Living History Events
Saturday November 9, 2024 Morristown, New Jersey Friday November 29, 2024 Ringwood, New Jersey Saturday November 30, 2024 Ringwood, New Jersey Sunday December 1, 2024 Ringwood, New Jersey
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Revolutionary War
The
American Revolution in Northern New Jersey
Wick
House
Dey
Mansion
Joseph
Bloomfield
Arthur
St. Clair
William
Paterson
Industrial Revolution
The
Industrial Revolution in Northern New Jersey
Passaic
Falls at Paterson, Edison Film, July 1896 (RealMedia)
Other Resources
Maps
of Northern New
New
Jersey Constitution
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William
Paterson
(1745-1806)
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William Paterson - New Jersey's Second Governor
William Paterson was born in County Antrim, Ireland on December
24, 1745. The Paterson family immigrated to the United States
in 1747. They settled in Princeton where his father became a shopkeeper.
The family prospered in New Jersey and William was able to attend
the College of New Jersey, what would later become Princeton University.
William studied law and was accepted to the bar in 1769. In 1775,
he was chosen to represent Somerset County in New Jersey's Provincial
Congress.
William Paterson served in various capacities during the Revolutionary
War. He served New Jersey as a member of the legislative council
from 1776-77. He was also a member of the Council of Safety (1777-78)
which developed and managed New Jersey's military forces for the
war. William Paterson was a member of the Somerset County battalion
of Minutemen, but he never saw active service.
William Paterson was also an attorney general during this time
(1776-1783). As attorney general, William Paterson prosecuted
Loyalists and helped to maintain order during a turbulent period
in American History. After resigning his post in 1783, he moved
to New Brunswick and continued his law practice.
In 1787, William Paterson was sent to the Constitutional Convention
as an advocate for New Jersey state and local interests. At the
convention, Paterson devised the "New Jersey Plan" with
Connecticut's Roger Sherman and other representatives from small
states. This plan promoted the idea of equal representation in
the legislature for all states. Smaller states rallied behind
Paterson's plan. The competing "Virginia Plan" held
that representation in the new national legislature should be
proportional by population. Larger states backed the "Virginia
Plan". The legal and procedural skills William Paterson honed
as an attorney led to a compromise. In this "Great Compromise",
a bicameral system of government with a House of Representatives
based on the proportion and a more powerful Senate chamber with
each state represented by two legislators was finally agreed upon.
William Paterson became known as the "Father of the United
States Senate".
New Jersey chose to send William Paterson to New York as the
state's first senator. As a senator, Paterson helped write the
Judiciary Act of 1789. He also supported Alexander Hamilton's
financial plans for the new country.
When New Jersey's first governor William Livingston died in 1790,
William Paterson was a natural choice for the office. William
Paterson was a member of the Federalist Party, the same political
party as George Washington. During Paterson's tenure, the state
capital was transferred to Trenton from Burlington, New Jersey.
He also was instrumental in the passage in state assembly of S.U.M.
(Society for Establishing Useful Manufacture) which greatly benefited
New Jersey. In a letter from Tench Coxe, William Paterson was
shown that the needs of the state's growing population would overrun
New Jersey's farmlands. The state needed to change from an agricultural
to a commercial economy. Alexander Hamilton, Tench Coxe and others
approached the New Jersey Assembly with a charter for the new
company. The group wanted to build canals where necessary, run
lotteries to build capital and be exempt from taxes. These controversial
terms where only agreed upon with William Paterson's help. To
underscore Paterson's support, the company named the town after
the governor.
William Paterson wrote the "Laws of New Jersey" which
replaced the English laws which were used in the justice system.
Paterson saw the change as an opportunity for social, political
and moral reform. He humanized the legal process and built the
first state prison in Trenton.
William Paterson resigned his position as governor of New Jersey
to accept an appointment as an associate justice of the United
States Supreme Court in 1793. He attended court sessions as far
away as Savannah, Georgia and took part in many important decisions.
He presided over the trials of persons indicted in the Whiskey
Rebellion. The Whiskey Rebellion was a revolt by farmers in western
Pennsylvania over the federal excise tax on whiskey, the principal
product of their cash crop. George Washington stopped the rebellion
using federal troops. The courts had to decide the roll of the
army in civil disturbances. These decisions defined the federal
government's authority over states and established the courts
authority over federal and state legislation.
William Paterson remained on the federal court until his death
in Albany, New York on September 9, 1806. William Paterson is
memorialized today as the namesake of Paterson, New Jersey and
William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.
Sources
Governors
of New Jersey
New Jersey Historical Commission. The
Governors of New Jersey 1664-1974: Biographical Essays.
Trenton, NJ, The Commission, 1982. Paul A. Stellhorn and Michael
J. Birkner, Editors.
The
Reader's Companion to American History by Eric Foner (Editor),
John A. Garraty (Editor), Houghton Mifflin,1991
Soldier-Statesmen
of the Constitution, by Robert K. Wright, Jr. and Morris
J. MacGregor, Jr. Center of Military History United States Army
Washington, D.C., 1987
Related Links
Dey
Mansion Photo Gallery - Photos of the interior
and exterior of Dey Mansion in Wayne, New Jersey
Wick
House Photo Gallery - Photos of the interior and
exterior of the Wick House in Morristown, New Jersey
Joseph
Bloomfield - Revolutionary War leader and New
Jersey's fourth governor
William
Paterson - Statesman and New Jersey's second governor
Arthur
St. Clair - General of the Continental Army
1776
New Jersey Constitution - First constitution of
the state of New Jersey
Maps
of Northern New Jersey - Historic and other maps
of Northern New Jersey
Search
rt23.com's North Jersey Directory for Museums and Historical
Sites
Search
rt23.com's North Jersey Events Calendar
The
Reader's Companion to American History by Eric Foner (Editor),
John A. Garraty (Editor), Houghton Mifflin,1991
This
Time, Tempe Wick? by Patricia Lee Gauch, Margot Tomes,
Depicts the indomitable spirit of a young girl, Tempe
Wick, as she saves her beloved horse from the mutinous
soldiers of Jockey Hollow during the American Revolution.
Childrens Book, ages 4-8.
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