William Paterson: Author of the New Jersey Plan
William Paterson (1745-1806) of New Jersey was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he proposed the New Jersey Plan for congressional representation. He later served as a U.S. senator, governor of New Jersey and a Supreme Court justice.
William Paterson: Author of the New Jersey Plan
William Paterson (1745-1806) of New Jersey was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he proposed the New Jersey Plan for congressional representation. He later served as a U.S. senator, governor of New Jersey and a Supreme Court justice.
Born in Ireland, Peterson attended Princeton and was educated under Richard Stockton, a future signer of the Declaration of Independence. After the Revolution broke out, he served in the New Jersey provincial government as a state senator and attended the state constitutional convention in 1776. Paterson also became state attorney general that year, and would serve the position for seven years. In 1777, he served on the legislative council and Council of Safety. He received a militia commission but didn't see active service.
Paterson proposed the New Jersey Plan (also called the Small States Plan or Paterson Plan) at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the new federal government: that congressional representation be equal for each state regardless of size or population. His speech notes stated that the federal government ought "to operate individually upon the People in the first Instance and not upon the States" and that "Congress is the Sun of our political World." "All Authority is derived from the People," Paterson wrote. "One free Citizen ought to be of equal Importance with another." He was also concerned that representation based on population would favor slave states, even though slaves were disenfranchised and had no rights. If that were the case, he argued, then "Horses and Cattle ought to have the Right of Representation." Paterson concluded, "Equalize the states -- no harm, no hurt." His proposal countered Edmund Randolph's Virginia Plan, which favored representation based on population. Roger Sherman's compromise proposal of a bicameral legislature, having one chamber follow Paterson's plan and the other follow Randolph's, was ultimately adopted.
In 1789, Paterson became one of New Jersey's first U.S. senators, serving as a Federalist. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he contributed heavily to writing the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established a six-member Supreme Court, three circuit courts, a district court for each state and -- to the consternation of Supreme Court justices for the next century -- having justices preside over circuit court proceedings in their designated regions. In 1780, Paterson filled a vacancy for governor of New Jersey, and penned "Laws of the State of New Jersey" and "Paterson's Practice Laws" to codify British common law used in colonial times and revise the judiciary, respectively.
President George Washington nominated Paterson to the Supreme Court in 1793. He wrote the circuit court decision in Van Horne's Lessee v. Dorrance two years later, which ruled that a state's judiciary could nullify state laws which violate that state's constitution. Paterson ruled, "The Constitution is certain and fixed; it contains the permanent will of the people, and is the supreme law of the land; it is paramount to the power of the Legislature," and legislatures "owe their existence to the Constitution." He died of injuries incurred in a carriage accident while traveling on circuit court duties.
Paterson, New Jersey, and William Paterson University are named in his honor.
"Forgotten Founding Fathers" is a weekly series updated Saturdays on the lesser-known contributors to the Revolution and the seeds of American liberty. Click on the "forgotten founding fathers" tag for the whole series! Also be sure to check out aphra behn's "Founding Mothers" series!