He was born on May 5, 1816 in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States, the son of Francis and Ann (McCamley) Price. His grandfathers, Zachariah Price and David McCamley, were both extensive land-owners in the northern region of the state.
He attended the Lawrenceville School and entered the College of New Jersey (Princeton) but was forced to leave because of lack of health. Later he studied law.
The combined political and naval influence obtained him an appointment as naval purser in 1840. After serving on the Fulton he was assigned to the new Missouri, which was sent on an exhibition cruise to Europe, one of the first steam warships to cross the Atlantic. She was burned at Gibraltar, and he spent some time touring Europe with Capt. John T. Newton, being received by Queen Victoria and Wellington, learning Spanish, and helping Washington Irving to copy the Columbus records in the Spanish archives. He played an active part in the American occupation of California.
Early in 1846, after what he described as a confidential interview with Polk and Secretary Bancroft, he was ordered to the Cyane in Sloat's Pacific Squadron. He related that, being rowed to the flagship at midnight on July 6, he strongly urged Sloat to occupy California before Sir George Seymour's British squadron should do so. He was appointed alcalde and was said to be the first American to exercise judicial authority in California.
He was later sent with dispatches to Scott and thence to Polk, who asked him to draw up a report on California. While he was in Washington, news came of the gold discovery, and he was sent back to San Francisco with added fiscal powers as naval agent to facilitate transmission of funds and prevent gold shipments to England. He made heavy profits in real estate, furnished money for San Francisco's first wharf, sat in its first municipal council, and was a member of the California constitutional convention.
In December 1849 he was relieved from duty as naval agent. He settled his accounts and advanced $75, 000 to his successor for government use, but while traveling on the Alabama River on his way to Washington the steamer was burned, and he lost all his receipts and vouchers. This created an embarrassing tangle resulting in litigation that stretched over more than forty years and resulted in his imprisonment just before his death.
Returning to New Jersey, he plunged into Democratic politics and was elected in 1850 to the House of Representatives, where he spoke and worked in the interest of the Paterson silk industry. He was defeated for reelection, but in 1853 he was elected governor. In January 1854 he began his three-year term.
Not eligible for reelection, he retired to private life. After serving as one of New Jersey's nine delegates to the unsuccessful "peace conference" at Washington in 1861. He lived for some time at Weehawken but in 1862 settled for the remainder of his life in northern New Jersey on the Ramapo near Oakland. Price died in Oakland, New Jersey on June 7, 1894.
Rodman McCamley Price, as the Governor of New Jersey, was instrumental in establishing the state geological survey, a life-saving apparatus on the Jersey coast, and an improved system of road construction. He appointed judges from both parties, took preliminary steps to modify the railroad monopoly, helped to improve the militia, and assisted the rebuilding of Nassau Hall at Princeton. His crowning work was his support of the movement for educational reform, led by Richard S. Field, Christopher C. Hoagland, and David Cole. He urged the development of the New Jersey shore as the logical center of the activity of the port of New York, owing to its rail connections.
He believed that slavery was no evil and that New Jersey would serve its interests best by siding with the South.
He married Matilda Trenchard, the daughter of a naval captain and the sister of Steven Decatur Trenchard.
