William Paterson

On identical terms, the immigrant and the native in the same sentence with no distinction, which means the Constitution made Alexander Hamilton of Nevis, by the way, he wasn't born in America, eligible to be president.

And James Wilson of Scotland, Robert Morris of Liverpool, Thomas Fitzsimmons, and James McHenry, William Paterson, and Pierce Butler, all of Ireland.

The seven foreign-born men who signed the Constitution wrote a presidential eligibility clause that made them all eligible for the presidency, and the screen they actually set against foreign influence in the same sentence was 14 years of residence.

That's a clock, not a bloodline.

And then there are 30, um, nine men who signed the Constitution.

Seven of them were not born in America.

Uh, Alexander Hamilton, Wilson and Morris again, Fitzsimmons, uh, William Paterson, Pierce Butler.

There's a lot.

New York: Alexander Hamilton.

New Jersey: William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, Jonah Dayton.

Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris.

Delaware: George Read, Gunning Bedford Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broomé.

Among the older men who were conspicuous in the convention were Franklin, with his more than 80 years, Washington, who was 55, Roger Sherman, who was 66, and Mason and Wythe of Virginia, who were both 61.

But when I looked to see who were the most active forces in that convention, I found that the New Jersey plan was brought forward by William Paterson, who was 42, that the Virginia plan was proposed by Edmund Randolph, who was 34, while Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, whose plan played a large part in the making of the Constitution, was only 29.

The greatest single argument, perhaps, which was made in the convention was that of Hamilton, who was 30.

The man who contributed more, possibly, than any other to the daily labors of the convention, and who followed every detail, was Madison, who was 36.

He's proposing completely replacing them with a national government.

Some nod along as Edmund elaborates, but not William Paterson.

He will not see his state's independence gobbled up by these nationalists.

Seated at New Jersey's table along the back wall, the longtime patriot and lawyer scratches out a note.

First, everyone here knows the articles have failed.

No one has forgotten Shays' Rebellion, and they get that a union too weak to enforce itself is too weak to regulate relations between the states, to put down rebellions, or worse, to stave off territory-hungry European powers.

Even William Paterson knows something must be done.

But cutting against that is the second truth.