New Jersey and the Constitution: From Garden State to Suburban State

by Professor Chris Rasmussen

Takes place at Historic New Bridge Landing, Steuben House, 1209 Main Street, River Edge, NJ

at 7:00 pm, TUESDAY, May 23, 2023.

New Jersey has played a significant role in American constitutional history from 1787 to the present.  At the Constitutional Convention, William Paterson’s “New Jersey plan” proposed granting more power in the Congress to the states in order to protect states with small populations.  Several landmark court cases involving monopolies, transportation, freedom of speech, race relations, students’ rights, and sports betting originated in New Jersey and changed American law.

Chris Rasmussen is Professor of History at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he teaches, among other subjects, U.S. Constitutional History. A native of Iowa, he received his PhD from Rutgers University. He has written about the history of race relations in New Brunswick, and is currently competing a book about the history of coin-operated machines from the 1880s to the 1940s.