Education

Stanton was taught at an early age by the Quaker teacher Benjamin Hallowell. Stanton subsequently attended Columbian University to study classical studies, and he graduated in 1833 at age 19.

Teaching and law careers

After graduating, Stanton taught for a while in Virginia, then at a college in North Carolina. At the time, he prepared to enter a Baptist ministry, but instead focused on law.

In 1834, Stanton was admitted to the Tennessee bar and opened a law office in Memphis.

House of Representatives

Elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress and the four succeeding Congresses, Stanton served from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1855.^[1] After winning his first election, his chagrined Whig opponent shot Stanton in the neck with a pistol. During the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses, he was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, and during the Thirty-third Congress he was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.^[2]

Years in Kansas

Stanton served as the governor of Kansas Territory from 1858 to 1861, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. However, according to the Lecompton Historical Society, he instead served as acting governor from April 15, 1857 to May 27, 1857 and from November 16, 1857 to December 21, 1857. On April 1 of that year, he had been appointed Secretary of Kansas Territory, and he held that office until December 21. He was twice proposed as a United States Senator, the first time in 1859 contingent upon the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution, the second in 1861 when incumbent senator James H. Lane was offered a commission in the United States Army, but both times no such opportunity materialized.^[3]

Later life

At the beginning of the Civil War Stanton joined the Republican Party. In 1861 he opened a law office in Washington, D. C., for practice in the Supreme Court of the United States. In his later years Stanton was active in efforts for world peace. He was president of the International Peace League, and was a delegate to the Richmond convention in 1882. He was also president of the National Arbitration League of America, and opened its inaugural convention in Washington in 1882.^[4] Three years later, Stanton moved to Florida for his health, and resided in that state until his death.^[5]