William Paterson (December 24, 1745 – September 9, 1806) was an American statesman, lawyer, jurist, and signer of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

. He was an

Associate Justice An associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some ...

of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

, the second

governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

, and a

Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American Revolution, American revolutionary leaders who United Colonies, united the Thirteen Colon ...

. Born in

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, Ireland, Paterson moved to the North American British colonies at a young age. After graduating from the College of New Jersey (now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

) and studying law under Richard Stockton, he was admitted to the bar in 1768. He helped write the 1776 Constitution of New Jersey and served as the

New Jersey Attorney General The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confi ...

from 1776 to 1783. He represented New Jersey at the 1787

Philadelphia Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

, where he proposed the New Jersey Plan, which would have provided for equal representation among the states in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. After the ratification of the Constitution, Paterson served in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from 1789 to 1790, helping to draft the

Judiciary Act of 1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article Three of th ...

. He resigned from the Senate to take office as governor of New Jersey. In 1793, he accepted appointment by President

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. He served on the court until his death in 1806.

Early life

William Paterson was born December 24, 1745, in County Antrim, Ireland, to Richard Paterson, an Ulster Protestant. Paterson immigrated with his parents to New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1747. At 14, he began college at Princeton. After graduating, he read law with the prominent lawyer Richard Stockton and was admitted to the bar in 1768. He also stayed connected to his alma mater and helped found the Cliosophic Society with Aaron Burr.

Career

Early career

Paterson was selected as the Somerset County delegate for the first three provincial congresses of New Jersey, where, as secretary, he recorded the 1776 New Jersey State Constitution. Paterson was appointed as the first

attorney general of New Jersey The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confi ...

, serving from 1776 to 1783, establishing himself as one of the state's most prominent lawyers. He was sent to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, where he proposed the New Jersey Plan for a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

legislative body with equal representation from each state. The

Constitution of the United States The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

was ultimately signed with the

Connecticut Compromise The Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise of 1787 or Sherman Compromise, was an agreement reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation each state ...

that created a bicameral Congress with a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

that equally represented each state and a

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

with population-based representation.

Military Service

In 1775, Paterson was commissioned into the Somerset County Minutemen of the New Jersey militia and served on the Council of Safety, the body that developed and managed New Jersey's military forces for the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

United States Senator

Paterson, who was a strong nationalist who supported the

Federalist Party The Federalist Party was a conservativeMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * and nationalist American political party and the first political party in the United States. It dominated the national government under Alexander Hamilton from 17 ...

, went on to become one of New Jersey's first U.S. senators (1789–90). As a member of the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

, he played an important role in drafting the

that established the federal court system. The first nine sections of this very important law are in his handwriting.

Governor of New Jersey

In 1790, he became the first person to resign from the U.S. Senate, when he did so in order to succeed fellow signer William Livingston as governor of New Jersey. As governor, Paterson pursued his interest in legal matters by codifying the English statutes that had been in force in New Jersey before the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

in ''Laws of the State of New Jersey''. He also published a revision of the rules of the chancery and

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

courts in Paterson, later adopted by the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and ...

.Haskett, Richard C. (1950) ''William Paterson, Attorney General of New Jersey: Public Office and Private Profit in the American Revolution.'' '' William and Mary Quarterly'', 3rd. Ser., 7 (January): pp. 26–38.

United States Supreme Court

President George Washington nominated Paterson for the Supreme Court of the United States on February 27, 1793, to the seat vacated by Thomas Johnson. Washington withdrew the nomination the following day, having realized that since the Judiciary Act of 1789 (the law creating the Supreme Court) had been passed during Paterson's current term as a Senator, the nomination was a violation of the Ineligibility Clause (Article I, Section 6) of the Constitution. Washington re-nominated Paterson to the court on March 4, 1793, after his term as Senator had expired; Paterson was immediately confirmed by the Senate and received his commission. He resigned from the governorship to become an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. On the circuit, he presided over the trials of individuals indicted for treason in the Whiskey Rebellion, a revolt by farmers in western Pennsylvania over the federal excise tax on whiskey, the principal product of their

cash crop A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate a marketed crop from a staple crop ("subsi ...

. Militia sent out by President Washington successfully quelled the uprising, and for the first time, the courts had to interpret the provisions of the Constitution concerning the use of troops in civil disturbances. Here, and, throughout his long career, Paterson extolled the primacy of law over governments, a principle embodied in the Constitution he helped write. He declined an appointment as Secretary of State in 1795. Paterson was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1789. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1801. Paterson served on the Supreme Court until he died in 1806.

Personal life

In 1779, Paterson married Cornelia Bell (1755–1783), daughter of John Bell, a wealthy Somerset County landowner. Together, they had three children, but she died in 1783 shortly after giving birth to their only son. Their children were: * Cornelia Bell Paterson (1780–1844), who married Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764–1839) after the death of his first wife, Margaret "Peggy" Schuyler (1758–1801) * Frances Van Paterson (1781–1783), who died young * William Bell Paterson (1783–1832), who married Jane Eliza NeilsonWood, Gertrude Sceery, ''William Paterson of New Jersey, 1745–1806'' (Fair Lawn, N.J.: Fair Lawn Press, 1933), pp. 49, 199.O'Connor, John E., ''William Paterson: Lawyer and Statesman, 1745–1806'' (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1979), pp. 108, 117. In 1785, he married Euphemia White (1746–1832), sister of Anthony Walton White (1750–1803), daughter of Anthony White (1717–1787), a New Jersey landholder and judge of the Somerset court, and the granddaughter of

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Conti ...

(1671–1746), chief justice of New York from 1715 to 1733 and governor of New Jersey from 1738 to 1746.Lefferts, Elizabeth Morris, comp., ''Descendants of Lewis Morris of Morrisania'' (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1907).

Death and interment

On September 9, 1806, Paterson, aged 60, died from the lingering effects of a coach accident suffered in 1803 while on circuit court duty in New Jersey. He was on his way to the spa at Ballston Springs, New York, to "take the waters", when he died at the Van Rensselaer Manor home of his daughter, Cornelia, and son-in-law, Stephen Van Rensselaer, in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. He was laid to rest in the Van Renssalaer family vault. When the city acquired the property, Paterson's remains were relocated to Albany Rural Cemetery Menands in Albany County, New York. Also buried there are Associate Justice Rufus W. Peckham and President Chester A. Arthur.''See also'',

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter, his grandchildren include Cortlandt Van Rensselaer (1808–1860), a noted

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

clergyman, and Henry Bell Van Rensselaer (1810–1864), a politician and general in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, who married Elizabeth Ray King, a granddaughter of U.S. Senator Rufus King. Through his son, his grandchildren included twin brothers, William Paterson (1817–1899), who married Salvadora Meade, a Spanish-born woman living in Philadelphia, and Stephen Van Rensselaer Paterson (1817–1872), who married Emily Sophia King (1823–1853), daughter of Charles King (1789–1867), the president of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and the second son Rufus King. Both grandsons were members of the Princeton University class of 1835 and William was admitted to the bar in 1838. He later served as a member of the New Jersey Assembly from 1842 to 1843, Secretary of the New Jersey Constitutional Convention of 1844, a lay judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals, and mayor of Perth Amboy for ten years in between 1846 and 1878.

Honors

Both the city of Paterson, and the college,

William Paterson University William Paterson University, known as WP, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 an ...

, are named after him.

References

External links

* *
New Jersey Governor William Paterson

National Governors Association The National Governors Association (NGA) is an American Politics of the United States, political organization founded in 1908. The association's members are the governors of the 55 U.S. state, states, Territories of the United States, territories ...

* Oyez Project
U.S. Supreme Court media, William Paterson.

Founding Fathers of New Jersey

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, William 1745 births 1806 deaths Lawyers from County Antrim Irish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies People from colonial New Jersey American people of Scotch-Irish descent American Presbyterians Signers of the United States Constitution Pro-Administration Party United States senators from New Jersey Governors of New Jersey Pro-Administration Party state governors of the United States New Jersey Federalists New Jersey state senators New Jersey attorneys general Politicians from Albany, New York Politicians from Somerset County, New Jersey Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States United States federal judges appointed by George Washington United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law 19th-century American judges Lawyers from Albany, New York Princeton University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery Members of the American Philosophical Society Founding Fathers of the United States Politicians from County Antrim 18th-century United States senators