Richard Stockton (198)

Richard Stockton (1 October 1730–28 February 1781) was a lawyer and a public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Princeton, he grew up with an impressive education that culminated in graduating from the College of New Jersey in 1748. He was admitted to the bar in 1754 and subsequently built a large and successful legal practice. In 1766 Stockton traveled to England and Scotland and, aided by his letter of introduction from Governor William Franklin, attended English courts and resplendent social events such as the queen’s birthday ball. His life back in New Jersey contained a similar mix of the appointments and past times that his wealth and status afforded. In 1767 Governor Franklin appointed him, again, to the Provincial Council and in 1774 he was commissioned an associate justice of the New Jersey’s Supreme Court. In 1776 he voted for independence while attending the Continental Congress and continued to serve on a variety of committees throughout the war. When the British army crossed into New Jersey, local Tories betrayed his place of refuge to British troops who subsequently imprisoned him in New York. Stockton was able to secure his release from General Howe but only (or so it seemed), in exchange for his resignation from Congress, which he did, in 1777. Stockton’s return to Princeton found his country estate damaged and his reputation sullied in light of his release. He lived out of the public eye after the war, enduring a series of painful surgeries to treat cancerous growths before dying at the age of fifty. His son-in-law was APS member Benjamin Rush. (PI)