Later Years
Duane served in the New York state Senate from 1783 to 1790. He became the Mayor of New York by appointment in 1784, serving until 1789. He was a delegate to the New York convention that ratified the Federal Constitution.
On September 25, 1789, President Washington named him the first judge of the United States District Court for the District of New York, created by 1 Stat. 73. He was immediately confirmed by the United States Senate, and received his commission the following day. Richard Varick followed him as mayor.
Duane served on the Federal bench until March 17, 1794, when his health forced him to resign. Throughout his life, he had worked to establish his own estate, inherited from his father, and centered at Duanesburg, New York. He had started erecting a home there for himself, but did not live to see it completed. He died at Schenectady, New York, and is buried at Christ Episcopal Church in Duanesburg.
It is believed that Duane Street in Manhattan was named in his honor. (The Duane Reade pharmacy chain is named after the street.)
James Duane's current living relatives reside in Whitby, Ontario.
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Famous quotes containing the word years:
“In that second it dawned on me that I had been living here for eight years with a strange man and had borne him three children.”
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)
“After us they’ll fly in hot air balloons, coat styles will change, perhaps they’ll discover a sixth sense and cultivate it, but life will remain the same, a hard life full of secrets, but happy. And a thousand years from now man will still be sighing, “Oh! Life is so hard!” and will still, like now, be afraid of death and not want to die.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)