Thomas Leaming House
Thomas Leaming House is located in Middle Township, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. The house was built in 1706 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1997. Leaming was a member the fifth session of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey which ordered the arrest of the colony's last royal governor William Franklin, approved the Declaration of Independence and wrote New Jersey's first state constitution. National Register of Historic Places listings in Cape May County, New Jersey
Governor of New Jersey
The Governor of the State of New Jersey is head of the executive branch of New Jersey's state government. The office of governor is an elected position. Governors cannot be elected to more than two consecutive terms, but there is no limit on the total number of terms they may serve; the official residence for the governor is a mansion located in Princeton, New Jersey. The first Governor of New Jersey was William Livingston, who served from August 31, 1776, to July 25, 1790; the current governor is Phil Murphy, who assumed office on January 16, 2018. The governor is directly elected by the voters to become the political and ceremonial head of the state; the governor performs the executive functions of the state, is not directly subordinate to the federal authorities. The governor assumes additional roles, such as being the Commander-in-Chief of the New Jersey National Guard forces. Unlike many other states that have elections for some cabinet-level positions, under the New Jersey Constitution the governor and lieutenant governor are the only officials elected on a statewide basis.
Much like the President of the United States, the governor appoints the entire cabinet, subject to confirmation by the New Jersey Senate. More under the New Jersey constitution, the governor appoints all superior court judges and county prosecutors, although this is done with strong consideration of the preferences of the individual state senators who represent the district where vacancies arise; the governor is responsible for appointing two constitutionally created officers, the New Jersey Attorney General and the Secretary of State of New Jersey, with the approval of the senate. As amended in January 2002, state law allows for a maximum salary of $175,000. Phil Murphy has stated. Jon Corzine accepted a token salary of $1 per year as governor. Previous governor Jim McGreevey received an annual salary of $157,000, a reduction of 10% of the maximum allowed, while Chris Christie, Murphy's immediate predecessor, accepted the full gubernatorial salary; the governor has a full-time protective security detail from the Executive Protection Unit of the New Jersey State Police while in office.
A former governor is entitled to a 1-person security detail from the New Jersey State Police, for up to 6 months after leaving office. On Tuesday, November 8, 2005, the voters passed an amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution that created the position of Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, effective with the 2009 elections. Before this amendment was passed, the president of the New Jersey Senate would have become governor or acting governor in the event that office of governor became vacant; this dual position was more powerful than that of an elected governor, as the individual would have had a major role in legislative and executive processes. As a result of the constitutional amendment passed in 2005, Governor Richard Codey, serving from November 2004 to January 2006 as governor, was the final person to wield such power. Kim Guadagno, a former prosecutor, was sworn in as New Jersey's first lieutenant governor on January 19, 2010 under Governor Christie. Succeeding Guadagno, former assemblywoman Sheila Oliver was sworn in on January 16, 2018 under Governor Murphy.
The Center on the American Governor, at Rutgers' Eagleton Institute of Politics, was established in 2006 to study the governors of New Jersey and, to a lesser degree, the governors of other states. The program features extensive archives of documents and pictures from the Byrne and Kean administrations, video interviews with many members of the respective administrations, some information on other American governors, news updates on current governors; the project is in the process of creating new archives, similar to the Byrne and Kean archives, for administrations. "I, A. B. elected governor of the State of New Jersey, do solemnly promise and swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, to the governments established in the United States and in this state under the authority of the people, that I will diligently, impartially, to the best of my knowledge and ability, execute the said office in conformity with the powers delegated to me, that I will to the utmost of my skill and ability, promote the peace and prosperity and maintain the lawful rights of the said state, so help me God."
Governorship of Phil Murphy List of colonial governors of New Jersey List of Governors of New Jersey Official website Executive Orders issued by the New Jersey Governor
William Paterson (judge)
William Paterson was a New Jersey statesman and a signer of the United States Constitution. He was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the second governor of New Jersey. Born in County Antrim, Paterson moved to the United States at a young age. After graduating from the College of New Jersey and studying law under Richard Stockton, he was admitted to the bar in 1768, he helped write the 1776 Constitution of New Jersey and served as the New Jersey Attorney General from 1776 to 1783. He represented New Jersey at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, where he proposed the New Jersey Plan, which would have provided for equal representation among the states in Congress. After the ratification of the Constitution, Paterson served in the United States Senate from 1789 to 1790, helping to draft the Judiciary Act of 1789, he resigned from the Senate to take office as Governor of New Jersey. In 1793, he accepted appointment by President George Washington to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
He served on the court until his death in 1806. William Paterson was born December 24, 1745, in County Antrim, now in Northern Ireland, to Richard Paterson. Paterson moved to. At 14, he began college at Princeton. After graduating, he studied law with the prominent lawyer Richard Stockton and was admitted to the bar in 1768, he stayed connected to his alma mater and helped found the Cliosophic Society with Aaron Burr. Paterson was selected as the Somerset County delegate for the first three provincial congresses of New Jersey, where, as secretary, he recorded the 1776 New Jersey State Constitution. After Independence, Paterson was appointed as the first Attorney General of New Jersey, serving from 1776 to 1783, maintaining law and order and establishing himself as one of the state's most prominent lawyers, he was sent to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he proposed the New Jersey Plan for a unicameral legislative body with equal representation from each state.
After the Great Compromise, the Constitution was signed. Paterson, a strong nationalist who supported the Federalist party, went on to become one of New Jersey's first U. S. senators. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he played an important role in drafting the Judiciary Act of 1789 that established the federal court system; the first nine sections of this important law are in his handwriting. In 1790, he became the first person to resign from the U. S. Senate, when he did so in order to succeed fellow signer William Livingston as governor of New Jersey; as governor, Paterson pursued his interest in legal matters by codifying the English statutes, in force in New Jersey before the Revolution in Laws of the State of New Jersey. He published a revision of the rules of the chancery and common law courts in Paterson adopted by the New Jersey Legislature. President George Washington nominated Paterson for the Supreme Court of the United States on February 27, 1793, to the seat vacated by Thomas Johnson.
Washington withdrew the nomination the following day, having realized that since the Judiciary Act of 1789 had been passed during Paterson's current term as a Senator, the nomination was a violation of the Ineligibility Clause of the Constitution. Washington re-nominated Paterson to the Court on March 4, 1793, after his term as Senator had expired, he resigned the governorship to become an associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. On circuit he presided over the trials of individuals indicted for treason in the Whiskey Rebellion, a revolt by farmers in western Pennsylvania over the federal excise tax on whiskey, the principal product of their cash crop. Militia sent out by President Washington quelled the uprising, for the first time the courts had to interpret the provisions of the Constitution with regard to the use of troops in civil disturbances. Here, in fact throughout his long career, Paterson extolled the primacy of law over governments, a principle embodied in the Constitution he helped write.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1801. Paterson served on the Supreme Court until his death in 1806. In 1779, Paterson married to Cornelia Bell, daughter of John Bell, a wealthy Somerset County Landowner. Together, they had three children, but she died in 1783 shortly after giving birth to their only son: Cornelia Bell Paterson, who married Stephen Van Rensselaer after the death of his first wife, Margaret "Peggy" Schuyler Frances Van Paterson, who died young William Bell Paterson, who married Jane Eliza NeilsonIn 1785, he married Euphemia White, sister of Anthony Walton White, daughter of Anthony White, a New Jersey landholder and judge of the Somerset court, the granddaughter of Lewis Morris, Chief Justice of New York from 1715 to 1733 and Governor of New Jersey from 1738 to 1746. On September 9, 1806, aged 60, died from the lingering effects of a coach accident suffered in 1803 while on circuit court duty in New Jersey, he was on his way to the spa at Ballston Springs, New York, to "take the waters", when he died at the Van Rensselaer Manor home of his daughter and son-in-law, Stephen Van Rensselaer, in Albany, New York.
He was laid to rest in the Van Renssalaer family vault. When the city acquired th
Casper Shafer
Casper Shafer was among the first settlers of the village of Stillwater along the Paulins Kill in Sussex County, New Jersey in the United States. A successful miller and early tavern owner, Shafer served in the first sessions of the New Jersey Legislature during the American Revolution. During these sessions, New Jersey had become a newly independent state, established the first state constitution, ordered the state's last Royal Governor deposed and arrested, supported and financed the Continental Army. Shafer was born in 1712 in the Rheinland-Pfalz in present-day Germany, he was among tens of thousands of German Palatines who escaped conditions of war and poverty in southwestern Germany throughout the eighteenth century and journeyed up the Rhine River to Rotterdam seeking passage to the New World. From Rotterdam, Shafer emigrated to the American colonies aboard the ship Queen Elizabeth commanded by Alexander Hope, entered Philadelphia on 16 September 1738. At some time after 1741, Shafer married Maria Catrina Bernhardt, the daughter of Johan Peter Bernhardt.
Shafer, his father-in-law, Johan Peter Bernhardt, his brother-in-law John George Wintermute, their families settled along the Paulins Kill in northwestern New Jersey circa 1742. Over the next few decades, more German Palatine families settled here, this settlement became the village of Stillwater. During the first year the conditions were spartan, the settlers shared a log cabin located over a large stump which served as the family's table. Shafer's four children were all born in Stillwater—Peter, Margaretta and Isaac. A few years after settling, Shafer erected a rudimentary grist mill along the Paulins Kill 900 yards north of the site of the surviving larger mill he built in 1764; this first mill ground out three-to-five bushels of flour per day." In years, Shafer built a saw mill, oil-mill and tannery at the site. To assist in the agricultural and industrial work, he acquired several African-American slaves, many of whom remained property of his descendants well into the 19th century. Shafer established large orchards on his property in Stillwater of apple trees that were described as growing to "a majestic size, some of them attaining to over three feet in diameter at the butt."
When Sussex County was established in 1753, the first session of the Court of General Sessions granted licenses to Shafer and a few other early residents to operate taverns. Each year, Shafer would navigate down the Paulins Kill and Delaware River by flatboat "carrying flour and other produce down to the Philadelphia market" and returning with "such goods as the wants of the country in its primitive state seemed to demand.", The pattern of trade in the region was focused toward Philadelphia, for several years Shafer did not have any knowledge of English coastal cities in Newark Bay. The local Munsee informed him of a town they called Lispatone—that is, Elizabethtown —which he had not heard of. According to Schaeffer, "he journeyed in that direction some fifty miles over the mountains and through the trackless wilderness, until he arrived at the veritable town...where he commenced trading in his small way. And thus he was the pioneer in opening a profitable and important commercial intercourse between the south eastern sea-board, that part of New Jersey."
It was not until 1756-1757 that a military supply road built by Jonathan Hampton during the French & Indian War opened up a connection for trade between Elizabeth and Morristown with the northwestern frontier. In 1775, Shafer was a member of the Committee of Safety for Sussex County, was charged with raising £10,000 to "purchase arms and ammunition and for other exigencies of the Province." The following year, Thomas Peterson and Abia Brown represented the County in the Provincial Congress whose session began at Burlington on 10 June 1776 establishing the government as the former colony became an independent state and imprisoned the Royal Governor, William Franklin, established the state's first constitution. In August, the Provincial Congress met in Princeton and transformed into the state's first Legislature. According to Snell, on several occasions Shafer would rise to his feet exclaiming his dissent in German, saying "Das ist nicht recht! Das ist nicht recht!" and positing his argument in his adopted English.
He represented the county for the next three years, was described as "faithful in his attendance at the various meetings at Princeton, Trenton and Haddonfield. His vote is recorded on every question, always in favor of the most vigorous and aggressive measures for carrying on the war." Casper Shafer died on 7 February 1784 in Stillwater. Shafer disagreed on matters of doctrine with the German Reformed and Lutheran clergy who supplied the local church, the "Dutch Meeting House", in his last years became cordially acquainted with Presbyterian clergyman Rev. Ira Condict. Condict, who would become President of Queen's College had been called to serve the nearby Presbyterian congregations at Upper Hardwick and at Sussex Court House. Shafer requested that Condict perform his burial service, but because the German clergy objected to Condict using the church building, Condict eulogized Shafer from the church's front steps. Casper Shafer was buried in the churchyard at Stillwater, his tombstone reads: On 10 December 2009, the grist mill built by Casper Shafer, operated after his death by
Philip Van Cortlandt
Philip Van Cortlandt was an American surveyor and politician from Westchester County, New York. Van Cortlandt was brother of Pierre Van Cortlandt, Jr.. He was a Continental Army officer during the American Revolution, served several terms in the United States House of Representatives. Philip Van Cortlandt was born in New York City on September 1, 1749, in the Van Cortlandt ancestral home located on Stone Street, near the Battery, in New York City, he died unmarried, on the November 5, 1831, at Van Cortlandt Manor, was a member of one of New York's most prominent families. He was the eldest son of Pierre Van Cortlandt and Joanna Livingston, daughter of Gilbert Livingston, a son of Robert Livingston, his great-grandfather was Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the first native-born Mayor of New York City, his family were the patroons of Van Cortlandt Manor. Philip Van Cortlandt attended Coldenham Academy. In addition to exercising manorial rights while assisting in the management of the estate's farming and manufacturing activities, Philip Van Cortlandt was a civil engineer, was active in New York's pre-Revolutionary War loyalist militia as a major.
At the start of the Revolution, he resigned from the militia, became active in politics as a founding member of the New York Provincial Congress in 1775. During the Revolutionary War, Van Cortlandt commanded 4th Battalion of the New York Continental Infantry, served on the George Washington's staff, commanded the Continental Army's 2nd New York Regiment, he fought at the Battle of Saratoga, was with the Army at Valley Forge, took part in the Sullivan Expedition. In his memoir, Van Cortlandt recalled his activities during the 1777 Saratoga campaign. In the course of attempting to capture a British gunboat on the Hudson River on the night of the September 17, he and his men stumbled upon an advance guard of Burgoyne's British forces at a place he designated as "Blind Mores". Upon realizing that a main enemy encampment was nearby, Van Cortlandt dispatched messengers to Continental Army commanders in the area, including Benedict Arnold and Enoch Poor, Daniel Morgan, informing them that "the Enemy was advancing so that they might make arrangements Immediately to check their advance."Van Cortlandt's regiment occupied a position on the left flank, played a significant role in the fighting on September 19 and in the subsequent Battle of Bemis Heights on October 7, which led to Burgoyne's surrender on October 17.
After Burgoyne's surrender, Van Cortlandt moved his regiment moved to Kingston, which Sir Henry Clinton had burned before his hasty retreat to New York. Van Cortlandt subsequently commanded the post at Radnor Friends Meetinghouse, he rejoined the regiment in Poughkeepsie, resumed the command during the winter of 1778 in the cantonments at New Windsor. In the summer of 1779, Van Cortlandt's regiment took part in the Sullivan Expedition. Sullivan's adversary was the Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant, who combined his forces with those of Loyalist John Butler to attack the frontier settlements of New York and Pennsylvania. Van Cortlandt came to respect Brant's abilities, hung his portrait at Van Cortlandt Manor after the war; the immediate task confronting Van Cortlandt was to clear a road from Easton through the Wyoming Territory, a distance of some sixty-five miles. He completed his portion of the road in thirty days; the difficulty of this project was recognized by Sullivan when he thanked Van Cortlandt and Colonel Oliver Spencer of the Fifth New Jersey Regiment for their "unparalleled exertions in clearing and repairing the road to Wyoming."In 1779 and 1780, Van Cortlandt was a member of the Court Martial that charged Benedict Arnold with improper conduct while in command of Philadelphia.
This was the third time. This time, the Pennsylvania Provincial Council had accused Arnold of committing eight violations while supervising the city. A Congressional committee determined that some of the charges should be dismissed, others could only be tried in a civil court, the remainder were subject to review by a court martial. According to Van Cortlandt's memoir, a minority sought to have Arnold cashiered out of the army, it is now known that Arnold was guilty of some of the charges relating to war profiteering, but that a poor case was made against him by the Pennsylvania authorities. Van Cortlandt's correspondence regarding Arnold includes these two passages: I remained time sufficient to discover the Vile conduct of Arnold in procuring a Vast Quantity of goods from the Merchants of Montrial which he intended and which I believe was appropriated to his benefit and for improper conduct before the Court he would have been arrested himself, but escaped by procuring an order from Genl. Gates to send me the morning after the Court has adjourned, to Schenesborough by which means the Court was dissolved, Hazen released from arrest, & Arnold escaped Sensure which he ought to have had.
Genl Arnold being under arrest for improper conduct in Philadelphia while he commanded there I was one of the court martial. M. G. Howe President and there were on that court four officers, at Ticonderoga when Colo. Hazen was called on for trial as before related and we were for Cashiering Arnold but were overruled and he was sentenced to be reprimanded by the Commander-in-Chief. If all the court had known Arno
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U. S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate; the Legislature meets in the state capital of Trenton. Democrats hold super majorities in both chambers of the legislature; the New Jersey Legislature was established in 1702 upon the surrender by the Proprietors of East Jersey and those of West Jersey of the right of government to Queen Anne. Anne's government united the two colonies as the Province of New Jersey, a royal colony, establishing a new system of government; the instructions from Queen Anne to Viscount Cornbury, the first royal governor of New Jersey, outlined a fusion of powers system, which allowed for an overlap of executive and judicial authority. It provided for a bicameral legislature consisting of an appointed Council and an elected General Assembly; the Provincial Council consisted of twelve members, appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the British crown.
With the exception of resignations and those being removed for cause, councillors served for life. The former provinces of East and West Jersey were reorganized as the Eastern Division and the Western Division of the Province of New Jersey. Councillors were apportioned. In practice, this was not always followed; the Assembly consisted of 24 members with two each elected in the Cities of Burlington and Perth Amboy, ten at-large from each of the two divisions. As this system proved unwieldy for holding elections, in 1709 the Assembly was reapportioned; the number of members remained with a total of twelve from each division. In his instructions to Governor William Burnet, King George I recommended the reapportionment of Salem's seats to the formed Hunterdon County. Membership continued at 24 until 1768, when it was expanded to 30 by the addition of two representatives each from Morris and Sussex Counties; this apportionment remained until superseded by the Constitution of 1776. The Governor had the authority to summon the Legislature, to dissolve the Assembly and call new elections.
On December 6, 1775, Governor William Franklin prorogued the New Jersey Legislature until January 3, 1776, but it never met again. On May 30, 1776, Franklin attempted to convene the legislature, but was met instead with an order by the New Jersey Provincial Congress for his arrest. On July 2, 1776, the Provincial Congress approved a new constitution. In 1775, representatives from New Jersey's 13 counties established a Provincial Congress to supersede the Royal Governor. In June 1776, this congress had authorized the preparation of a constitution, written within five days, adopted by the Provincial Congress, accepted by the Continental Congress; the Constitution of 1776 provided for a bicameral legislature consisting of a General Assembly with three members from each county and a legislative council with one member from each county. All state officials, including the governor, were to be appointed by the Legislature under this constitution; the Vice-President of Council would succeed the governor.
Accordingly, the first session of the legislature convened on August 27, 1776. Legislative politics was defined in the following years by an intense rivalry between the Federalists, the Whigs, the Democratic Party; the New Jersey Constitution of 1844 provided for a direct popular election of the governor, gave him the power to veto bills passed by the legislature. The General Assembly was expanded to 60 members, elected annually and apportioned to the counties based on population; the Legislative Council was renamed the Senate, was to be composed of one member from each of the state's 19 counties, serving a three-year term. During the Civil War, party allegiance became entrenched. Democrats won both houses until the Republicans gained control in 1893. A court ruling obtained by the Republicans provided that members of the General Assembly were to be elected from the counties at-large, rather than from election districts of unequal population. Regardless of any changes, the legislature met infrequently, had high turnover among its members, was far from being the most influential or powerful organ of state government.
New Jersey adopted its current constitution in 1947. Under this constitution, the governor was given additional veto powers and the ability to serve two terms. Hundreds of independent agencies were consolidated into 20 principal executive departments under the control of the governor. Senators' terms were extended to four years. In 1966, the Senate was expanded from 21 to 40 members and the General Assembly from 60 to 80. Following a United States Supreme Court decision in 1964 and a New Jersey Supreme Court decision in 1972, the state's legislative districts were reapportioned into the current arrangement. Two more modern developments have helped shape the Legislature: the increase in importance of legislative committees and the development of longer tenures for the legislative leadership; the Legislature has the power to enact laws by a majority vote of both houses, subject to the Governor
Frederick Frelinghuysen (general)
Frederick Frelinghuysen was an American lawyer and senator from New Jersey. A graduate of the College of New Jersey, Frederick went on to become an officer during the American Revolutionary War. In addition, he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, he was a United States Senator from New Jersey from 1793 until 1796, served as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey in 1801. He was born near Somerville in the Province of New Jersey to John Frelinghuysen of Flatbush and Dinah Van Berg of Amsterdam, his father, was the son of the immigrant minister Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen, the progenitor of the Frelinghuysen family in New Jersey. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1770, was the sole instructor at Queen's College, New Brunswick from 1771 to 1774, he was admitted to the bar in 1774, practicing law in Somerset County, New Jersey. With the coming of the American Revolution, he became a member of the provincial congress of New Jersey from 1775 to 1776.
In the War of Independence he served in the New Jersey militia as an artillery captain, seeing action at Trenton and Monmouth. In 1779 he served as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, he served as a clerk to the Court of Common Pleas of Somerset County, New Jersey from 1781 to 1789. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly in 1784 and again from 1800 to 1804, he was a member of the New Jersey convention that ratified the United States Constitution in 1787. He was a member of the New Jersey Legislative Council representing Somerset County from 1790 to 1792. President George Washington appointed him as brigadier general in the United States Army for the 1790 campaign against the western Indians. Frelinghuysen was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1793 to November 12, 1796, when he resigned, he was commissioned major general in the New Jersey militia during the Whiskey Rebellion. He married the daughter of Magdalen and Henry Schenck. Together, they had five children: Catharine Frelinghuysen General John Frelinghuysen Maria Frelinghuysen Theodore Frelinghuysen, a lawyer and New Jersey politician Frederick Frelinghuysen After his first wife Gertrude's death in 1794, Frederick Sr. married Ann Yard.
Frelinghuysen died in Millstone, New Jersey on April 13, 1804, his 51st birthday, was buried at the Weston Burying Ground on the border of Manville, New Jersey and Bound Brook, New Jersey. His tombstone reads as follows: Entombed beneath this stone lies the remains of Frederick Frelinghuysen, Esq. Major General of the military forces and representative in the General Assembly of this, his native state. Endowed by nature with superior talents, he was beloved by his country. From his youth he was entrusted with the most important concerns until his death, he never disappointed her hopes. In the bar he was eloquent and in the Senate he was wise, in the field he was brave. Candid and just, he was ardent in his friendships, constant to his friends; the patron and protector of his honorable merit. He gave his hand to the young, his counsel to the middle aged, his support to him, feeble in years. To perpetuate his memory, his children have raised this monument, a frail memorial of their veneration to his virtues and of their grief and their loss of so excellent a father.
He died on the 13th of April aged 51 years. Among his other descendants are Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, U. S. Senator and Secretary of State. New Jersey Congressman. "Frelinghuysen family of New Jersey". The Political Graveyard. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved September 24, 2010. "Frederick Frelinghuysen". Find-A-Grave. Retrieved September 24, 2010. "Frelinghuysen, Theodorus Jacobus". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1898
