James Asheton Bayard Jr. (November 15, 1799 – June 13, 1880) was an American lawyer and politician from Delaware.

The Bayard family was descended from a sister of Director-General Petrus Stuyvesant and came to Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland, in 1698.

[4] In 1846, Bayard represented slave owners in a civil suit against Thomas Garrett, a Wilmington iron merchant who was also a "stationmaster" on the Underground Railroad.

Bayard won a judgement that all but bankrupted Garrett, who declared on the spot that he would redouble his anti-slavery efforts: "Friend, I haven't a dollar in the world, but if thee knows a fugitive who needs a breakfast, send him to me".

He believed the South should be allowed to secede peacefully, and privately hoped for the secession of Delaware and a state convention to address the issue.

Bayard interrupted his practice of law in Wilmington and accepted appointment to the vacant seat.

After declining to run again for re-election, he returned to private practice for several years until poor health incapacitated him.

In 1872, he was among the nine politicians whose names were submitted by the House of Representatives to the Senate for investigation in the Credit Mobilier scandal.

Bayard died at Wilmington on June 13, 1880, and is buried there in the Old Swedes Episcopal Church Cemetery.

[1] Senators were elected by the state legislature at this time – in this case the Delaware General Assembly – to a six-year term beginning March 4.