirmed the same day as his nomination, Duane received his commission the next day. He resigned on March 17, 1794, because of ill health.

Duane died on February 1, 1797, in Duanesburg, Schenectady County, New York. He was interred under Christ Church there.