Richard Stockton, a lawyer and judge, describes abandoning his loyalty to the Crown for American independence. He witnessed John Adams's closing appeal on July 1, 1776, signed the Declaration, and lost his health, home, and library to imprisonment. He never sought pardon.
Chapters
How do you do? My name is Richard Stockton, lawyer, judge and reluctant revolutionary. I did not rush toward independence. I believed first in reason, petition, in loyalty to crown and country alike. But when Parliament shut its ears to justice and our rights were trampled, I knew where duty lay. On July 1, 1776, I arrived late to Congress, soaked to the skin from a thunderstorm. Just in time to hear the closing moments of John Adams passionate rally for independence, I asked him to repeat what I had missed. Though reluctant at first, Mr. Adams repeated his stirring speech. I believe then and believe now. He is a man to whom the country is most indebted for the great measure of independency. Signing the declaration cost me dearly. That November I was dragged from my bed by Loyalists, marched through snow in my night clothes and thrown in irons by the British. They starved me in a New York prison, leaving me broken and near death. I survived, but not without loss. My health, my home, my law library, gone. My family, displaced. My honor, though I never relinquished. Some whisper that I beg to pardon. Let them whisper I took no oath to any king, only to my country. I gave all I had in its service, and I would again let them who inherit this liberty remember it is not forged in comfort, but in trial. It is not kept by ease, but by resolve.
