New Jersey in The American Revolution - Original New Jersey State Constitution

Original New Jersey State Constitution

In 1776, the first New Jersey State Constitution was drafted. It was written during the period of the Revolutionary War, and was designed to create a basic framework for the state government. The constitution recognized the right of suffrage for women and black men who met certain property requirements. The New Jersey Constitution of 1776 gives the vote to "all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money." This included blacks, spinsters, and widows. (Married women could not own property under the common law.) It had been held that this was an accident of hasty drafting: the British were at Staten Island when the constitution was proclaimed. The Constitution declares itself temporary, and it was to be void if there was reconciliation with Great Britain.

Both sides in elections mocked the other for relying on "petticoat electors" and each accused the other of letting unqualified women (including married women) vote. A Federalist legislature passed a voting rights act which applied only to those counties where the Federalists were strong. A Democratic legislature extended it to the entire state. In 1807, as a side-effect of a reconciliation within the Democratic Party, the legislature reinterpreted the constitution (which had been an ordinary act of the Provincial Congress) to mean universal white male suffrage, with no property requirement. However, they disenfranchised paupers, to suppress the Irish vote.