John P. Stockton

John Potter Stockton (August 2, 1826January 22, 1900) was a New Jersey politician who served in the United States Senate as a Democrat. He was New Jersey Attorney General for twenty years (1877 to 1897), and served as United States Minister to the Papal States from 1858 to 1861. The scion of a family long prominent in New Jersey government and politics, John P. Stockton was a native of Princeton, New Jersey, and an 1843 graduate of Princeton University. After studying law, attaining admission to the bar, and practicing in Princeton and Trenton, in 1858 Stockton was appointed as Minister to the Papal States. He served until 1861, and returned home after the Republican administration of Abraham Lincoln came to power following the 1860 presidential election. In March 1865, Stockton was elected to the U.S. Senate. In March, 1866 the Senate voted to remove him after his election was contested on the grounds that he had been chosen by a plurality of the New Jersey legislature, rather than a majority. He returned to the Senate in 1869 and served one six-year term, March 1869 to March 1875. After losing renomination to the Senate in 1875, in 1877 he was appointed as state attorney general, a position he continued to hold until he retired in 1897. Stockton died in New York City on January 22, 1900. He was buried at Princeton Cemetery.