Jurist; born in Baskingridge, N. J., June 9, 1787; graduated at Princeton College in 1804; admitted to the bar of
Virginia; became associate justice of the
New Jersey Supreme Court in 1815; and elected to the United States Senate as a Whig to fill a. vacancy in 1821.
Soon after the expiration of this term he was appointed
Secretary of the Navy, and served till March
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3, 1829, and during this period he was at times also acting
Secretary of the Treasury and of War. In 1829 he was appointed attorney-general of
New Jersey; in 1832 was elected governor of the
State; and in 1833-42 was again in the United States Senate, becoming its president on the death of
President Harrison and the accession of
John Tyler in 1841.
He died in
Fredericksburg, Va., June 26, 1842.