Richard Stockton represented New Jersey at the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence.
Richard Stockton initially took a moderate stance in the troubles between the colonies and Great Britain. He disagreed with the more extreme points of both views. He wanted reconciliation, but he saw the reality of independence. He took a very active role as a member of the Second Continental Congress, where. When elections were held for the state governments of the new nation, Stockton and William Livingston each received the same number of votes to be the Governor of New Jersey on the first ballot. Although Livingston later won the election by one vote, Stockton was unanimously elected to serve as the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, but he turned down that position to remain in the Congress.
After the Declaration of Independence had been penned by Thomas Jefferson and edited by the committee it needed to be signed. Richard Stockton would become the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. He would pay the price for placing his signature on that document.
While attempting to evacuate his family to safer territory away from the British army, he was captured by loyalists. He was stripped of his property and sent on a forced march to Perth Amboy where he was given to the British. General William Howe offered Stockton and other prisoners a free pardon if they were renounce the Declaration of Independence and swear allegiance to the King. Stockton refused. For five weeks he was beaten, interrogated, and intentionally starved. His old friend, George Washington, negotiated his release, but Stockton’s health was already destroyed.