Hardenbergh was one of the rare Democrats willing to buck his party's overwhelming support for the exclusion of Chinese laborers in 1882.

He condemned the prejudice which was a key force in the push for Chinese exclusion, asking "Is freedom incompatible with any race .

His grandfather, Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh Jr. (1768-1844) was a Trustee of Rutgers University from 1792 to 1841, and was a graduate of that institution.

His great-grandfather, Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, helped found Rutgers in 1766 as Queen's College, and served as the institution's first President from 1786 to 1790.

Hardenbergh is also a descendant of New Paltz Patentee (founder) and Huguenot Louis DuBois, and the Hasbrouck family of Ulster County, New York.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress