Jonathan Witherspoon – 5 from New Jersey

Besides being the only minister among the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, Jonathan Witherspoon is unique in that his reputation as an active minister, leader and educated orator preceded him across the Atlantic Ocean.

Witherspoon was born in 1723 and educated at the University of Edinburgh; he was also the author of many moving and inspirational sermons and other texts. It was one of his sermons, “The Trial of Religious Truth by its Moral Influence,”  that was well read in the colonies and brought the young minister to the attention of Richard Stockton, a Declaration signer and also a trustee at the College of New Jersey, later known as Princeton. Stockton went to Scotland to meet with Witherspoon and ask him to become president of the University.

Witherspoon accepted and the family moved to Princeton where he improved the curriculum and made Princeton a stronger and better college. The debate societies and programs he started there became the learning grounds for both Aaron Burr and James Madison among others.

As a Scotsman, Witherspoon was not a fan of the English from the onset, so his sermons and local activities  led to his essay on the “Thoughts on American Liberty” and his belief in independence for the colonies. He then became active in establishing a new constitution for New Jersey and efforts to oust Royal Governor William Franklin from office. Franklin was the illegitimate and estranged son of Benjamin Franklin and a follower of the Royal government.

Witherspoon is recognized as the fiery minister who stood up during the debates on the independence resolution to chide a fellow delegate that “the country is not only ripe for the measure of independence but in danger of becoming rotten for the want of it.”

After the adoption, Witherspoon’s remained in Congress for six more years, serving on boards and committees including one dealing with collecting foreign intelligence through letters from friends overseas. He also served in the state legislature and was in the convention that ratified the national Constitution in 1789.

The minister’s  son, James, was killed at the Battle of Germantown.  His home and offices were ransacked by the British causing the loss through damage or fire of untold numbers of essays and other works dating back to his time in Europe.

Witherspoon was at the lead of those reorganizing the Presbyterian Church at the national level and served as moderator of the first assembly of the group in 1879.

Witherspoon’s wife died in 1779, and two years later he married a 24-year-old widow and the couple had two children before his death in 1794 at the age of 71.  He is buried in the President’s Lot at Princeton Cemetery.

Richard Stockton, Signatory the Declaration of Independence

Richard Stockton was certainly the wealthiest of the five New Jersey signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was also probably the best educated of them and worked for a well-known and highly regarded Newark law firm.

Born in 1730, Stockton showed no interest in politics, enjoyed living a luxurious life in the Princeton family estate of Morven, later the Governor’s Mansion for many years and now a museum. Stockton was polished and described as an enlightened politician as well as a graceful speaker.

But it was his legal studies that led to his being involved to help the colonies become an independent nation, as well as the inspiring speaking of John Adams when he and the other four New Jerseyans went to Philadelphia to vote on the Declaration the month before the vote was taken.

He was also concerned for his fellow man, best evidenced when he was sent to inspect troops in New York state and was shocked at the lack of supplies and clothing the New Jersey volunteers had. So when he learned the British were nearing Morven, he returned home to the estate, and before even moving his wife and children to safety further away in Monmouth County, he helped feed, clothe and supply the colony soldiers who were in the area.

Loyalist militants roused him from his home at night, took him prisoner and jailed him in Perth Amboy before moving him to New York where his health was severely diminished in that prison for more than a month and led his becoming an invalid.

Whether he was released from prison through a prisoner’s exchange program or the intercession of General Washington is not precise, however, he returned home extremely ill and never able to recover.

Stockton’s statue is one of the two representing New Jersey in the Statuary collection at the nation’s Capitol, with Civil War hero General Phillip Kearny in Statuary Hall and Stockton in the Capitol crypt. It has been part of the 100-statue collection since donated by the state in 1888.  Stockton State University was named for Stockton as was the village of Stockton and several other smaller honors.

Earlier in his career, Stockton served on the governing Council of New Jersey and the New Jersey Supreme Court, before being named to the Continental Congress and going to Philadelphia in time for the final debates and approval of the Declaration of Independence.

Suffering from the effects of his imprisonment together with a cancerous mouth and jaw, Stockton died at Moven Feb. 28, 1781. He was the second of the New Jersey Signers, after John Hart, to die.

He is buried at Stony Brook Quaker Meeting House cemetery in Princeton.

 John Hart, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence

The year 1776 wasn’t exactly one of the best in John Hart’s life, despite the fact he was one of the five from New Jersey who bravely voted for the Declaration of Independence on July 4 and signed it on Aug.2, creating the new nation.

For Hart, it was the thing to do, and he was proud and honored to do it.

But that same year, just three months after the July event, his wife and mother of their 13 children fell ill and died after 36 years of marriage. The following month, the British entered his property, forcing him to remove the children to the care of relatives and friend while he remained to stay close to his acreage. He hid out in the mountains hear his home in Hopewell while the British plundered the land but returned to it and worked to rebuild it again.

He must have been successful, since in June of 1778, when Washington was leading 12,000 troops in the area in defense of the nation, Hart allowed them all to camp on his land. Washington, who spent more time in New Jersey than any other colony during the Revolution, went on with his rested and refreshed troops to win the Battle of Monmouth at Freehold, a turning point in the Revolution.

Uneducated and the oldest, at 68, of the New Jersey delegation to sign the Declaration, Hart left the Congress to return to New Jersey and become the a state Assemblyman, to be elected twice as Speaker, the first Speaker of the Assembly in New Jersey, and to chalk up several other accomplishments.

In addition to being an elected Justice of the Peace in spite of little education, Hart also served as the first vice-president of the New Jersey Provincial Congress, amassed more than 600 acres of farmland to become the largest landowner in Hopewell, and gained the respect of all for his hard work energy, honesty and dedication toward independence.

Hart was the second generation of his family to serve in battle. His father had been a member of the famed Jersey Blues, the New Jersey volunteers who, who earlier had fought against Quebec in the French and India War.

John Hart died at home in 1779 is buried in the First Baptist Church Cemetery in Hopewell.

Abraham Clark

Those 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were not all highly educated, nor wealthy. Nor were they all dedicated politicians.

New Jersey’s Abraham Clark, one of the five from the Garden State, was none of the above but was well loved, well respected, and a patriot who lost his own sons in the Revolution.

Born in Union County in the Roselle area, he was the only son of a farmer and thus did not receive much of a formal education. Yet his parents taught him the value of books and hard work so as a young man, Clark also got a job with a local surveyor respected in the area for having good sense and knowing the law.

Clark became the same, and even though he never became an attorney, he earned a reputation as the “Poor Man’s Counselor” because he was generous with time and talent in helping others with land disputes, mortgages and other legal matters.

Because of his love for the colonies, he also served on various committees in revolutionary conventions and helped draft the New Jersey constitution, then being elected to make up the New Jersey delegation who went to Philadelphia in June of 1776. The five were all named the month before the resolution was passed to give their support to founding the new nation.

In Philadelphia, Clark earned his reputation for disliking pompous and posturing attitudes, so much so that Benjamin Rush, a signer who kept copious notes on everybody in the Continental Congress described him as sensible but cynical, and “uncommonly quick sighted in seeing the weakness and defects of public men and measures.” Clearly, Mr. Clark didn’t like government officials who talked and talked, but didn’t take action.

He was eager to sign the Declaration and knew the personal costs of it.  Even though his own sons were in the war, captured and imprisoned, he said he felt the danger the colonies are in, adding “perhaps our Congress will be exalted on a high gallows,…. “

Clark’s son Aaron was imprisoned in the Sugar House, a New York dungeon, his son Thomas was imprisoned on the notorious prison ship, the Jersey. And possibly a third son, Andrew, may also have been imprisoned, and later died on that ship.

Despite his personal losses, Clark continued to serve in Congress, was at the Annapolis Convention, and was scheduled to be at the Federal Convention in 1787 to help draw up the new Constitution. While his own health prevented him from being there, he nonetheless put in his opinion, opposing the entire doctrine until it eventually included the Bill of Rights.

He was New Jersey’s congressman from 1791 to 1794 when he was back home in Roselle. He was outdoors, felt sick and left his lands to get back to his home and bed. He died there at age 68 several hours later. He had served his new nation 18 years after signing the Declaration.

Abraham Clark is buried at the Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Rahway,

Other Stories on New Jerseyans who signed the Declaration of Independence

The Five

Francis Hopkinson