David Brearley-Signer of the Constitution

David Brearley was one of the four delegates to the Constitutional Convention from New Jersey.  Brearley was born June 11, 1745 in Spring Grove, New Jersey and he left this earth on August 16, 1790 at Trenton.

David Brearley attended what is now Princeton University, but he never finished there.  He, however, took up the study of law and, after passing the bar exam, started a law practice near Trenton.  During the Revolutionary War he served in both the militia and the Continental Army.  In the New Jersey militia he served as the second in command in Colonel Phillip Van Cortland's regiment.  Also while serving in the New Jersey militia, Brearley and his regiment were involved in the battle for New York specifically on Manhattan Island.  (The British Regulars defeated the patriots in New York.)  Brearley was then commissioned to the Continental Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.  In 1779 New Jersey appointed him as Chief Justice, succeeding Robert Morris.

As part of the Constitutional Convention, David Brearley helped work on the judicial provisions found today.  He sought for a strong government that would recognize and protect states rights under the law, so it is no wonder he attended the Constitutional Convention.  As a delegate he helped figure out the many compromises that led to our Constitution.  David Brearley was an advocate for individual rights, very knowledgeable concerning law, and one of our great founders who orchestrated our greatest law, the Constitution.