1776 – 1844 State Constitutional Era

The 1776 New Jersey Constitution

Revolutionary Trailblazers:

Helping to Lead the Way

Before Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, New Jersey was already writing a rule book for self-governance with its first Constitution adopted on July 2, 1776.

New Jersey’s Constitution came before the Articles of Confederation that tried to unite the colonies, and a full 12 years before the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788.

When the framers sat down to write the U.S. Constitution, they actually looked at New Jersey’s Constitution (along with those from a few other states) as inspiration.

So What Was the Point?

Both the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution focused on one big question: How do we manage to get separate states to work together as one country?

New Jersey’s Constitution had a different priority: How do we govern ourselves without answering to anyone else—especially Britain?

Declaring independence was one thing, but they also needed a plan or a basic instruction manual for actually being independent.

What About Individual Rights?

The U.S. Constitution didn’t address individual rights until the Bill of Rights was added in 1791—fifteen years after declaring independence!

But New Jersey’s original constitution already included some protections: the right to vote, the right to defend yourself in court, and religious freedom (both to practice religion and from being forced into one).

They weren’t perfect or complete, but these early guarantees showed that the state understood something crucial: a government needs to protect its people, not just organize them.