December 18, 1787 – New Jersey Joins the Union as the 3rd State

In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution and the first state to sign the Bill of Rights.

Although New Jersey is known as “The Garden State,” it might also be called the “On Second Thought” state. In 1776, the first constitution of New Jersey was drafted and granted the right of suffrage to women and black men who met certain property requirements. In 1807 the state’s legislature ignored the constitution and restricted suffrage to white male citizens who paid taxes. The second version of the New Jersey State Constitution, written in 1844, provided the right of suffrage only to white males, removing it from women and black men.

The constitution was redrafted again in 1947. This one, still in use as amended, states:

Every citizen of the United States, of the age of 18 years, who shall have been a resident of this State and of the county in which he claims his vote 30 days, next before the election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elective by the people, and upon all questions which may be submitted to a vote of the people.”

New Jersey is known for a number of important distinctions, such as being the only state in the union without a state song. Even Bruce Springsteen, born in New Jersey, named an album “Nebraska.” (His first album, however, in 1973, was called “Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ.”) His lyrics do contain numerous references to locations in the state, as this map of “Bruceville” shows:

In addition, New Jersey is the host of the world’s largest gathering of zombies, held each year in Asbury Park.

Atlantic City, New Jersey is where the Mafia established itself as a national organization. In 1929, fearing the end of prohibition and the loss of profitable bootlegging operations, Mafia leaders from the Midwest and East Coast, including Al Capone, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, and Lucky Luciano, held their first national conference at the President Hotel.

The mobsters originally planned to stay at The Breakers, an opulent hotel equipped with a rooftop garden. But when they arrived, the hotel wouldn’t let the mostly Jewish and Italian gangsters into their rooms.

They contacted Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, for years the Atlantic City region’s undisputed kingpin. Nucky, the Republican political boss and racketeer who served as host, made new arrangements at the President Hotel at Albany Avenue and kept law enforcement away from the festivities and meetings on the beach and in the hotel.

Enoch “Nucky” Johnson

Mental Floss informs us that blueberries were domesticated and first sold commercially in Whitesbog, New Jersey. Farmers did not believe the fruits could be domesticated, but a woman, Elizabeth White, proved them wrong. In 1911, White teamed with Frederick Coville, a botanist with the USDA, who had authored a paper called “Experiments in Blueberries.” Together they worked to create domestic varieties of blueberries by crossbreeding the best wild plants. They grew their first domestic blueberries the next year and sold their first commercial crop in 1916. White was dubbed the “Blueberry Queen.”

Elizabeth Coleman White, “The Blueberry Queen”

Although New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state in area, it is the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the combined statistical areas of New York City and Philadelphia. It is also the second-wealthiest U.S. state by median household income, according to the 2008–2012 American Community Survey.