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Richard Stockton

RICHARD STOCKTON was born near Princeton, New Jersey, on the first day of October, 1730, and received his education at the college in his native State, where he graduated at the age of eighteen.

On leaving college, Mr. Stockton commenced the study of the law, and on his admission to the bar, rose quickly to an enviable distinction. About the year 1767, he relinquished his professional business for the purpose of visiting Great Britain. During his tour through the united countries, he was received with great attention On visiting Edinburgh, he was complimented with a public dinner, by the authorities of that city, the freedom of which was unanimously conferred upon him. During his stay in Scotland, he was so fortunate as to induce the Reverend Dr. Witherspoon, of Paisley, to remove to America, and accept the presidency of New Jersey College.

On his return to this country, Mr. Stockton stood high in the royal favor, and was appointed one of the Royal Judges of the Province, and a member of the Executive Council. But on the commencement of the aggravating system of oppression by which the mother country hoped to humiliate the colonists, he separated himself from the Royal Council, and joyfully concurred in all the liberal measures of the day. On the 21st of June, 1776, he was elected a delegate to the General Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia. Here he discharged, with fidelity and energy, all the duties assigned him; and on the agitation of the great question of independence, he addressed the house in its behalf.

On the 30th of November, Mr. Stockton was unfortunately taken prisoner by a party of refugee royalists. He was dragged from his bed at night, and carried to New York. Here he was treated with the utmost rigor and indignity. Congress remonstrated with General Howe in his behalf, and he was finally released from his captivity; but the iron had entered his soul. His constitution had experienced an irreparable shock, and his ample fortune was completely reduced. He continued to languish for several years, and at length died, at his residence in Princeton, on the 28th of February, 1781, in the fifty-third year of his age. His character was in every respect estimable. he possessed a cultivated taste for literature and was a polished and eloquent speaker.