William Paterson (December 24, 1745 – September 9, 1806) was an American statesman, lawyer, jurist, and signer of the United States Constitution. He was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, the second governor of New Jersey, and a Founding Father of the United States.

Born in County Antrim, Ireland, Paterson moved to the North American British colonies at a young age. After graduating from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) 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 from 1776 to 1783. He represented New Jersey at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, where he proposed the New Jersey Plan, which would have provided for equal representation among the states in Congress.

After the ratification of the Constitution, Paterson served in the United States Senate from 1789 to 1790, helping to draft the Judiciary Act of 1789. He resigned from the Senate to take office as governor of New Jersey. In 1793, he accepted appointment by President George Washington 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 America, disembarking at New Castle, Delaware, in 1747 and living in a variety of locations before settling at Princeton, New Jersey. At 14, he began college at the College of New Jersey, later known as Princeton University. 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.

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.

United States Senator

Paterson, who was a strong nationalist who supported the Federalist Party, went on to become one of New Jersey's first U.S. senators (1789–90).

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. 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 in 1789. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1801. Paterson served on the Supreme Court until he died in 1806.

  • Frances Van Paterson (1781–1783), who died young

In 1785, he married Euphemia White (1746–1832),

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. 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.

Descendants

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