Written during the American Revolution, it created a basic framework for state government and allowed "all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money"[2] to vote (including blacks, spinsters, and widows); married women could not own property under common law.
Important components of the second state constitution included the separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
Between 1915-1920, the first Great Migration of African Americans from the South brought in thousands of migrants into New Jersey cities, with Newark and Camden both having their black populations double in that time.
During the 1980s, a significant number of Asian Americans immigrated to the northeastern and central parts of the state and tended to vote Democratic.
Since the 1980s, the Latin American population in New Jersey, who also tended to vote Democratic, has grown significantly, particularly in the northeastern and central parts of the state, as well as Camden and Cumberland County.
These cities influence their respective counties (namely Hudson, Essex, Camden, Union, Mercer, and Passaic) to vote Democratic.
Atlantic and Cumberland counties had previously been won by Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli in the 2021 gubernatorial election.
Nine counties (Burlington, Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, and Union) have a plurality of Democratic registrants, and six (Cape May, Hunterdon, Morris, Ocean, Sussex, and Warren) have a plurality of Republican registrants; the remaining seven have a majority of unaffiliated voters.
The unions, allied with the Democratic Party, believed that their workers were entitled to pensions and healthcare which had been promised to them in the past.
Moderate Democrats and Republicans believed that the state could no longer afford to pay for benefits it had promised public workers in the past.
[20] New Jersey is a densely-populated, high-income, high-cost-of-living state, with more money needed for infrastructure and transportation, and it does not allow counties and municipalities to impose local income or sales taxes.
Property taxes fund local government, schools and county expenses, making lowering it difficult.
In 2011, Governor Chris Christie and Senate President Steve Sweeney promised to limit gambling to Atlantic City for "at least five years" to protect the struggling tourist destination from intrastate competition.
The Supreme Court overturned the appellate-court decision, removing the final barrier to New Jersey sports betting on May 14, 2018.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion supporting New Jersey's assertion that the PASPA infringed on the state's Tenth Amendment rights in Murphy vs. Collegiate Athletic Association.
[22] The state quickly moved to capitalize on the ruling and allow sports betting at state-sanctioned sportsbooks at the Meadowlands Racetrack.
The issue gained attention during the 2013 gubernatorial election, when the father of a young girl with epilepsy confronted Christie at a diner.
On October 21, 2019, weeks after California passed a similar bill, state Senators Joseph Lagana (D-Bergen) and Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson) introduced the New Jersey Fair Play Act.
The bill would allow college athletes to be paid for the use of their names, images and likeness, and to hire an agent or lawyer.
It intends to protect student athletes, since one injury can cost them their scholarship without a way to pay for school or vocational guidance.
In 2006, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ordered the state to provide the rights and benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples.
The following year, New Jersey became the third state in the U.S. (after Connecticut and Vermont) to offer civil unions to same-sex couples.
Since the 2013 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling, three government-recognized relationships have been in effect in the state: domestic partnerships, civil unions, and marriage.
Same-sex marriage was legalized in New Jersey under Obergefell v. Hodges, and was officially codified into law in January 2022.
[32] In 2022, Murphy signed an executive order legally protecting and defending gender-affirming healthcare within New Jersey borders.
United States Senator Bob Menendnez was indicted in 2015 by the FBI for bribery, fraud, and making false statements.