I’ve posted these biographical summaries every year since 2017, Save Jerseyans, to honor the men who helped make this country and educate modern Americans ignorant of their sacrifices. The Founding Fathers remains woefully misunderstood due in large part to the negative impact of wokeness on the U.S. education system.
This year, I’ve decided to share them as a single long-form post.
Enjoy and please consider sharing:
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First up? Meet New Jersey’s ownAbraham Clark. He was a nice guy by all accounts. Smart, too.
A native of Elizabethtown, New Jersey (now known simply as “Elizabeth”) and raised in what is now Roselle, Clark tutored himself in the law while working his day job as a surveyor. As a practicing attorney, he garnered a reputation as “the poor man’s councilor” since he routinely represented the destitute (including poor New Jersey farmers) who couldn’t pay for legal representation.
Abraham Clark to Elias Dayton
Clark eventually married, had ten (!) kids, and served a series of colonial public positions including a stint as “High Sheriff of Essex County.”
Something you may not know: as late as early 1776, New Jersey’s Continental Congress delegation OPPOSED independence. The Garden State was truly the crossroads of the American Revolution not only in terms of army movements but also public opinion. Eventually, following a dramatic state-level debate (and the exile and jailing of New Jersey Royal Governor William Franklin, the son of Ben Franklin), a new delegation was selected with a decidedly different view on the British Crown and its treatment of the Thirteen Colonies. Clark was selected for the new squad due to his vocally pro-independence opinions as well as his strong reputation as a skilled public servant.
On June 28, 1776, he entered Philadelphia along with fellow New Jersey delegates John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Stockton, and John Witherspoon. The rest as they say is history.
The Revolution wasn’t a fairy tale. Not by a long shot, and the Clark family suffered its fair share of drama and heart ache. Two of the ten Clark children joined the Continental Army and, after being captured and imprisoned on the H.M.S. Jersey, the young men were badly mistreated and tortured due to their infamous Declaration-signing father’s treason. Clark eventually did the hardest thing that could possibly asked of a parent: he stood his ground and refused to recant signing the Declaration even when the British said doing so would result in his sons’ release.
Abraham Clark survived the war and lived until 1794 when, at the age of 68, he died of sunstroke at his Roselle family farm. In the intervening period between the war’s end and his passing, Clark continued to remain active in national, state and local politics but persistent ill health forced him to skip the Constitutional Convention.
Clark Township, New Jersey is named after him (as is Abraham Clark High School in Roselle).
If you want to pay your respects, his remains are interred at the Rahway Cemetery in Rahway, New Jersey.
Unlike his fellow New Jerseyan Clark, John Hart didn’t live long enough to see American Independence. He died in 1779 onhis Hopewell Township, New Jersey farmand you can still visit farmland named in his honor today [Note: Mercer County wasn’t formed from portions of Hunterdon County and others until 1838].
Prior to his death, he donated a portion of the farm to the local Baptist community which subsequently erected the Old Baptist Meeting House. Hart was buried there after he died. –
During his exceptionally accomplished life, John Hart served in a number of different public posts including as a member of the Hunterdon County Board of Chosen Freeholders (see my note above) before joining the New Jersey colonial Assembly. He earned the nickname “Honest John” as a judge on what was known in colonial times as the Court of Common Pleas, an honor which I think you’d agree few contemporary New Jersey politicians could ever hope to earn!
In 1776, Hart had quite the year as did the rest of the new nation when he signed the Declaration and was elected Vice President of the newly-formed revolutionary assembly (also known as the “provincial congress”). Hart was eventually elected Speaker of the brand new New Jersey General Assembly among other positions (e.g. treasurer of the Council of Safety, a very powerful state authority during the war).
He also saw his fair share of wartime strife. When the British Army invaded Hunterdon County in December 1776, Speaker Hart was forced to go to ground in the nearby Sourland Mountains as British and Hessian troops pillaged his lands. Hart was able to return home only on the 26th after George Washington’s famous Christmas victory in Trenton.
Colonial currency featuring John Hart’s signature.
Hart later volunteered the use of his farm to General Washington and his 12,000 men preceding the legendary June 1778 Battle of Monmouth.
Events took their toll. Worn out from advancing age and public service and plagued by painful reoccurring kidney stones (back then they were referred to as “gravel” stones), Hart exited public life for good on November 7, 1778. He died a mere six months later May 11, 1779 at age 65.
His May 19, 1779 obituary in the New Jersey Gazette was worthy of Hart’s life well-lived:
On Tuesday the 11th instant, departed this life at his seat in Hopewell, JOHN HART, Esq. the Representative in General Assembly for the county of Hunterdon, and late Speaker of that House. He had served in the Assembly for many years under the former government, taken an early and active part in the present revolution, and continued to the day he was seized with his last illness to discharge the duties of a faithful and upright patriot in the service of his country in general and the county he represented in particular. The universal approbation of his character and conduct among all ranks of people, is the best testimony of his worth, and as it must make his death regretted and lamented, will ensure lasting respect to his memory.
It’s a shame he isn’t as well-remembered as the likes of John Stockton.A few things are still named in his honor including Hart Avenue in Hopewell, Hart Boulevard in Flemington, Hart Lane in Ringoes, and Hart’s cave in East Amwell.
John Witherspoonwasn’t born in the United States. Scottish by birth, Witherspoon had a strong religious and academic background steeped in the Protestant faith; at one point, during the Catholic Jacobite victory at the Battle of Falkirk, Witherspoon was imprisoned in a castle due to his public Protestant sympathies. He later became a minister.
Reverend Witherspoon emigrated to the American Colonies in 1768 at the invitation of future fellow founding fathers Benjamin Rush of Pennsylvania and Richard Stockton of New Jersey (whom he previously met in Scotland) to serve as president of the College of New Jersey in Princeton – the future Princeton University. He personally spearheaded and put his own money into the reconstruction of Nassau Hall after it was badly damaged during the Revolution.
His contributions to theological and general academic learning at Princeton could fill a post (or several), but it suffices to say that Witherspoon’s crowning achievement was helping transform the small theological school from a boot camp for Protestant clergy to a world class institution of classical learning which prepared many of the founding generation’s leading members for their future duties including none other than James Madison and Aaron Burr. Witherspoon was a traditionalist but also very much a product of the Scottish Enlightenment. He encouraged students to consider even those thinkers like David Hume whom Witherspoon considered flawed, wrong, or in Hume’s case, an “infidel.”
As the 1770s progressed, Witherspoon feared not just the growing power of the Crown but also government interference in religion (granting power to Crown-appointed authorities over religious matters) which revived ill memories of his experiences in Scotland and which he also believed threatened American liberty and autonomy in his adopted country.
So Witherspoon once again got political in his own right. Long before Billy Graham, Witherspoon was America’s sermonizer-in-chief. Witherspoon was appointed Congressional Chaplain by Continental Congress President John Hancock after being tapped for the New Jersey delegation. He joined the Committee of Correspondence and Safety in 1774 before the war began in earnest and, in 1776, he delivered a famous sermon titled “The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men” that was widely circulated and credited as being one of the more influential public arguments for separation from Great Britain:
Nassau Hall at Princeton University
“You shall not, my brethren, hear from me in the pulpit, what you have never heard from me in conversation, I mean railing at the king personally, or even his ministers and the parliament, and people of Britain, as so many barbarous savages. Many of their actions have probably been worse than their intentions. That they should desire unlimited dominion, if they can obtain or preserve it, is neither new nor wonderful. I do not refuse submission to their unjust claims, because they are corrupt or profligate, although probably many of them are so, but because they are men, and therefore liable to all the selfish bias inseparable from human nature. I call this claim unjust, of making laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever, because they are separated from us, independent of us, and have an interest in opposing us.”
He ultimately signed the Declaration of Independence, passionately arguing that the country “was not only ripe for the measure, but in danger of rotting for the want of it.”
Though well beyond fighting age himself, Witherspoon’s son served as a major in the Continental Army. Witherspoon took the extraordinary step of closing the College of New Jersey as the war came to Princeton’s doorstep to protect the campus and its students and faculty.
Witherspoon served on no less than 100 committees between 1777 and 1784 and later helped draft the ill-fated Articles of Confederation. He also served in the New Jersey Legislature and, notwithstanding his early affiliation with the Articles, he strongly and vocally argued for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in which his former student James Madison played an starring role.
It’s fair to say that Madison’s Federalist Papers contributions were heavily influenced by Witherspoon’s lessons about human nature. In that sense, Americans owe Witherspoon a debt of gratitude for planting seeds which ultimately took root and bore fruit!
Blind and in failing health, Witherspoon passed away on November 15, 1794 on his farm (called Tusculum) located right outside of town. Witherspoon isn’t buried on the farm but on “Presidents Row” in the historic Princeton Cemetery. There are several things named in his honor on both sides of the Atlantic. A statue of Witherspoon stands at the University of the West of Scotland, Paisley in Scotland (where he met John Stockton), and there’s another statue near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.
Francis Hopkinson was a true Renaissance Man not unlike most of his founding generation contemporaries. Still, he’s a standout by an objective measure. He also might be the REAL Besty Ross.
It’s easier (and less time-consuming) to relay a partial list of his accomplishments in list form:
Author of works including a widely-circulated satire about King George III
Practicing attorney
Musical composer (including of the country’s first native secular song)
Musician (he played the harpsichord)
Designer of the first-ever U.S. coin
Designer of two predecessors of the American flag*
Co-designer of the Great Seal of the United States
Co-Designer of the Great Seal of the New Jersey
Member of the Second Continental Congress (duh)
Member of the Navy Board
First-ever federal judge for the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvani (appointed by President George Washington)
U.S. Congressman from New Jersey
Quite a list!
His early career included a successful New Jersey law practice, work as a customs collector in Salem, New Jersey, and a stint as a successful negotiator of a treaty with Native Americans in Pennsylvania. Shortly before the Revoluntion in 1774, he relaunched his pratice in Bordentown; in 1776, he was one of the Garden State’s delegates to the Continental Congress. But his story actually gets more interesting after he put ink to that famous piece of paper.
You’ll note the asterisk next to the flag…
Many historians firmly believe Hopkinson probably designed the first “Stars and Stripes” version of the U.S. flag. He certainly believed so, but Hopkinson never received credit in his time (much to his chagrin), and most modern Americans would answer “Betsy Ross” if asked who designed it.
American history experts are less sure about the Betsy Ross legend than the general public. The first publicly-circulatd stories of her role in the flag’s genesis didn’t surface until a century later, in 1870, and those stories (1) can’t be documented and (2) originated with her grandson.
Hopkinson’s flag work is easier to document because there’s an extensive paper trail of his demands for payment and acknowledgement from the fledgling American government. It began when he was appointed to the Continental Navy Board in November 1776, four months after the Declaration of Independence was promulgated. On May 25, 1780, Hopkinson wrote to the Board of Admiralty concerning his designs conceived over the past few years including a seal featuring seven red and six white stripes situated on a blue field. Hopkinson explained that he’d settle for “a Quarter Cask of the public Wine” for his efforts. The Board forwarded Hopkinson’s request to Congress, a committee was formed, and – in a long story familiar to anyone who’s had to fight the government over anything – submitted bills, an extensive letter writing campaign, and months of political wrangling resulted in a dead end for Hopkinson.
Hopkinson is buried a Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia along with four other signers of the Declaration of Independence: Benjamin Rush, Joseph Hewes, George Ross and most famously Benjamin Franklin. Don’t want to cross the River to honor this under-appreciated founding father? You can visit still visit the Francis Hopkinson House at 101 Farnsworth Street in Bordentown. It’s been a national historic landmark since 1971.
Last but not least is arguably the most famous (and controversial) New Jersey founding father: Richard Stockton.
Sadly, most Americans who’ve heard of this remarkable man probably recognize his name as attached to a highly-trafficked New Jersey Turnpike rest stop (what a legacy!). Stockton was back in the news in 2017 when the South Jersey university which bears his name removed his bust when Leftists resurrected allegations that Stockton owned slaves. We’ll revisit that claim a bit later.
Who was Richard Stockton?
He was actually a reluctant rebel, at least initially, who ultimately gave his life to the cause of the American Revolution. Born in 1730, Stockton initially had no interest whatsoever in politics let alone separation from Great Britain.
Richard Stockton’s statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection.
As the relationship between England and its North American colonies deteriorated, Stockton’s preferred remedy was gaining colonial representation in the British Parliament. The Stamp Act flap in the mid-1760s seemed to be the catalyst for his own revolutionary turn, but still wasn’t firebrand relative to his contemporaries like John Adams or Patrick Henry. In 1774, he wrote Lord Dartmouth (then Secretary of State for the Colonies) concering his supprot for “a plan of self-government for America, independent of Parliament, without renouncing allegiance to the Crown.”
He even visited Great Britain between 1766 and 1767 and address King George III who, it was reported, approved of the increasingly prominent America’s comments concerning the repealed Stamp Act.
Stockton remained on the sidelines notwithstanding his evolving political views. An attorney, he didn’t enter government until his return from Great Britain; in 1768, he accepted appointment to the governing Council of New Jersey. He later joined the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1774.
Then events accelerated. Appointed to the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, Stockton signed the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776. He was the first of the five New Jerseyans in the delegation to sign. Stockton would pay dearly for it.
On November 30, 1776, Stockton was waylayed by loyalists after returning to New Jersey to move his family to safety away from the anticipated path of the British Army. His captors turned him over the British in Perth Amboy and Stockton’s long odyssey began. General Cornwallis occupied Stockton’s Princeton home; his possessions were confiscated by the British Army as confirmed in a letter written by his son-in-law Dr. Benjamin Rush, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Continental Congress subsequently directed George Washington – a close personal friend of Stockton – to ascertain Stockton’s status. Starved and frozen, Stockton was released not long thereafter on January 13, 1777.
More Revoluntary War American combatants died in British custody than on the battlefied. An invalid due to his injuries who never fully recovered from his time in captivity, Stockton died in Princeton on February 28, 1781. A late in life lip cancer further compounded the detiortion of his health.
Stockton’s release from prison remains controverisal. He was accused by some detractors of recanting his Revolutionary allegiances to win his own release. Notably, however, not a single shred of dispositive hard evidence exists verifying the allegations.
His life on the homefront is currently a hotter topic among some historians. Stockton Universitystarted a project to study its namesake’s connection to slavery and the aftermath of his imprisonment:
“In Stockton’s case, enslaved people worked in his family home—a property he called Morven—built after he inherited near Princeton, New Jersey in the 1750s. When he died in 1781, and despite assertions during his lifetime, Stockton did not free the people that he owned. They appear in his will, when he bequeathed them, along with his other ‘property,’ to his wife Annis Stockton: ‘And whereas I have heretofore mentioned to some of my negroe slaves, that upon condition of their good behavior & fidelity, I would in some convenient period grant them their freedom—this I must leave to the discretion of my wife, in whose judgment & prudence I can fully confide.’”
The slavery hypocrisy doesn’t make Stockton unique among a generation of men who, including his friend Washington and Thomas Jefferson, established higher ideals than they were able to attain in their own lifetimes. It is indisputable that the ideas of Stockton and his contemporaries inspired and continue to inspire those seeking freedom all around the world, and the “more perfect union” to which our country continues to aspire wouldn’t be possible were it not for the sacrifices of Richard Stockton and the other signatories to the Declaration of Independence.
Stockton is buried at the Stony Brook Meeting House in Princeton. In 1888, New Jersey submitted a marble statue of Richard Stockton to the fampous National Statuary Hall Collection on display at the U.S. Capitol. in Washington, D.C.
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.
Many historians firmly believe Hopkinson probably designed the first “Stars and Stripes” version of the U.S. flag. He certainly believed so, but Hopkinson never received credit in his time (much to his chagrin), and most modern Americans would answer “Betsy Ross” if asked who designed it.
