Preceded by John Brown Name Joseph Jr. | Preceded by (none) Succeeded by William Bradford | |
Previous offices Representative 1801–1807, Senator (RI) 1790–1793 | ||
Member of congress start date March 4, 1801 Political party Anti-Administration party | ||
Joseph Stanton Jr. (July 19, 1739 – December 15, 1821) was a military officer, a United States senator of the Anti-Federalist faction and a United States Representative of the Democratic-Republican party.
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Early life
Stanton was born in Charlestown, Rhode Island in 1739. During the French and Indian War he served in the expedition against Quebec 1759. In June 1762 he was appointed captain of the Artillery Company of Westerly, Charlestown and Hopkinton. He represented Charlestown in the Rhode Island General Assembly from 1768 to 1774.
Military service
During the American Revolutionary War, he was a colonel in the Rhode Island State Regiment (aka. Stanton's Regiment) from December 12, 1776 until his resignation on November 10, 1777. In June 1777 he was placed in command of the 1st Regiment of a militia brigade raised for 15 months service. (This brigade was presumably formed to deter an invasion of the mainland portion of Rhode Island by the British forces occupying Newport.)
In May 1779 he was appointed to command the 1st Kings County Regiment of the militia and was subsequently appointed a brigadier general in command of the Kings County Brigade in October of the same year. In May 1788 he was promoted to major general in command of the entire Rhode Island Militia. He held this position until his resignation in October 1790.
Political career
He was a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention in 1790, which ratified the United States Constitution and enabled Rhode Island to be the last of the 13 colonies to join the Union.
He was elected by the General Assembly to serve as one of the first two U.S. Senators from Rhode Island, and served from June 12, 1790 to March 3, 1793 as a member of the Anti-Administration Party (ie. opposed to President George Washington). He was later elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from March 4, 1801 to March 3, 1807 as a member of the Jeffersonian Democrat-Republican Party.
Stanton died in 1821 in his home town of Charlestown at the age of 82, and was buried in the Stanton family cemetery.
There is a monument to Stanton on US Route 1 in Charlestown, Rhode Island, in front of his birthplace, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The General Stanton Inn in Charlestown is named after him.