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NEW JERSEY
Biographical Gazetteer
Six of the eight men listed below were "conservatives" in state
politics on such issues as paper money during the 1780s. Only Clark
and Dayton supported such "radical" proposals. All eight men sup-
ported ratification of the Constitution, although Clark believed that
it needed to be amended. Three of the men-Boudinot, Dayton, and
Paterson-were Federalists during the 1790s. The other five men-
Houston, Brearley, Livingston, Stevens, and Clark-had died by 1794.
BoUDINOT, ELIAS (1740-1821)
Born Philadelphia. Admitted to New Jersey bar, 1760. Member Essex County
committee of correspondence, 1774. Delegate to first provincial congress, 1775. U.S.
commissary-general of prisoners, 1777-78. Delegate to Congress, 1778, 1781-83
(president, 1782-83). Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 1783. Honorary member
New Jersey Cincinnati. Member U.S. House of Representatives, 1789-95. First
counsellor admitted to bar of U.S. Supreme Court, 1790. Director U.S. Mint, 1795-
1805.
BREARLEY, DAVID (1745-1790)
Born Hunterdon County. Admitted to New Jersey bar, 1767. Continental Army
officer, 1776-79. Chief Justice Supreme Court, 1779-89. Member New Jersey Cin-
cinnati (vice president, 1783-90). First Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons
in New Jersey, 1786-89. Delegate to Episcopal General Convention, 1786. Delegate
to Constitutional Convention, signed Constitution, 1787. Delegate to state Conven-
tion, voted to ratify, 1787. Presidential Elector, 1789. U.S. district judge for New
Jersey, 1789-90.
CLARK, ABRAHAM (1726-1794)
Born Elizabethtown. Practiced law in Rahway though never admitted to bar.
Colonial sheriff and clerk of Assembly. Member committee of safety, 1775-76. Dele-
gate to the three provincial congresses, 1775-76. Delegate to Congress, 1776-78,
1780-83, 1786-88 (signed Declaration of Independence, 1776; proposed resolution
to send Constitution to states without comment, 1787). Essex member of Council,
1778-79. Essex delegate to Assembly, 1783-86. Author of "Willing to Learn" essays
favoring state paper money, 1785-86. Delegate to Annapolis Convention, 1786.
Elected delegate to Constitutional Convention, 1787, but declined. Defeated for
election to U.S. House of Representatives, 1789. Commissioner to settle New Jersey
accounts with U.S., 1789-90. Member U.S. House of Representatives, 1791-94.
DAYTON, JONATHAN (1760-1824)
Born Elizabethtown. College of New Jersey (Princeton) B.A. 1776, M.A. 1783,
LL.D. 1798. Admitted to New Jersey bar, 1776. Continental Army officer, 1776-83
(aide-de-camp to General John Sullivan, 1779-80). Member New Jersey Cincinnati
Essex delegate to Assembly, 1786-88, 1790, 1814-15 (speaker, 1790). Delegate to
Constitutional Convention, signed Constitution, 1787. Delegate to Congress, 1787,
1788. Defeated for election to U.S. House of Representatives, 1789. Essex member
of Council, 1789. Meniber U.S. House of Representatives, 1791-99 (speaker, 1795-
99). Brigadier general U.S. Army, 1798. U.S. Senator, 1799-1805. Indicted for
treason in Aaron Burr affair, but nolle prosequi entered in 1807.
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