 New Jersey 's first state constitution was adopted on July 2 , 1776 . The American Revolutionary War was underway and George Washington had recently been defeated in New York , putting New Jersey in imminent danger of invasion . With Patriot and Tory factions plotting and battling each other , New Jersey was a state at war and was nearly a state at civil war . Composed in a span of five days and ratified only two days later , during this state of emergency , on July 2 , 1776 , the New Jersey State Constitution reflects the turbulence and uncertainty of the moment . Its primary objective was to provide a basic governmental framework that would preempt New Jersey 's fall into anarchy . And yet this Constitution served as the charter document for the State 's government for the next 68 years . 
