New Jersey,
Was one of the thirteen original colonies.
Its territory was claimed to be a part of New Netherland.
A few
Dutch traders from New Amsterdam seem to have settled at
Bergen about 1620, and in 1623 a company led by
Capt. Jacobus May built Fort Nassau, at the mouth of the
Timmer Kill, near
Gloucester.
There four young married couples, with a few others, began a settlement the same year.
In 1634,
Sir Edward Plowden obtained a grant of land on the
New Jersey side of the
Delaware from the
English monarch, and called it New Albion, and four years later some Swedes and Fins bought land from the Indians in the vicinity and began some settlements.
These and the
Dutch drove off the
English, and in 1665
Stuyvesant dispossessed the Swedes.
After the grant of New Netherland (1664) to the
Duke of
York by his brother, Charles II., the former sent
Col. Richard Nicolls with a land and naval force to take possession of the domain.
Nicolls was made the first English governor of the territory now named New York, and he proceeded to give patents for lands to emigrants from
Long Island and
New England, four families of whom at once seated themselves at
Elizabethtown.
But while
Nicolls with the armament was still on the ocean, the duke granted that portion of his terri-
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tory lying between the
Hudson and
Delaware rivers to two of his favorites, Lord Berkeley, brother of the governor of
Virginia (see
Berkeley, Sir William), and
Sir George Carteret, who, as governor of the
island of Jersey, had defended it against the parliamentary troops.
Settlements under
Nicolls's grants had already been begun at
Newark,
Middletown, and
Shrewsbury, when news of the grant reached New York.
Nicolls was amazed at the folly of the duke in parting with such a splendid domain, which lay between the two great rivers and extended north from
Cape May to lat. 40° 40′. The tract was named
New Jersey in compliment to
Carteret.
The new proprietors formed a constitution for the colonists.
Philip Carteret, cousin of Sir George, was sent over as governor of
New Jersey, and emigrants began to flock in, for the terms to settlers were generous, and the constitution was satisfactory.
The governor gave the hamlet of four houses where he fixed his seat of government the name of
Elizabethtown, in compliment to the wife of Sir George, and there he built a house for himself.
A conflict soon arose between the settlers who had patents from
Nicolls and the new proprietors, and for some years there were frequent quarrels.
Other settlers were rapidly coming in, and in 1668 the first legislative assembly met at
Elizabethtown, and was largely made up of representatives of
New England Puritanism.
When, in 1670, quit-rents were demanded of the people, discontent instantly appeared, and disputes about land-titles suddenly produced much excitement.
Some of the settlers had bought of the Indians, some derived their titles from original
Dutch owners, others received grants from
Nicolls, and some from
Berkeley and
Carteret, the proprietors.
Those who settled there before the domain came under the jurisdiction of the
English united in resisting the claim for quit-rent by the proprietary government.
The people were on the verge of open insurrection, and only needed a leader, when
James, the second son of
Sir George Carteret, arrived in
New Jersey.
He was on his way to
South Carolina.
He was ambitious, but dissolute and unscrupulous, and was ready to undertake anything that promised him fame and emolument.
He put himself at the head of the malcontents who opposed his cousin Philip, the governor, who held a commission from Sir George.
The insurgents called an assembly at
Elizabethtown in the spring of 1672, formally deposed
Philip Carteret, and elected James their governor.
Philip, in the early summer, sailed for
England and laid the matter before his superiors.
He knew the administration of his cousin would be a chastisement of the people, as it proved to be, for he was utterly incompetent, and his conduct disgusted them.
Before orders came from
England the insurgents were ready to submit to
Philip Carteret's deputy,
Captain Berry (May, 1673), and
James Carteret immediately sailed for
Virginia.
Philip Carteret returned next year as governor, made liberal concessions in the name of Sir George, and was quietly accepted by the people.
Among the purchasers of a portion of
New Jersey were
John Fenwick and
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Edward Billinge, both of the Society of Friends.
These men quarrelled with regard to their respective rights.
The tenets of their sect would not allow them to go to law, so they referred the matter to
William Penn, whose decision satisfied both parties.
Fenwick sailed for
America to found a colony, but Billinge was too much in debt to come, and made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors.
The greater part of his right and title in
New Jersey fell into the hands of
Penn, Gawen Lawrie, and
Nicholas Lucas.
The matter was now complicated.
Berkeley had disposed of his undivided half of the colony Finally, on July 1, 1676 (O. S.), after much preliminary negotiation, a deed was completed and signed by
Carteret on the one side, and
Penn, Lawrie,
Lucas, and Billinge on the other, which divided the province of
New Jersey into two great portions—
east Jersey, including all that part lying northeast of a line drawn from
Little Egg Harbor to a point on the most northerly branch of the
Delaware River, in lat. 41° 40′ N.; and
west Jersey, comprehending all the rest of the province originally granted by the
Duke of
York East Jersey was the property of
Sir George Carteret;
west Jersey passed into the hands of the associates of the Society of Friends.
West Jersey was now divided
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Quakers on their way to Church in colonial times. |
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into 100 parts, the proprietors setting aside ten for
Fenwick, who had made the first settlement, at
Salem, on the
Delaware, and arranging to dispose of the remainder for the benefit of Billinge's creditors.
Meanwhile, a large immigration of Quakers from
England had occurred, and these settled below the
Raritan, under a liberal government.
Andros required them to acknowledge his authority as the representative of the duke, but they refused, because the territory had passed out of the possession of James.
The case was referred to
Sir William Jones, the eminent jurist and
Oriental scholar, who decided in favor of the colonists.
The first popular Assembly in
west Jersey met at
Salem in November, 1681, and adopted a code of laws for the government of the people.
Late in 1679
Carteret died; and in 1682
William Penn and others bought from his heirs
east Jersey, and appointed
Robert Barclay governor.
He was a young Scotch
Quaker and one of the purchasers, who afterwards became one of the most eminent writers of that denomination.
Quakers from
England and
Scotland and others from
Long Island flocked into
east Jersey, but they were compelled to endure the tyranny of
Andros until James was driven from his throne and the viceroy from
America, when
east and
west Jersey were left without a regular civil government, and so remained several years.
Finally, wearied with contentions and subjected to losses, the proprietors surrendered the domain of the Jerseys to the crown (1702), and the dissolute
Sir Edward Hyde (Lord Cornbury), governor of New York, ruled over the province.
Politically, the people were made slaves.
It remained a dependency of New York until 1738, when it was made an independent colony, and so remained until the
Revolutionary War.
Lewis Morris, who was the
chief-justice of
New Jersey, was commissioned its governor, and was the first who ruled over the free colony (see
Morris, Lewis).
William Franklin, son of
Benjamin Franklin, was the last of the royal governors of
New Jersey (see
Franklin, William). A conditional State constitution was adopted in the Provincial Congress at
Burlington, July 2, 1776, and a State government was organized with
William Livingston as governor.
After the
battle of Princeton and the retreat of the
British to
New Brunswick, detachments of American militia were very active in the Jerseys.
Four days after that event nearly fifty Waldeckers (Germans) were killed, wounded, or made prisoners at
Springfield.
General Maxwell surprised
Elizabethtown and took nearly 100 prisoners.
General Dickinson, with 400 New Jersey militia and fifty
Pennsylvania riflemen, crossed
Millstone River near
Somerset Court-house (June 20, 1777), and attacked a large British foraging party, nine of whom were taken prisoners; the rest escaped, but forty wagons, with much booty, fell into the general's hands.
About a month later,
Colonel Nelson, of
New Brunswick, with a detachment of 150 militiamen, surprised and captured at
Lawrence's Neck a major and fifty-nine privates of a Tory corps in the pay of the
British.
The national Constitution was adopted by unanimous vote in December, 1787, and the
State capital was established at
Trenton in 1790.
The present constitution was ratified Aug. 13, 1844, and has been
amended several times since.
During the
Civil War New Jersey furnished the
National army with 79,511 troops.
In 1870 the legislature refused to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment to the
Constitution, claiming for each State the right to regulate its own suffrage laws.
Population in 1890, 1,444,933; in 1900, 1,883,669.
See
United States, New Jersey, in vol.
IX.
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