New Jersey State Constitution

The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the state has been governed by three constitutions. The first was issued on July 2, 1776, shortly before New Jersey ratified the United States Declaration of Independence and the second was issued in 1844. The current document was issued in 1947 and has been amended several times.

The state constitution reinforces the basic rights found in the United States Constitution, but also contains several unique provisions, such as regulations governing the operation of casinos. At 26,159 words, the document is slightly shorter than the average American state constitution (about 28,300 words).

Three fundamental documents had governed the territory now known as New Jersey. The first was the Concession and Agreement, which was written in 1665 by the colony's proprietors Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, and included a provision granting religious freedom. After Berkeley and Carteret sold New Jersey to the Quakers, the colony was split into West and East Jersey. Each had its own constitution: the West Jersey Constitution (1681) and the East Jersey Constitution (1683). The two were reunited in 1702 by Queen Anne.

New Jersey's first state constitution was adopted on July 2, 1776. The American Revolutionary War was underway and George Washington had recently been defeated in New York, putting New Jersey in imminent danger of invasion. With Patriot and Tory factions plotting and battling each other, New Jersey was a state at war and was nearly a state at civil war. Composed in a span of five days and ratified only two days later, during this state of emergency, on July 2, 1776, the New Jersey State Constitution reflects the turbulence and uncertainty of the moment. Its primary objective was to provide a basic governmental framework that would preempt New Jersey's fall into anarchy. And yet this Constitution served as the charter document for the State's government for the next 68 years.

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