Richard Stockton

From Virginia, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.

From the state of Pennsylvania, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross from the state of Delaware, Cesar Rodney, George Reed, Thomas McKean from the state of New York, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris from the state of New Jersey, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, From the state of New Hampshire, Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple.

From the state of Massachusetts, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Payne, Elbridge Gary.

From the state of Rhode Island, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery.

And so that's Samuel Chase.

You see here Richard Stockton.

Richard Stockton was the Speaker of the House in New Jersey.

Now, New Jersey and New York were the two most loyalist states of the 13.

In other words, they had the most pro-British people in them.

We use the last will and testament to give all of our material stuff to the kids.

I want you to see what Richard did here.

Now, you see his name up top, I, Richard Stockton.

Thank you for that.

So my last question before I turn it over to my dear co-host for the day, Richard Stockton wrote, the man to whom the country is most indebted for the great measure of independence is Mr. John Adams.

I call him the Atlas of American Independence.

And we know Richard Stockton was a New Jersey delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1776.

He goes on to say, he it was who sustained the debate and by force of his reasoning demonstrated not only the justice, but the expediency of the measure, end quote.

Professor, talk to us about John Adams and his classical liberal arts and legal education and how that assisted his farsighted political leadership in leading the cause of American independence.

He'd sent it originally as a letter to the Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey constitutional conventions, writing new state constitutions in those states.

And he outlined the sort of representative government that would become the hallmark of American independence.

Oh, no. Oh, no. [laughs]

There goes Richard Stockton.

Oh.

I'll smack him with his own hand.

It was while I was in Edinburgh that the Reverend Dr. Witherspoon of Paisley in Scotland was elected president of the college in New Jersey.

Mr. Richard Stockton, one of the trustees of the college, who was at that time in London, was appointed to present to the doctor the minute of his election.

This was done in Edinburgh, where Dr. Witherspoon met Mr. Stockton.

In consequence of the doctor's wife's unwillingness to leave her native country, he declined the invitation.

Every attachment of his heart yielded to his love of his country.

New Jersey.

Richard Stockton, an enlightened politician and a correct and graceful speaker.

He was timid where bold measures were required but was at all times sincerely devoted to the liberties of his country.

And the first resort in Atlantic City to legalize gambling was ironically called Resorts, which was owned by Merv Griffin at the time.

Now, what did we hear about this? I went to college, full disclosure, here at, then it was Stockton State College, now it's Richard Stockton College, University of New Jersey.

Richard Stockton College in New Jersey.

Why do they do that? Because when you say you went to Stockton, everyone thinks Stockton, California.

They don't think Richard Stockton who signed the Declaration of Independence or anything else.

But anyway, I digress

as usual.

So now you're up to 400 plus people graduating every year with an associate's degree.

Um, there was one question that was raised by one of our listeners about one of the signers, 'cause in our introduction, we say none of the 56 signatories ever renounced the cause of independence of their own free will.

And one of our listeners has said that he thought that Richard Stockton, uh, did, uh, receive a pardon and, as part of that, uh, from the British, renounced, uh, the Declaration of Independence.

And we have done some copious research, uh, on that subject, and here is what we found.

That the British invaded New Jersey, and, um, Richard Stockton rushed home and moved his family to a home of a friend 30 miles from Princeton.

He was captured there November 30th, 1776, by loyalists in the dead of night, dragged from his bed, marched in freezing weather clad only in a nightshirt and breeches.

He was turned over to the British and jailed in Perth Amboy first, then sent on to prison in New York.

Conditions were horrific in that prison, for over 12,000 men died in prison ships and prisons in New York, compared with the 4,400 battle casualties during the entire war.

That's the untold story of the Revolutionary War.