Paterson, William
lawyer, jurist, congressman, United States senator, governor, was born in 1745 at sea. He was a member of the convention which framed the first constitution of New Jersey in 1776; and from that time until the year 1786 was attorney-general of the state.
He was a member of the convention which framed the federal constitution, which instrument he signed. He was a delegate to the continental congress in 1780 and 1781; and was one of the first senators in congress from 1789 to 1790, when he resigned. He was governor of New Jersey from 1791 to 1794, when he was appointed a judge of the supreme court of the United States, which position he held until his death. In 1798 and 1799 he revised, by authority of the legislature, the laws of New Jersey, a work highly esteemed, and the foundation of the jurisprudence of the state. He died Sept. 9, 1806, in Albany, N. Y.