William Paterson (December 24, 1745-September 9, 1806) was a jurist, politician and a signer of the United States Constitution. He served as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1793-1806, having been appointed by President George Washington. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, 1787; a U.S. Senator, 1789-90; Governor of New Jersey after Governor Livingston died, 1790-93; New Jersey State Attorney General, 1776; member of the State Constitutional Convention, 1776; and a member of the New Jersey Provincial Congress, 1775. The people of his state esteemed him so much that they named the city of Paterson, New Jersey, after him.
William Paterson moved from Ireland with his strong Presbyterian family when he was two years old. He attended Princeton University during a time when there was a strong evangelical movement (12 of his 18 classmates became ministers).
An entry in William Paterson's personal journal, during a visit in 1776 to the West Indies, gives insight into his character:
<On my arrival in the West Indies in the year 1776, a new scene was opened to me for which I was little prepared, for I had previously lived with religious people, and my new acquaintances, and those with whom I was to transact business, were the reverse of this.
No one went there to settle for life; all were in quest of fortune, to retire and spend it elsewhere; character was little thought of. Of course it required the utmost circumspection and caution to steer clear of difficulties.
A kind superintending Providence, in this, as in many other concerns of my life, enabled me, however, to surmount every difficulty, young and inexperienced as I then was.> 1745WP001
On May 24, 1800, William Paterson stated:
<Religion and morality...[are] necessary to good government, good order, and good laws, for "when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice."> 1745WP002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1745WP001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Paterson. Brantz Mayer, Baltimore Past and Present, 1729-1970 (Washington: Library of Congress, n.d.), p. 403. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp. 173-174.
1745WP002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Paterson, May 24, 1800, United States Oracle (Portsmouth, NH:). Maeva Marcus, editor, The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), Vol. III, p. 436.