In 1838 the opposition to the governor's extensive powers under the constitution was greatly increased in the " Broad Seal " or " Great Seal " War.
After a closely contested election in which six members of Congress were chosen on a general ticket, although there was an apparent Democratic majority of about one hundred votes (in a total of 57,000), two county clerks rejected as irregular sufficient returns from townships to elect five Whig candidates to whom the state board of canvassers (mostly Whigs and headed by the Whig governor, William Pennington) gave commissions under the broad seal of the state.
In 1846 an act was passed designating slaves as apprentices bound to service until discharged by their owners, and providing that children of 1 The election to the U.S. Senate in 1865 of John Potter Stockton (1826-1900), a great-grandson of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, created hardly less excitement than the Broad Seal War.
