to organize American forces in New York in anticipation of a British attack in the ensuing War of 1812. Politics and public life In 1783, Colonel Rutgers was elected to the New York State Assembly, where he served in the 7th New York State Legislature. He also served on the New York Board of Education Regents from 1802 to 1826. He was a Presidential Elector, chosen by the legislature, in 1808, 1816, and 1820. Rutgers supported the American Colonization Society, arguing against abolitionists that free people of color should be removed from the United States rather than allowed to grow as a population. He was himself a slaveowner, like many of his relatives. Rutgers continued to expand his holdings, extending his water lots further out into the river. In his later years, Rutgers, a bachelor, devoted much of his fortune to philanthropy. As a landowner with considerable holdings on the island of Manhattan (especially in the vicinity of Chatham Square), he donated land for the use of schools, churches, and charities in the area. Both Henry Street and Rutgers Street in lower Manhattan are named for him, as well as the Rutgers Presbyterian Church (formerly the Collegiate Presbyterian Church) which was also named for Colonel Rutgers who donated the parcel of land at the corner of Henry Street and Rutgers Street on which the original church was built in 1798. Colonel Rutgers's most lasting legacy however, is due to his donations to Queen's College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which at the time was suffering considerable financial difficulties and temporarily closed. The college had been founded as a seminary for the Reformed Church in America and appealed to Colonel Rutgers, a devout member of the church with a reputation for philanthropy, for aid. Rutgers donated a bond valued at $5000 to reopen the faltering school, and subsequently donated a bronze bell that was hung in the cupola of the Old Queens building which housed the college. In gratitude, and hoping the college would be remembered in the Colonel's will, the trustees renamed it Rutgers College on December 5, 1825. (Colonel Rutgers left nothing to the college upon his death.) The institution later became "Rutgers University," then "Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey". Death and legacy Henry Rutgers died in New York City, at the age of 84. Rutgers was initially buried in the Reformed Church on Nassau Street (the