Background
Stockton was born on April 17, 1764 in Princeton, New Jersey, United States at the family estate, "Morven". He was the son of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Annis (Boudinot) Stockton.
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Stockton was born on April 17, 1764 in Princeton, New Jersey, United States at the family estate, "Morven". He was the son of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Annis (Boudinot) Stockton.
He was tutored privately and attended the College of New Jersey, where he graduated in 1779 and received a master's degree in 1783. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1784 and commenced practice in Princeton.
After studying law in Newark with his uncle, Elisha Boudinot, however, he was admitted to the bar in 1784 and by 1792 was able to write that he was "engaged in all the causes of importance to come on at the Supreme Court".
In 1804 and 1805 he was arguing before the United States Supreme Court the case of Graves and Barnewall vs. Boston Marine Insurance Company. In the meantime he had served a short time in 1788 as treasurer of the College of New Jersey and in 1791 became one of its trustees, a position in which he was active until his death.
On November 2, 1796, he was elected by the New Jersey legislature to fill the unexpired term of United States Senator Frederick Frelinghuysen, who had resigned.
In January 1801 he was tendered by President Adams the position of circuit judge under the projected judiciary act, but declined the offer, probably because of his interest in the governorship of his state. Later the same year he became the Federalist candidate for that office, but was defeated by Joseph Bloomfield, the candidate of the Democratic element.
In 1802 he and Bloomfield received an equal number of votes; the tie was unbroken and there was no election. In 1803 and in 1804 he was the Federalist candidate and was again defeated. In 1812 New Jersey Federalists temporarily improved their political position and Stockton was elected from the second district to the federal House of Representatives (1813 - 15). Strongly opposed to the second war with Great Britain, believing its declaration to have been an act of "political insanity, " he was conspicuous in his opposition to the policies of the administration.
In 1820 he received eight votes from Massachusetts Federalists for the vice-presidency. In 1827 he was appointed a member of the New Jersey commission to settle the long-standing dispute with New York over the eastern boundary of the state.
He died at Morven, near Princeton.
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In the Senatehe was an energetic supporter of Federalist principles.
He demonstrated his sympathy for the British point of view on impressment and urged that the "idle doctrine of free trade and sailors' rights" be dismissed. He prophesied that no treaty of peace would alter any of the maritime rights previously claimed by England; and when the treaty was negotiated, he considered it "a mere tub to the great whale" and "hardly worth a vote".
Stockton was interested in the development of the steamboat, in the building and improvement of canals, and in undeveloped land investments. He owned large tracts in North Carolina and Oneida County, New York. He expressed his legal opinions and political views in logical, well phrased sentences. The federal Constitution he considered an ark of safety for personal liberty; and in his judgment it had not been improved by a single one of its amendments.
Stockton was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.
Tall and stout, dignified to the level of haughtiness, he commanded respect by his appearance and ability; the younger members of the bar knew him as "the old duke".
Stockton was married to Mary Field of Burlington County, New Jersey, and Robert Field Stockton was one of their nine children. His son Commodore Robert F. Stockton was the Military Governor of California who defeated the Mexican army in 1846. He later became a Senator from New Jersey like his father before him. His daughter Annie Stockton was the first wife of U. S. Senator John Renshaw Thomson.