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Table of Contents
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List of Figures |
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Introduction |
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Protean Stockton |
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Four Commodores |
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He Could Not Be a Common Man |
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Chapter 1: Educating Stockton |
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Four Generations of Leaders |
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Lord Admiral Nelson's Lessons |
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Afloat and Ashore |
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Fighting the Barbary States |
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Learning How to Duel |
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Stockton's First Independent Command |
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Chapter 2: Stockton's First Acts of “Creative Disobedience” in Command: 1820–1822 |
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Getting a Command in a Peacetime Navy |
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The First Cruise of USS Alligator: The Taking of Jeune Eugenie |
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The Second Cruise of USS Alligator: Trouble Again, Taking the Marianna Flora |
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The Third Cruise of USS Alligator: Stockton Loses His Balance in Creative Disobedience |
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Chapter 3: Stockton's Climb to Power: 1822–1843 |
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On the Beach, 1822 |
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Stockton's New Model: John Potter of Charleston |
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Fistfight at a Nominating Convention |
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1828: Passing the Baton from Father to Son |
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Stockton's Search for Acclaim on a Southern Plantation |
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The Challenge of Canal-Building |
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“The Marriage Act” Defends Stockton's Canal Investment |
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Defending the Monopoly |
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Keeping His Connections to the Navy |
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1837—The Critical Year |
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Recall to Duty, 1838 |
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Regime Change—Stockton as Whig |
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Stockton's Dream Warship |
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Stockton Arrives |
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Chapter 4: Stockton's Technology Duel, 1844 |
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Stockton's Scientific Presentation to the American Philosophical Society, 1846 |
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Competing with Perry |
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Defeat Snatched from the Jaws of Victory |
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Contrary Findings |
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Finding a Scapegoat |
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Chapter 5: Jumping the Gun, 1844–1845 |
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The Crew of USS Princeton Saves Philadelphia |
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Stockton's Covert Texas Affair |
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Chapter 6: Stockton's Conquest of California: 1846–1848 |
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Sealed Orders from the Secretary of the Navy |
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Stockton Unleashed |
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Brigadier General Kearny Ruins Stockton's War |
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On to Los Angeles |
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The Uneasy Triumvirate Breaks Apart |
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Stockton's California Epilogues |
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Stockton's California Land Speculation |
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How Have Historians Evaluated Stockton's California Exploits? |
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Chapter 7: Receiving Stockton Home from the War: Censure or Celebration? November 1847–February 1848 |
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Unexpected Reception |
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The Charges Against Frémont |
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The Commodore's Testimony |
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Celebrations and the All-Mexico Movement |
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Chapter 8: Duels for the Survival of the Joint Companies’ Monopoly: 1848–1849 |
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Investigations of the Joint Companies’ Monopoly |
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New Jersey State Assembly Launches an Investigation |
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The Conqueror of California Finally Answers His Critics, 1849 |
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And the Winner Is… |
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Chapter 9: Duels as a U.S. Senator and First Run for Presidential Nomination: 1851–1853 |
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The Kossuth Hysteria, 1851 |
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Stockton and the Campaign to End Flogging |
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March 1852—Stockton's Rubicon |
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Stockton Resigns as Senator |
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Chapter 10: Railroad and Steamboat Disasters, 1855–1856 |
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Dangers of the Camden and Amboy Railroad |
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The Stockton-Van Rensselaer Letters |
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Burning of the New Jersey, March 15, 1856 |
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Chapter 11: Reaching for the Presidency: 1856 |
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The American Party, a.k.a. the Know-Nothings |
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First Run for the American Party Nomination, February 1856 |
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Second Run for the American Party Nomination, June 1856 |
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Third Run for the American Party Nomination, June 17, 1856 |
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The Grapes Were Sour! |
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Chapter 12: The Gauntlet Begins to Slip: 1857–1861 |
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The Commodore's Waning Power in New Jersey Official Politics |
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The Commodore's Campaign for Peace in Quasi-Politics |
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Stockton Returns to New Jersey, and Events Leave Him Behind |
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Chapter 13: The Final Chapter—Go Down Dueling: 1862–1866 |
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Railroad War in New Jersey, 1859–1860 |
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The Federal Government Versus the Joint Companies, 1864 |
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Stockton's Final Retreat at Sea Girt Farm |
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After Stockton |
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Appendix: Essential Stockton Documents |
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Stockton's Letter to the Bank of England, August 1837 |
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Public Correspondence between Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer and Commodore Robert F. Stockton, October 1856, in Regard to the Railroad Disaster on the Camden and Amboy |
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Commodore Stockton's Letter of Acceptance of the American Party's Nomination for President, 1856 |
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Speech of Commodore Robert F. Stockton on the Past, Present, and Future of the American Party. Delivered in the City of Camden, NJ, on August 4, 1859 |
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Endnotes |
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Bibliographic Essay |
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General Biographical Works |
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Stockton and USS Alligator and Voyages to Africa and the Caribbean, 1821–1823 |
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Stockton and the Joint Companies: 1830–1866 |
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Stockton and the Nativists: 1844 and 1856 |
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Stockton and Texas, 1845 |
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Stockton's Adventures in California, 1846–1847 |
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Court-martial, 1847–1848 |
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Comparing Stockton's Naval Career with Those of Other Contemporary Commodores: Uriah P. Levy, Samuel F. DuPont, and Matthew Calbraith Perry |
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Stockton and his Disasters: The Peacemaker Explosion, 1844; the Burlington Railroad Crash, 1855; and the Burning of the New Jersey Ferryboat, 1856 |
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Stockton as “Northern Southerner”: Sugar Cane Plantation (1830) and Gold Mining (1848) |
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Stockton as U.S. Senator, 1851–1853 |
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Stockton as Democratic Nominee, February-June 1852 |
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Stockton as American Party (Know-Nothing Party) Nominee, Spring-Summer 1856 |
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Stockton and the Peace Movement, 1859–1860 |
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Bibliography |
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Index |