[1]
Robert F. Stockton’s grandfather, Richard Stockton I, was a member of the college’s first graduating class in 1748. He went on to sign the Declaration of Independence and serve in the Continental Congress. Stockton’s father, Richard Stockton II (class of 1779), was the first Attorney General of New Jersey, a member of the House of Representatives, and a U.S. Senator. Robert’s brother, Richard Stockton III, graduated from Princeton in 1810.
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[2]
Three of the Alligator’s prizes escaped, leaving only the crew of the French slave ship Jeune Eugenie to face charges in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. The French were outraged. Stockton sought to convince the Monroe administration that slave traders could not hide behind the French flag because France itself had outlawed the slave trade. However, he was only narrowly able to avoid a court-martial (thanks to his father’s intervention).
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[3]
Robert Stockton to Smith Thompson, 27 May 1821, p. 1, Miscellaneous Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy, 1801-1884, M124, Roll No. 90 (May 2 – August 22, 1821); National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
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[4]
R. John Brockmann, Commodore Robert F. Stockton, 1795-1866: Protean Man for a Protean Nation (Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2009), 58.
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[5]
Samuel J. Bayard, A Sketch of the Life of Commodore Robert F. Stockton...(New York: Derby & Jackson, 1856), 46.
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[6]
Allan Yarema, The American Colonization Society: An Avenue to Freedom? (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2006), 42.
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[7]
“From Africa,” City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser (Charleston, South Carolina), 22 January 1822, 2.
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[8]
“From the National Intelligencer,” September 6, 1824, Appendix E in: Samuel J. Bayard, A Sketch of the Life of Commodore Robert F. Stockton...(New York: Derby & Jackson, 1856), 64; 63; 64; and 65.
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[9]
Stockton’s personal convictions and political views are very difficult to pinpoint, in part because his personal correspondence vanished following his death. He also altered his opinions repeatedly throughout his long political career. For more information, see: R. John Brockmann, Commodore Robert F. Stockton, 2.
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[10]
“Speech at Washington, 1825,” Appendix E in Samuel J. Bayard, A Sketch of the Life of Commodore Robert F. Stockton...(New York: Derby & Jackson, 1856), 67.
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[11]
R.F. Stockton, Letter of Commodore Stockton on the Slavery Question. (New York: S.W. Benedict, 1850), 16-7.
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[13]
It would take a team of genealogists to determine how many of members of the Stockton family have attended Princeton. Between 1748 and 1865, there were at least 22 graduates with just the surname Stockton. Stockton’s own son, Robert F. Stockton, Jr., graduated from the college in 1851. He, too, would serve in the U.S. Senate.
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[14]
This honor literally backfired. The USS Princeton featured the largest naval gun in the world (“the Peacemaker”). In 1844, the crème-de-la-crème of Washington, D.C., society attended an opening ceremony for the gun aboard the Princeton. Stockton fired the untested gun, which exploded, killing six and wounding 20. Among the dead were the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Navy, and one of President John Tyler’s slaves. Tyler rescued Julia Gardiner, whose father David was also killed in the explosion. The two were married a few months later.
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[15]
According to Professor Albert Dod, Stockton mediated a near-violent dispute between the students and the laboring men of Princeton. Both sides had armed themselves with pistols and guns, and the faculty sent for Stockton to intervene. Before the “desperate battle” could commence, “he soon succeeded…in persuading [the two sides] to settle and compromise their whole difficulties on terms honorable and acceptable to each party.” Samuel J. Bayard, A Sketch of the Life of Commodore Robert F. Stockton… (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1856), 45.
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