Paterson, William, British financier

Paterson, William, 1658–1719, British financier. By the time of the Glorious Revolution Glorious Revolution, in English history, the events of 1688–89 that resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of William III and Mary II to the English throne. It is also called the Bloodless Revolution.
..... Click the link for more information. (1688–89, which he supported), he had acquired considerable wealth and influence through foreign trade. In 1691, he was the chief projector of the plan to establish the Bank of England Bank of England, central bank and note-issuing institution of Great Britain. Popularly known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, its main office stands on the street of that name in London.
..... Click the link for more information. , which finally came into being in 1694. Paterson served as a director from 1694 to 1695. In 1695, he proposed to the Scottish Parliament the famous but ill-fated Darién Scheme Darién Scheme, Scottish project to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama (Darién). In 1695, the Scottish Parliament passed an act that chartered a company for trading with Africa and the Indies.
..... Click the link for more information. . Subsequently he devoted several years to carrying out that plan and accompanied the expedition of 1698 to Darién. Paterson advised William III on economic, financial, and state affairs, and he strongly advocated the union of Scotland and England. Paterson strenuously argued for free trade and was a recognized authority in later years. His writings were edited by Saxe Bannister (3 vol., 1859).

Bibliography

See biography by S. Bannister (1858); J. S. Barbour, William Paterson and the Darien Company (1927).

Paterson, William, American political leader and jurist

Paterson, William, 1745–1806, American political leader and jurist, b. Co. Antrim, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child. Raised in New Jersey, he practiced law there and was attorney general (1776–83) of the state before he became a delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention Constitutional Convention, in U.S. history, the 1787 meeting in which the Constitution of the United States was drawn up.

The Road to the Convention

..... Click the link for more information. (1787). He was prominent as a champion of the rights of the small states; he set forth the New Jersey, or small state, plan (sometimes called the Paterson plan). He later played a prominent part in state and national life as U.S. Senator (1789–90), governor of New Jersey (1791–93), and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1793–1806).

Bibliography

See biography by J. O'Connor (1979).

Paterson, William

(born Dec. 24, 1745, County Antrim, Ire.—died Sept. 9, 1806, Albany, N.Y., U.S.) Irish-born U.S. jurist. He immigrated with his family to New Jersey in 1747. He was the state's attorney general from 1776 to 1783. At the Constitutional Convention he played a leading role in the opposition of the small states to representation according to population in the federal legislature, submitting the New Jersey (or small-state) Plan, which called for an equal vote for all states, to counter the Virginia (or large-state) Plan, which favoured larger states. He secured ratification of the Constitution of the United States in New Jersey and was elected one of the state's first U.S. senators (1789–90). He served as governor of New Jersey from 1790 to 1793 and as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1793 to 1806.

Paterson, William (1745–1806) Supreme Court justice; born in northern Ireland. He came to the U.S.A. when he was two. He served as New Jersey's first attorney general (1776–83), in the first U.S. Senate (N.J.; 1788), and as governor of New Jersey (1790–93) before President George Washington named him to the U.S. Supreme Court (1793–1806).