William Paterson, Attorney General of New Jersey

W T THEN William Paterson first heard the echoes from Lexington and Concord, he was an unknown Jersey lawyer of thirty, with a practice so meager that he spent most of his time keeping a country store. Eight years later, when he read the good news from Paris, Paterson was attorney general of New Jersey, and had one of the largest private law practices in the state. The revolutionary tide had carried him from obscurity to professional pre-eminence. Personal success was not, of course, unusual during the Revolution; many a speculator could count his gains by the pound, while not a few war-time leaders found advantage in military fame. However, a different sort of profit, less obvious yet equally valuable, was won by men who dealt neither in goods nor arms, but pursued their own professional interest. Where war created entirely new careers for some, for others it offered new opportunities in their own established professions. One of the best chances for promoting a professional career fell to the patriot lawyer. The confusions of war inspired litigation, while the fortunes of revolution reduced the number of available lawyers. Rich opportunities were open to an enterprising young man, particularly if, like William Paterson, he could gamble his own future on the success of the Revolution, and prosecute both in the name of patriotism. Paterson's career before the war had been far from auspicious. Starting in I769 as a country lawyer in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, for three years he was unable to average as many as two cases for each of the quarterly sessions of the local court.1 A change of residence to Somerset

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