An Address Delivered at the Centennial Celebration of the American Whig Society of the College of New Jersey, June 29, 1869 (Classic Reprint) by Field Richard Stockton (2015-07-03) Paperback
The Provincial Courts of New Jersey: With Sketches of the Bench and Bar : A Discourse Read Before the New Jersey Historical Society
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
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Speech of Hon. R. S. Field, of New Jersey on the discharge of state prisoners: delivered in the Senate of the United States, January 7, 1863.
(Originally published in 1863. 16 pages. This volume is pr...)
Originally published in 1863. 16 pages. This volume is produced from digital images from the Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Richard Stockton Field was a United States Senator from New Jersey, and later a United States federal judge.
Background
Richard Stockton Field was born in White Hill, Burlington County, New Jersey, the son of Robert and Abigail (Stockton) Field. His paternal ancestor, Robert Field, emigrated from England about 1630, moving to Rhode Island about 1638. His mother was the daughter of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Education
Upon the death of his father in 1810 the family moved to Princeton, where Richard S. Field received his education, being graduated from the College of New Jersey at the age of seventeen, with the class of 1821.
Career
Field's political career began with his election to the Assembly in 1833, to which body he was twice reelected. In 1838 he was appointed attorney-general of New Jersey, serving until 1841, when he resigned to devote himself to the regular practise of his profession in Princeton.
His relatives, the Stockton family, were largely interested in the Camden & Amboy Railroad and the Delaware & Raritan Canal Company, and he occupied himself in the professional duties arising in connection with the business of those transportation systems.
When a constitutional convention was called in New Jersey in 1844 Field was one of its prominent members and served on the committee relating to the appointing power.
When the Law Department of the College of New Jersey was opened in 1847, he became professor of constitutional law and jurisprudence, serving until 1855. For a number of years he advocated the creation of a state normal school and his efforts were finally rewarded by the Act of February 9, 1855, creating such an institution. He was made a member of the board of trustees and was at once elected its president, continuing to act in that capacity until his death.
The annual reports of this board to the legislature from 1855 to 1870 were all written by him and bear testimony to his knowledge of and interest in this branch of the educational system of the state. In November 18G2 Gov. Olden appointed Field to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate.
This appointment was in recognition of his service in organizing the Union-Republican party in New Jersey in 1862 (Knapp, post, p. 1310). Since the Democratic party was in control of the state legislature and supplanted him upon meeting in January, Senator Field occupied his seat but a few weeks.
During his short service, however, he gained national prominence by his able argument in support of the power of the president to suspend the writ of habeas corpus; and in recognition of his effective support of the administration on this occasion and also for that in his state during 1861-62, President Lincoln appointed hint in January 1863 judge of the district court of the United States for the district of New Jersey, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Philemon Dickerson.
Field served on the bench until April 19, 1870, when he was stricken with paralysis and fell senseless from his seat. He died five weeks later in Princeton.
Flis most important literary work, “The Provincial Courts of New Jersey” (New Jersey Historical Society Collections, vol. Ill, 1849), was written in connection with the work of the Society. Among his other writings are: Trial of Rev. William Tennent (1851) ; The Federal Convention of 1787 (1853) ; The Papers of Gov. Lewis Morris (1852) ; The Constitution Not a Compact between Sovereign States (1861); Life and Character of Chief Justice Hornblower (1865) ; Life and Character of Hon. James Parker (1869) ; and several other addresses.
He was made a member of the board of trustees of a state normal school in New Jersey.
Connections
After studying law with his uncle, Richard Stockton, he was admitted to the bar in 1825 and began his practise in Salem, New Jersey, where in 1831 he married Mary Ritchie.