THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY.
By John Whitehead, Esq.
II.
New Jersey, during the Revolution, was subjected to all the horrors of war, certainly more than any one of the other colonies. Both contending armies traversed the territory of the State between the mountains and the sea, from its northern frontier to Delaware Bay. The Legislature, and very often the courts, were obliged to change their location, being driven from place to place by the enemy's armies. This occurred, however, more frequently in the fall of 1776 and winter of 1777, and especially while Washington was retreating before the British after the disastrous battles of Long Island.
The Provincial Congress of New Jersey met on the 10th of June, 1776, at Burlington. Almost the first subject of discussion, after its assembling, was the question whether the colony should declare its independence. On the 21st of June it was determined, by an overwhelming vote of fifty-four to three, that the province should be declared independent of the British Crown. On the 24th of June a committee was formed, with the Rev. Jacob Green as chairman, charged with the duty of preparing a Constitution. The committee reported two days afterward, and on the 2d of July the organic law thus reported was adopted.
The Rev. Jacob Green was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and ability. He was a Presbyterian minister, one of the first of his denomination who ever settled in Morris County. He preached at Hanover at the time of his election to Congress. He was not only the pastor of his people, but he was their counsellor and adviser; drew their wills, their deeds, and their contracts; arbitrated their disputes, and settled their estates. He was a practical man of business, as well as an earnest and devout divine. His various avocations were wittily summed up in the direction of a letter once sent him, —
- "To the Rev. Jacob Green. Preacher,
- And the Rev. Jacob Green, Teacher;
- To the Rev. Jacob Green. Doctor,
- And the Rev. Jacob Green, Proctor:
- To the Rev. Jacob Green, Miller.
- And the Rev. Jacob Green, Distiller."
John Cleves Symmes, afterward one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, and another lawyer were also members of the committee; but it is the universal tradition that the chairman was the framer of the Constitution.
It was, apparently, prepared in the very short space of two days; but in all probability it had been planned before Congress met, or at least had received much thought from the clerical chairman. It was never submitted to the people, did not receive much discussion from the members of Congress, and was rather a crude affair. It was, however, a very great improvement on the one which preceded it. The people of New Jersey acted under it until 1844, nearly seventy years. By its terms the Justices of the Supreme Court were elected by the Council, as the higher body of the Legislature was then called, and the House of Assembly, in joint meeting, and could hold office for seven years.
This Constitution was, in some respects, a remarkable document. It nowhere used the word " state," in speaking of the province, but in almost every instance employed the word "colony;" it provided that all laws should begin in the following style: "Be it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of this Colony." All commissions granted by the Governor or Vice-President of the Council, who acted for the Governor, under certain circumstances, ran in this manner:52
