(b. County Antrium, Ireland, 24 Dec. 1745; d. Albany, N.Y., 9 Sept. 1806; interred Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, N.Y.), associate justice, 1793–1806. William Paterson played a significant role in the framing of the United States Constitution in the summer of 1787, helped write the Judiciary Act of 1789, and was an important and active member of the Supreme Court during the 1790s and the early years of the Marshall Court.

Though born in Ireland, Paterson was brought to New Jersey at an early age. He did his undergraduate work at Princeton University, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1768. A vigorous advocate of independence, he quickly became a prominent member of New Jersey's revolutionary generation. He helped draft the state's first constitution and became its first attorney general. He also developed a lucrative law practice during the 1780s by defending wealthy landowners and creditors.

Paterson strongly supported the movement, in the 1780s, to create a more energetic national government. As a member of the Constitutional Convention, he opposed the Virginia Plan's proposal that representation in both houses of Congress be apportioned according to population. Fearing that such a provision would give too much power to states with a large number of inhabitants and place smaller states like New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut at a disadvantage, he proposed as an alternative the New Jersey Plan of Government, which, in its most important feature, provided for a continuance of the single‐house legislature of the Articles of Confederation in which each state, regardless of the number of its representatives, had only one vote. The proposal eventuated in the Great Compromise that arranged for the creation of a bicameral Congress where representation in the lower house would be by population and equal representation (two senators for each state) was provided in the upper house. The plan also created a Supreme Court with broad powers and made the laws and treaties of the federal government the supreme law of the land, with state courts bound to obey them. This arrangement probably was the source of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution (Art. VI, cl. II).

Elected to the first United States Senate, Paterson was one of the authors of the Judiciary Act of 1789. This law implemented Article III of the United States Constitution by providing that the United States Supreme Court consist of a chief justice and five associate justices and a system of district and circuit courts at the lower level (see Lower Federal Courts). It also created the office of attorney general. And in section 25, which was to be the foundation of some of the Supreme Court's most important decisions, it gave that Court appellate jurisdiction over final decisions of state courts when the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties were involved (see Judicial Power and Jurisdiction).25

Appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington in 1793, Paterson played a key role in almost all the important decisions of the 1790s. In them he always argued for the supremacy of the federal government over the states. His decision in Penhallow v. Doane's Administration (1795) articulated a strongly nationalist interpretation of the origins and nature of the Union. In Ware v. Hylton (1796), he rendered invalid a Virginia statute that had permitted the sequestration of debts owed to British citizens before the Revolution, on the grounds that the treaty of peace with Great Britain had specifically provided that there should be no legal obstacles placed in the way of the recovery of debts owed by Americans to English creditors and that it was the “supreme law of the land.” Paterson also favored a strong and independent judiciary. His decision on circuit in Van Horne's Lessee v. Dorrance (1795) espoused the doctrine of judicial review. Paterson's opinions are also important because as a member of the federal convention that framed the United States Constitution, he was able to speak with authority on what the “original intention” of the framers was on a number of issues. Particularly important in this regard are his decisions in Hylton v. United States (1796) and Calder v. Bull (1798).

While riding circuit during the 1798–1800 period, Paterson enthusiastically enforced the Sedition Act. He presided over the trials that led to the conviction of a number of Democratic‐Republican critics of President John Adams's administration, including Congressman Matthew Lyon. Following the Jeffersonian victory in the election of 1800 and the appointment of John Marshall as chief justice in 1801, Paterson became more cautious and moderate. His new attitude manifested itself most clearly in Stuart v. Laird (1803) when Paterson, speaking for a unanimous Supreme Court, declared the Jeffersonian sponsored repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801 constitutional.

In 1804, while riding circuit, Paterson suffered an injury from which he never recovered. He died in 1806.

Bibliography

• John E. O'Connor, William Paterson, Lawyer and Statesman, 1745–1806 (1979)

— Richard E. Ellis

William Paterson (1745-1806) was a leading advocate of the interests of the small states at the American Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, he sought to strengthen the Federal government.

Brought by his parents from County Antrim, Ireland, to New Jersey at the age of 2, William Paterson grew up in Princeton, where his father kept a store. He entered the new College of New Jersey (Princeton University), receiving a bachelor of arts degree in 1763 and a master of arts in 1766. He earned a reputation as a classical scholar, orator, and village gallant. In 1764 he began studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1768, and for 8 years had a moderately successful country practice.

The American Revolution provided Paterson virtually full-time public employment. A member of various New Jersey Revolutionary conventions, he helped draft the state's first constitution in 1776. Briefly a state legislator and militia officer, Paterson spent most of the war as attorney general, attending sessions of criminal court all over the state. When he returned to private practice in 1783, he had become one of the half-dozen leading public figures in New Jersey.

Paterson's best-known public service came during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where he upheld the right of the states to equal representation in the Federal legislature. He proposed many measures to strengthen the general government, including the power to lay and collect taxes, establishment of executive and judicial branches, and the making of acts and treaties "supreme law." But in heated debate in June 1787, Paterson eloquently and defiantly led the small states in resisting those who held that representation according to population was the only just basis. The result was the famous "Great Compromise," giving the states equality in the Senate.

Paterson served briefly in the U.S. Senate and was governor of New Jersey before George Washington appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1793. He was an able, energetic judge, upholding Federal power. He further displayed his legal learning in making a digest, Laws of the State of New Jersey (1800), and in devising rules for common law and chancery courts there.

Further Reading

Paterson's speeches are in Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (4 vols., 1937), and his court decisions are in the appropriate volumes of United States Reports. The best sketches of Paterson's life are Gertrude S. Wood, William Paterson of New Jersey, 1745-1806 (1933), and Julian P. Boyd, "William Paterson," in Willard Thorp, ed., The Lives of Eighteen from Princeton (1946). W. J. Mills, ed., Glimpses of Colonial Society and the Life of Princeton College, 1766-1773, by One of the Class of 1763 (1903), depicts Paterson's early life from his own letters and literary productions.

Additional Sources

O'Connor, John E., William Paterson, lawyer and statesman, 1745-1806, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1979.

For more information on William Paterson, visit Britannica.com.

Paterson, William (1658-1719). Founder of the Bank of England. Paterson was born in Dumfries but brought up in England. He made a rapid fortune in trade in America and the Low Countries. A supporter of the Glorious Revolution, he was engaged during the Nine Years War in government finance and pressed upon the government the establishment of a national bank to help finance the war. In 1694 when the bank was founded, Paterson became a director. He was one of the leading protagonists of the Darien venture and worked for the Company of Scotland raising investment. He was lucky to survive the first expedition in 1698, in which his wife and only son perished, but continued to be consulted by the government, urging a union with Scotland.

• Born: Dec. 24, 1745, County Antrim, Ireland
• Education: College of New Jersey (Princeton), B.A., 1763, M.A., 1766; studied law under Richard Stockton
• Previous government service: New Jersey Provincial Congress, 1775–76; New Jersey State Constitutional Convention, 1776; attorney general of New Jersey, 1776–83; Constitutional Convention, 1787; U.S. senator from New Jersey, 1789–90; governor of New Jersey, 1790–93
• Appointed by President George Washington Mar. 4, 1793; replaced Thomas Johnson, who resigned
• Supreme Court term: confirmed by the Senate Mar. 4, 1793, by a voice vote; served until Sept. 9, 1806
• Died: Sept. 9, 1806, Albany, N.Y.

William Paterson, born in Ireland, was one of the founders of the United States of America. He helped to draft the first constitution of New Jersey in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787. At the Constitutional Convention, Paterson was the main author of the New Jersey Plan, an outline of how the government should be set up that he introduced as an alternative to the Virginia Plan of James Madison and Edmund Randolph. Several parts of the New Jersey Plan were combined with the Virginia Plan to create the foundation of the U.S. Constitution.

Paterson participated in the 1st Congress of the United States as a senator from New Jersey. He worked with Oliver Ells-worth of Connecticut to draft the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the federal judicial system.

President George Washington appointed Paterson to the Supreme Court in 1793. Justice Paterson consistently argued for the supremacy of the federal government in cases about state powers and rights. For example, in Ware v. Hylton (1796), he decided that an act of the Virginia state government was unconstitutional because it violated the U.S. government's treaty of peace with Great Britain. According to Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, valid treaties of the United States are part of the supreme law of the land, which all state governments are bound to obey.

William Paterson was injured critically in 1804 while riding circuit for the Court. In those days, justices of the Supreme Court were responsible also for duties on the federal Circuit Courts of Appeals. Each circuit court encompassed a certain region of the United States. Riding circuit involved traveling from place to place to hear cases on appeal from lower courts. During one of those trips in 1804, the horses pulling Justice Paterson's carriage bolted, overturning the vehicle and severely injuring Paterson. He never recovered and died in 1806. The city of Paterson, New Jersey, which he helped to plan, is named after him.

See also Ware v. Hylton

Sources

• John E. O'Connor, William Paterson: Lawyer and Statesman (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1979)

1745–1806, American political leader and jurist, b. Co. Antrim, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child. Raised in New Jersey, he practiced law there and was attorney general (1776–83) of the state before he became a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention (1787). He was prominent as a champion of the rights of the small states; he set forth the New Jersey, or small state, plan (sometimes called the Paterson plan). He later played a prominent part in state and national life as U.S. Senator (1789–90), governor of New Jersey (1791–93), and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1793–1806).

Bibliography

See biography by J. O'Connor (1979).

William Paterson was a distinguished public servant during the early years of the Republic of the United States, serving as governor of New Jersey, a Framer of the U.S. Constitution, a U.S. senator, and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In recognition of his service to New Jersey, the city of Paterson was named for him.

Paterson was born on December 24, 1745, in County Antrim, Ireland. He emigrated with his family to New Jersey in 1747 and graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1763. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1768, establishing a law practice in New Bromley, New Jersey.

He entered government in 1775, serving in the New Jersey Provincial Congress. He became attorney general of New Jersey in 1776, holding the position for seven years. During this period he briefly served in the New Jersey Senate. He also participated in the New Jersey State Constitutional Convention in 1776.

Paterson played a key role in the U.S. Constitutional Convention, which was held in Philadelphia in 1787. As a delegate from New Jersey, Paterson sought to protect his and other small states from demands by larger states that representation be based on population. Paterson offered an alternative to the large-state proposition, or Virginia Plan. His New Jersey Plan went to the other extreme. He proposed that each state have one vote in Congress. Out of this conflict came the compromise that created two houses of Congress, with the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate on equal representation (two votes per state). The compromise also led to the creation of the Supreme Court in Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Paterson, who signed the Constitution, was a strong supporter of the document and campaigned for its adoption in New Jersey.

He was elected to the Senate in 1789 and was one of the authors of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the federal legal structure of Supreme Court, circuit court, and district court. The act created the office of attorney general and gave the Supreme Court the appellate jurisdiction to review state court decisions that involved the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties.

Paterson resigned in 1790 to run for governor of New Jersey. Easily elected, he left the governorship in 1793 when President George Washington appointed him an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His tenure on the Court revealed him to be a strong supporter of the federal government and an independent judiciary. His role as a Framer lent credibility to his conclusions as to what was the "original intent" of the drafters of the Constitution.

As a circuit judge (in that period Supreme Court justices also rode circuit), he conducted the treason trials of the participants in the Whiskey Rebellion, a revolt in 1794 against the excise tax on whiskey imposed by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. He later presided over the trials of prominent Democratic-Republicans who were charged with sedition for criticizing President John Adams.

Paterson died on September 9, 1806, in Albany, New York.

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