| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Paterson, William, American political leader and jurist |
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| 1745–1806, American political leader and jurist, b. Co. Antrim, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child. Raised in New Jersey, he practiced law there and was attorney general (1776–83) of the state before he became a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention (1787). He was prominent as a champion of the rights of the small states; he set forth the New Jersey, or small state, plan (sometimes called the Paterson plan). He later played a prominent part in state and national life as U.S. Senator (1789–90), governor of New Jersey (1791–93), and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1793–1806). | 1 | | See biography by J. O’Connor (1979). | 2 |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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