 The newly formed State of New Jersey elected William Livingston as its first governor on August 31, 1776—a position he would be reelected to until his death in 1790.While New Jersey was in a state of war, delegates of the Provincial Congress drafted the first constitution in a span of five days and ratified it only two days later.Its primary objective was to provide a basic governmental framework that would assume control of the territory after the collapse of royal authority and maintain civil order.