Stanton was born in Charlestown in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1739.
During the American Revolutionary War, Stanton was commissioned as the lieutenant colonel of the 1st Kings County Regiment of the Rhode Island Militia in July 1776.
He then served as the colonel of a regiment of state troops, raised for 15 months service, from December 12, 1776, until his resignation on November 10, 1777.
Senators from Rhode Island, and served from June 12, 1790, to March 3, 1793, as a member of the Anti-Administration Party (i.e. opposed to President George Washington).
[2][3] There is a monument to Senator Stanton on US Route 1 in Charlestown, Rhode Island, in front of his birthplace, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.