Richard Stockton autograph document signed ("Richard Stockton") three times. One page, 8" x 6", Middlesex County, [New Jersey]; April 10, [circa 1754-1765]. Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, writes a legal brief as a defense attorney in New Jersey and signs the document three times. Manuscript legal document in the hand of Stockton and signed by him three times (twice in the text) as a defense attorney for one Amos Sutton in the Court of Common Pleas, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The document reads, in part: "And the dt. Amos Sutton by Richard Stockton his Attorney comes & defends the force & injury...& says that he did not assume upon himself in Manner & form as the P. William Stits thereof against him above doth complain & of this he puts himself upon the County and the sd. William in like manner...Amos Sutton puts in his place Richard Stockton his Attorney at the Suit of William Stits in a plea of trespass upon the Case." Signed, "Richard Stockton Atty for Deft." Richard Stockton (1730-1781) was a prominent lawyer from New Jersey. He served as a trustee for the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and through a generous land donation, was responsible for bringing the university, previously located in Newark, to Princeton. A close friend of George Washington's, Stockton was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1774. Two years later, he served on the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. On November 30, 1776, while on an inspection tour for Congress, Stockton was dragged from his bed by loyalists in the middle of the night and turned over to the British. He was imprisoned at New York's Provost Prison, during which time his health was ruined. His home was occupied by General Cornwallis, whose men confiscated or destroyed his crops, livestock, and all his household belongings and burned what was then one of the finest libraries in all the colonies. His poor treatment at their hands hastened his death which occurred in 1781 at age fifty. Condition: Window mounted to the overall size of 9" x 7". Two separations along folds repaired on verso with archival tape. HID03101062020 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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