William Paterson was born in County Antrim, Ireland, on Christmas Eve 1745, the son of an Ulster Protestant tradesman. His family emigrated when he was two and settled in Princeton, New Jersey, where his father kept a general store. Conscious of his family's modest standing in a college town, he attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) on the strength of his abilities, read law under Richard Stockton, helped found the Cliosophic Society with Aaron Burr, and spent the next four decades becoming the dominant legal figure of New Jersey.
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787 he had his finest hour. The large states arrived with Madison's Virginia Plan: representation in both houses proportional to population. Paterson recognized what that meant for New Jersey and countered with the New Jersey Plan — equal representation for each state — and refused to yield before Madison, Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris. The deadlock produced the Great Compromise. Every small state's equal voice in the Senate traces directly to Paterson's refusal to back down in Philadelphia.
He signed the Constitution, became one of New Jersey's first senators, and helped draft the Judiciary Act of 1789 — the statute that created the federal court system. He resigned to become Governor of New Jersey. In 1793 Washington nominated him to the Court, then withdrew the nomination the same day — the Ineligibility Clause barred appointing a senator to an office created during his term. Washington waited one day for the term to expire, renominated him, and Paterson was confirmed the same day.