Jonathan Dayton-Signer of the Constitution

Jonathan Dayton was born October 16, 1790 and he died October 1824 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey.  As a young school boy Dayton attended Reeves School, taught by prominent educator Tapping Reeves, with Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.  He went on to attend the College of New Jersey (Princeton University today) were he left early to fight in the Revolutionary War.

Jonathan Dayton joined the 3rd New Jersey Regiment under his father at the age of fifteen.  He was involved in the fighting that took place against the British in Canada during 1776.  He was at Valley Forge the winter the Continental Army stayed there.  He also achieved the rank of captain at the age of nineteen.  At Valley Forge he was on of the officers trained by Friedrick Von Steuben.  Later on in the war he and his uncle were captured in New Jersey by Loyalists who detained them in New York all winter before releasing them.  After the war he studied law before being asked as a delegate to the Continental Congress.

New Jersey asked Jonathan Dayton's father, Elias Dayton, to be a delegate for their state, but he declined the position to his younger (27) son Jonathan Dayton.  As a delegate from New Jersey, Dayton kept a fairly low profile because of his age.  However, he contributed as being part of the group in Philadelphia who hammered out the New Jersey and Virginia plans into what we have as our congress today.  Of Dayton, William Pierce wrote, "there is an impetuosity in his temper that is injurious to him; but there is an honest rectitude about him that makes him a valuable Member of Society."  Jonathan Dayton, young as he was, was one of the great founders of our country who got together in Philadelphia and created what America has called her greatest law for over two-hundred twenty years.

Exactly Right!

William Paterson-Signer of the Constitution

William Paterson was born in Ireland on December 24, 1745 and he died September 9, 1806.  After Immigrating from Ireland, Paterson attended the College of New Jersey (Princeton University today) and he graduated in 1763.  He then went on to study law under future signer of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton.  He ran a law practice until the Revolutionary War broke out and he became Secretary of the New Jersey Provincial Congress.  Paterson also received a commission to his states militia, but he never saw active duty.  In 1776 he became New Jersey's Attorney General.

At the Constitutional Convention, William Paterson was a huge advocate in defending states rights.  He also is known as the Father of the New Jersey Plan because of his work for equal representation.  The New Jersey Plan called for each state to have an equal amount of representatives in the legislature.  The Virginia Plan, however, contradicted this as it called for a legislature based on population alone.  Today we see the compromise of these two plans in our Constitution as a bicameral legislature with the House of Representatives (Virginia Plan) and the Senate (New Jersey Plan).  William Paterson was instrumental in getting states equal representation in at least one venue of legislature.  William Pierce said the following of William Paterson:

"[He was] one of those kind of Men whose powers break in upon you, and create wonder and astonishment. He is a man of great modesty whose looks bespeak talent of no great extent, but he is a Classic and a Lawyer, and an Orator-and of a disposition so favorable to his advancement that everyone seemed ready to exalt him with their praises."

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.

William Livingston-Signer of the Constitution

William Livingston was born on November 30, 1723 in Albany, New York and he died July 25, 1790 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey.  He came from a family of very wealthy merchants who owned a large estate along the Hudson River.  William Livingston, however, decided to not follow in his family's footsteps. He went to Yale and earned a degree in what we would today call political science. He then went on to become a lawyer and he started his own law practice in New York City.  At about the same time he started the Independent Reflector, a newspaper which was very influential in political, state, and national subjects.  William Livingston was a charter member of the American Philosophical Society.   He retired from the legal and political scene for a while to become a gentleman farmer before being pushed back in because of the Revolutionary War.

In 1774 William Livingston went to the Continental Congress as a delegate.  Later, in 1775, he joined the New Jersey militia as a Brigadier General.  His role in the militia was mainly that of organizing and training militia members in defence.  In 1776 he became New Jersey's first elected governor.  While the Articles of Confederation were in place, William Livingston spoke against their weakness in sustaining a strong country.

It is no surprise that when the Constitutional Convention came around that William Livingston led his state as one of four delegates.  At the convention, Livingston stood strongly for the New Jersey plan which advocated a legislature where each state had equal representation (senate).  When the Great Compromise rolled into place, William Livingston gladly agreed with the formation of the Senate (for equal representation) and the House of Representatives (for representation based on population).  William Livingston was one of the many founders who were opposed to the institution of slavery, but in order to get the southern states to join the Union he and many others did not immediately abolish it.  Livingston with others made it possible in the Constitution to eventually get rid of slavery.  With the 3/5 compromise, the southern states were not able to have an extreme amount of congressmen with the help of their large slave population. Thus, slavery could eventually be changed and the southern states would not have an overriding vote on the matter.  The issue of slavery was eventually resolved, but only after the civil war.  William Livingston said this about the institution of slavery:

"I hope we shall at last, and if it so please God I hope it may be during my life time, see this cursed thing [slavery] taken out. . . . For my part, whether in a public station or a private capacity, I shall always be prompt to contribute my assistance towards effecting so desirable an event."

William Livingston is a great example of the goodness of the men who founded are country.  His experience and political knowledge were great contributions to the forming of the Constitution.

Have Gratitude Enough to Stand for Freedom

I think the main problem facing Americans today is that we haven't been grateful for our blessings and freedoms in this great country.  We have been so blessed that we don't even realize when freedom and liberty are taken away in different aspects of our lives.  My uncle has in the past year been on work trips to Morocco and India and he told me that as he saw their condition and then came back home he felt really blessed.  We talked about how even the poorest person in America has a roof over their head.  What country does the world turn to for refuge, ours, the United States of America.  As Americans we need to realize our blessings in order to notice when are liberties and rights are slowly being taken away.  George Washington wrote the following:

"I am much concern'd, that your Honour should seem to charge me with ingratitude for your generous, and my undeserving favours; for I assure you, Hon'ble Sir, nothing is a greater stranger to my Breast, or a Sin that my Soul abhors, than that black and detestable one Ingratitude."

Don't we all wish we could be like George Washington in our desire to avoid ingratitude.  American, have enough gratitude for those that have gone before to fight for what they stood for, Freedom.

Alexander Hamilton-Signer of the Constitution

"If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.  In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."  -The Federalist, by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

The lone delegate from New York, Alexander Hamilton was extremely instrumental in forming the Constitution.  Hamilton was born on January 11, 1757 on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies and he died July 12, 1804 in New York City after being shot in a duel with Aaron Burr.

Alexander Hamilton was born to unmarried parents and his mom died when he was eleven years old.  From then on he had to look our for himself.  He finally made it off the British West Indies at the age of fourteen when his employer, a merchant, recognized his intelligence and sent him to New York City for education.  While in New York and attending school he stayed for a year with William Livingston (a future Signer of the Constitution).  Hamilton never did graduate from college.  In 1775, however, he joined the militia.  By 1776 he was given a Captain's commission and he was placed in charge of an artillery group on Manhattan Island.  Because New York City was England's next target, Hamilton got to work with Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene, two of General Washington's greatest military leaders.  He reported to Knox for quite some time.  Knox, seeing the military skill of Alexander Hamilton, suggested him as an aid to General Washington.  Through the war Hamilton served very closely with General George Washington.  Washington and Hamilton eventually had a feud from which Hamilton resigned.  Their feud was later overcome and Hamilton again worked against the British.  At the battle of Yorktown Alexander Hamilton led his own battalion against the British fortifications.  After the war he took up the study of law and in a few short months was admitted to the bar.

As a delegate at the Constitutional Convention Alexander Hamilton was instrumental.  Just previous to the Constitutional Convention Hamilton, along with James Madison, was the guiding leader of the Annapolis Convention.  In the Constitutional Convention, Hamilton did a great deal in pushing for a strong national union, one that would be able to fight of opposing countries.  Along with John Jay and James Madison, Alexander Hamilton wrote The Federalist to help persuade the states to ratify the newly formed Constitution.  William Pierce wrote the following about Alexander Hamilton:

"Colo. Hamilton requires time to think; he enquires into every part of his subject with the searching of philosophy, and when he comes forward he comes highly charged with interesting matter; there is no skimming over the surfaces of a subject with him; he must sink to the bottom to see what foundation it rests on."

Even though Hamilton may have never gotten along with one of our greatest presidents, Thomas Jefferson, he was an essential founder in the forming and convincing of the states of the greatness of our Constitution.