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[[Image:Richard Stockton.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Portrait bust of Richard Stockton in the [[Stockton College]] library]]

[[Image:Richard Stockton.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Portrait bust of Richard Stockton in the [[Stockton College]] library]]

'''Richard Stockton''' (1730–1781) was a signer of the [[Declaration of Independence]]. Like many signatories, he died prematurely due to harsh treatment by the [[United Kingdom|British]]. He was an attorney by trade, and was born and lived in the colony of [[New Jersey]].

'''Richard Stockton''' (1730–1781) was a signer of the [[Declaration of Independence]].<ref name=Lives>[[B. J. Lossing|Lossing, BJ]]. ''[[Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence]].'' New York: George F. Cooledge and Bro., 1848. Reprint: Aledo, [[Texas|TX]]: Wallbuilder Press, 1995, pp. 77-80</ref> Like many signatories, he died prematurely on account of harsh treatment by the [[United Kingdom|British]]. He was an [[attorney]] by trade, and was born and lived in the colony of [[New Jersey]].

Stockton refused to serve as a public official "till I am convinced that by neglecting my own affairs I am doing more acceptable Service to God and Man." But in 1776 Stockton did serve in the [[Continental Congress]].

His great grandfather was that [[Richard Stockton (emigrant)|Richard Stockton]] who first emigrated to the [[New York]] colony between 1660 and 1670 (or perhaps earlier to what was then known as [[New Netherland]]). The present subject was actually the third bearer of the name Richard Stockton (the second was his grandfather). He was born on [[October 1]], [[1730]] to [[John Stockton]] on the family estate of [[Morven]], near [[Princeton]].<ref name=Lives/>

On [[November 30]], [[1776]], American loyalists betrayed Stockton, captured him in the middle of the night, and turned him over to the British.  Stockton refused an offer of [[amnesty]] based on swearing allegiance to the [[King]]. The British then took Stockton to [[Perth Amboy]], New Jersey, and subjected him to cruel treatment.  The British also destroyed his farm and burned his library, which was one of the best in America. Stockton was later transferred to a [[New York]] prison.

Richard Stockton studied for two years at the [[West Nottingham Academy]] in [[Maryland]], under Dr. [[Samuel Finley]].<ref name=Signers>Authors unknown. "[http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/stockton.htm Entry for Richard Stockton]." ''Signers of the Declaration of Independence''. Retrieved June 15, 2007.</ref> He then entered what was then known as the College of New Jersey (the modern [[Princeton University]]).<ref name=Signers/> He graduated in [[1748]] and studied law in [[Newark]] under [[David Ogden]]. In [[1754]] he was admitted to the [[bar]], and in [[1763]] he was granted the degree of [[sergeant at law]], the highest distinction for a lawyer of that era.<ref name=Lives/><ref name=Signers/>

After six weeks of lack of food and freezing cold weather in prison in New York, Stockton was finally released. His health had been ruined.

In [[June]] of [[1766]] he sailed to [[London]], [[England]]. He stayed in England for fifteen months. During that time he sought and obtained much "patronage" for the College of New Jersey. He was also, for a week, a guest of the [[Marquis of Rockingham]] ([[Prime Minister]] of England between Lords [[Lord Grenville|Grenville]] and [[Lord North|North]]). He was granted the "freedom of the city" in [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]]. There he first met Dr. [[John Witherspoon]], who later became a resident of New Jersey himself.<ref name=Lives/>

On [[February 28]], [[1781]], Richard Stockton died penniless at the age of 51.

In [[September]] of [[1767]] he returned to New Jersey, where in [[1768]] he became a member of the [[Royal Executive Council]] of that colony.<ref name=Lives/><ref name=Signers/> Stockton refused to serve as a public official "till I am convinced that by neglecting my own affairs I am doing more acceptable Service to God and Man."{{fact}} Nevertheless in [[1774]] he was made a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and in [[1776]] he was elected as a [[delegate]] to the [[Continental Congress]].<ref name=Lives/><ref name=Signers/> He arrived in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], in time to participate in the debate over the [[Declaration of Independence]]. At first he was not disposed to sign the Declaration, though he and Witherspoon had strict instructions to vote for independence.<ref name=Signers/> But [[John Adams]] persuaded him to sign with his eloquence.<ref name=Lives/>

New Jersey honored Stockton by donating a statue of him to the [[US Capitol]] Statuary Hall, where only six signers of the Declaration of Independence are so represented.

In [[September]] of [[1776]] he was re-elected to Congress, and was detailed on a fact-finding mission to the Army of the North, then under the command of General Schuyler.<ref name=Lives/><ref name=Signers/> After returning from that mission, he had to hurry to get his family to safety after General [[George Washington|Washington]] was defeated in New York and had to run from [[Lord Howe]] across New Jersey. He managed to get his family to safety,<ref name=Signers/> but on [[November 30]], [[1776]], American loyalists betrayed Stockton, captured him in the middle of the night, and turned him over to the British.<ref name=Signers/><ref name=Lives/>

Richard Stockton's Will declared:  

Richard Stockton's Will declared:  

:As my children ... may be peculiarly impressed with the last words of their father, I think proper here, not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great leading doctrine of the [[Christian]] religion ... but also in the heart of a father's affection, to exhort them to remember 'that the fear of the [[Lord]] is the beginning of wisdom.'

:As my children ... may be peculiarly impressed with the last words of their father, I think proper here, not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great leading doctrine of the [[Christian]] religion ... but also in the heart of a father's affection, to exhort them to remember 'that the fear of the [[Lord]] is the beginning of wisdom.'

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[[Category:Americans]]

[[Category:Americans]]