 He graduated on 25 September 1764 and received theological training from Dr. Eversfield for the next three years.In 1787 Princeton conferred on him the "Master of Arts" degree, and in 1792, after he was ordained and consecrated as the first American Episcopal Bishop, he was awarded the Doctor of Divinity from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland on the state's Eastern Shore, where the Diocese had been formed twelve years before in 1780.On 20 September 1767, while visiting in Great Britain, Claggett was made an ordained deacon in the chapel of Fulham Palace, by the then Bishop of London, Dr. Richard Terrick.