Throughout its history as a state, New Jersey has had three different constitutions.  The first, the Constitution of 1776, is most directly a product of the time in which it was written.  In fact the Constitution of 1776 sounds very much like the Declaration of Independence.  This document, for better or worse, has had a profound effect on the development of democratic government in the Garden State. The two governing documents that followed this original constitution took their form largely as a response to governmental problems created by the deficiencies of the Constitution of 1776.  Despite its shortcomings the original constitution of New Jersey was one of the first to be developed by any state and influenced other states to develop their own state constitutions.

    The document was composed in the span of five days and ratified within 48 hours as a temporary charter of government.  Since the Constitution of 1776 was composed as a stopgap measure, it did not usher in any real innovations in democratic government.  The Constitution of 1776 reflects the two supreme considerations on the minds of New Jerseyans at the time: first, that they no longer had any connection with Great Britain, and the King; second, invasion seemed imminent and the struggle to maintain independence was already upon the colonies so some type of government had to be established in order to muster and procure the forces, supplies and cooperation of the New Jerseyans and the other colonies' recently declared liberty.

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