Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Province of New Jersey

The Province of New Jersey was a British colony in North America, founded in 1664 following the English conquest of the Dutch New Netherland colony and persisting until 1776, when it declared independence as one of the Thirteen Colonies that formed the United States.^[1]^[2] Named the Province of New Caesarea or New Jersey after the Isle of Jersey in honor of Sir George Carteret, it was initially granted by King Charles II to proprietors Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, who promoted settlement through religious tolerance and land concessions to attract diverse European immigrants, including Quakers, Scots, and English Puritans.^[1]^[2] In 1674, the province was divided into East Jersey, controlled by Carteret's heirs with its capital at Perth Amboy, and West Jersey, acquired by Quaker investors after Berkeley sold his share, featuring Burlington as its capital and emphasizing pacifist governance and expansive land grants to settlers.^[1]^[2] This partition, formalized by a boundary line running diagonally across the territory, led to administrative fragmentation, with each division maintaining separate assemblies and proprietors, fostering economic growth in agriculture, iron production, and trade but also disputes over governance and boundaries that persisted for decades.^[1]^[2] Reunification occurred in 1702 when the proprietors surrendered political authority to the Crown under Queen Anne, transforming the province into a single royal colony governed by a crown-appointed executive, though proprietors retained proprietary land rights, while an elected assembly handled local legislation.^[1]^[2] During the colonial era, New Jersey's strategic location between New York and Philadelphia made it a vital conduit for commerce and military campaigns, particularly as a contested theater in the American Revolution, where over 600 engagements occurred, including George Washington's pivotal 1776 victories at Trenton and Princeton that bolstered Continental Army morale and shifted momentum toward independence.^[1]^[2]

Pre-Colonial and Early European Foundations

Indigenous Inhabitants and Early Contacts

The Lenape, an Algonquian-speaking people also known as the Delaware Indians, were the predominant indigenous inhabitants of the region encompassing present-day New Jersey, occupying territories from the Delaware River to the Atlantic coast and northward into parts of New York and Pennsylvania. Organized into autonomous bands or sachemdoms led by hereditary chiefs, their societies emphasized kinship ties, seasonal migrations between inland villages and coastal sites, and communal decision-making through councils. Economically, the Lenape sustained themselves through a mix of swidden agriculture—cultivating crops like maize, beans, and squash in fertile river valleys—supplemented by hunting large game such as deer and bear, fishing in estuaries and streams, and gathering wild plants; these activities supported populations numbering in the thousands across the broader Delaware Valley prior to sustained European contact. Intertribal trade networks, involving exchange of marine shells for wampum beads and other goods, connected them with neighboring groups like the Susquehannock to the south and Munsee to the north, fostering regional stability and resource distribution.^[3]^[4]^[5] The earliest documented European observations of the New Jersey coast date to April 1524, when Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, commissioned by King Francis I of France, sailed the Dauphine along the North American seaboard from the Carolinas northward. Entering what is now Raritan Bay and possibly Newark Bay, Verrazzano described encountering a "very pleasant" land with "hills and high mountains" and native peoples signaling from shore with smoke fires, though he did not land extensively in the area. This voyage marked the first European notation of the region's contours but yielded no immediate territorial assertions by France. Eighty-five years later, on August 28, 1609, English mariner Henry Hudson, aboard the Halve Maen under contract to the Dutch East India Company, entered Delaware Bay from the Atlantic, anchoring briefly near present-day Cape May and sailing northward along the Jersey shore. Seeking a passage to Asia, Hudson charted the bay's deep waters and timbered lands as promising for settlement but departed after shallow shoals impeded further progress, with his crew noting native canoes and potential for trade; the expedition's logs informed subsequent Dutch explorations without formal claims at the time.^[6]^[7]^[8] Sustained European interactions commenced in the early 1610s through Dutch traders operating from outposts in New Netherland, who initiated a fur trade with Lenape bands centered on beaver pelts trapped inland and conveyed to coastal exchange points. In return for furs, the Lenape received European manufactures including axes, kettles, cloth, and firearms, which integrated into their economies and altered traditional patterns by incentivizing overhunting and dependency on imported goods; by 1626, Dutch records indicate thousands of pelts annually funneled through posts near the Delaware and Hudson rivers. These contacts inadvertently transmitted Eurasian pathogens—smallpox, measles, influenza, and dysentery—to immunologically naive populations, triggering epidemics that halved or more Lenape numbers in affected communities by the 1630s and continued depopulating villages through the century, exacerbating vulnerabilities to displacement without direct military conquest.^[1]^[9]^[10]

Dutch and Swedish Claims

The area comprising the future Province of New Jersey fell under Dutch claims through explorations initiated by the Dutch East India Company. In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed into the Hudson River, trading with indigenous groups and laying the groundwork for Dutch territorial assertions along the river's west bank and surrounding regions.^[11] These voyages prompted the establishment of New Netherland as a colonial province under the Dutch West India Company, chartered in 1621, encompassing lands from the Delaware River to the Connecticut River.^[12] Dutch settlements in what is now New Jersey began with trading posts and farms in the 1620s and 1630s. Pavonia, established around 1630 on the west bank of the Hudson River opposite Manhattan, served as an early agricultural outpost with patroonship grants encouraging settlement.^[13] Further expansions included communities at Vriessendael and Achter Col, precursors to sites in modern Edgewater and Bergen County, integrating the region into New Netherland's administrative framework of fur trade and fortified posts.^[14] Bergen emerged as a formal settlement in 1660, featuring a walled town layout of approximately 800 feet square, just prior to the English takeover.^[15] Swedish colonization introduced competing claims along the Delaware River with the founding of New Sweden in 1638. Peter Minuit, formerly of the Dutch West India Company, led the expedition that established Fort Christina near modern Wilmington, purchasing land from local Lenape groups and extending settlements along both banks of the river into present-day New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.^[16] The colony, backed by the New Sweden Company, supported around 600 Swedish and Finnish settlers focused on trade and agriculture but remained small and vulnerable.^[17] Dutch forces under Peter Stuyvesant conquered New Sweden in 1655, absorbing its territories and forts into New Netherland, thus resolving the overlap through military means without indigenous involvement in the transfer.^[18] English forces asserted dominance over Dutch holdings in 1664 via a naval expedition led by Colonel Richard Nicolls. Arriving with warships in New York Harbor, the English prompted the surrender of New Amsterdam—without resistance from Director-General Peter Stuyvesant—effecting control over New Netherland, including New Jersey territories, through a peaceful capitulation.^[19] This seizure, occurring amid inter-European rivalries, ignored indigenous sovereignty and was later formalized by the Treaty of Breda in 1667 following the Second Anglo-Dutch War, with permanent English retention confirmed after a brief Dutch reoccupation via the Treaty of Westminster in 1674.^[20]

Establishment as Proprietary Colony

Royal Grant to Berkeley and Carteret

On June 24, 1664, James, Duke of York and brother to King Charles II, executed an indenture granting to John, Lord Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret absolute proprietary rights over a vast tract of land west of Long Island and bounded by the Hudson River to the east, the Delaware Bay and River to the west, extending southward to Cape May and northward to the 41st parallel, designated as Nova Caesarea or New Jersey.^[21] This conveyance followed Charles II's March 1664 patent to the Duke encompassing former Dutch territories in anticipation of their conquest, which occurred later that year with the English seizure of New Amsterdam.^[1] The grant vested the proprietors with comprehensive dominion, including legislative, executive, and judicial powers to establish laws, courts, and fortifications, alongside rights to natural resources such as minerals, fisheries, and timber, held in free and common socage tenure subject to an annual quit-rent of 20 nobles payable in London.^[21] Berkeley and Carteret, steadfast royalists who had supported the Stuart monarchy against parliamentary forces during the English Civil War, received the territory as recompense for their loyalty, aligning with the Restoration court's practice of rewarding adherents with colonial proprietorships to consolidate monarchical influence abroad.^[22] The strategic imperative stemmed from the need to fortify England's North American foothold post-Dutch ouster, countering persistent threats from French encroachments to the north and potential Dutch resurgence, by incentivizing rapid settlement through liberal land grants and economic liberties extended by the proprietors to prospective colonists.^[23] The legal framework prioritized English sovereignty over the region, implicitly subordinating any prior indigenous land use to proprietary acquisition via purchase or treaty, without ceding native rights outright but empowering Berkeley and Carteret to negotiate extinguishments as prerequisites for English titles.^[21] This structure underscored the Stuart regime's causal emphasis on populating frontiers to secure imperial claims, with the nominal quit-rent ensuring nominal fealty to the Crown while devolving substantial autonomy to foster self-sustaining colonies.^[24]

Concessions and Initial Governance Framework

The Concessions and Agreement of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of New Caesarea, or New Jersey, issued on February 10, 1665, by proprietors John Berkeley and George Carteret, established the colony's initial proprietary charter, modeled after the Carolina concessions to promote settlement through incentives of liberty and property rights.^[25]^[26] This document explicitly promised religious freedom to settlers, stipulating that no qualified person would be molested or punished for matters of conscience, except those denying the existence of God, thereby excluding atheists while extending toleration to Christians of various denominations to attract migrants dissatisfied with England's religious restrictions.^[26] It further guaranteed the election of a General Assembly by freeholders, with powers to enact laws subject to the proprietors' approval, fostering a framework of representative self-governance.^[27] Land grants were structured to encourage investment, offering 150 acres to each adventurer or planter, plus 90 acres per male servant, 60 per female servant, and 60 per slave or indentured child, with nominal quit-rents to the proprietors in exchange for perpetual inheritance.^[26] Under this proprietary model, governance centered on authority vested in the proprietors, who retained the right to appoint the governor and a council of advisors, prioritizing decentralized administration and economic incentives over rigid monarchical oversight to stimulate rapid development.^[27] Philip Carteret, appointed governor by the proprietors in early 1665 and arriving that August with initial settlers, exemplified this structure, exercising executive powers including land patents and judicial oversight while coordinating with the assembly on local matters.^[28] The emphasis on property rights and limited proprietary interference aimed to create causal incentives for productivity, allowing settlers to retain fruits of labor after fulfilling basic feudal obligations, which contrasted with more extractive colonial systems elsewhere.^[25] These provisions facilitated early English settlements, with Elizabethtown established in November 1664 by approximately 80 families from Connecticut and Long Island seeking fertile lands and autonomy under the Elizabethtown Tract patent confirmed by Governor Richard Nicolls.^[29] Woodbridge followed in December 1666, founded by 16 New England families led by Daniel Pierce and John Pike under a particular patent, focusing on agriculture and trade along the Raritan River.^[30] Primarily English Protestant immigrants, including dissenters and farmers, comprised these groups, drawn by the concessions' promises of secure holdings and self-rule, laying the groundwork for dispersed farmsteads and nascent commerce without significant Quaker influence at this stage.^[31]

Division and Proprietary Challenges

Partition into East and West Jerseys

In March 1674, Sir John Berkeley conveyed his undivided half-share of the Province of New Jersey—designated as the western portion—to Quaker associates Edward Byllynge and John Fenwick, the latter acting in trust amid Byllynge's financial difficulties, to liquidate proprietary debts through targeted land sales to religious nonconformists seeking settlement opportunities.^[25] ^[32] The eastern portion remained under the control of Sir George Carteret and his heirs, enabling proprietors to pursue distinct administrative and economic strategies tailored to different investor and settler groups.^[33] The Quintipartite Deed, executed on July 1, 1676, by Carteret heirs, Fenwick, Byllynge's trustees, and associates, formalized the partition along a north-south boundary approximating the provincial midline, extending from Barnegat Bay westward to the Delaware River near a point opposite the Rahway River mouth, though initial descriptions proved vague and subject to later surveys for clarity in land titles.^[34] ^[35] This division stemmed from proprietary necessities to resolve overlapping claims and facilitate independent concessions: West Jersey's 1676/1677 Concessions and Agreements emphasized Quaker-influenced governance with provisions for consensual legislation, religious liberty, and pacifist non-aggression policies, contrasting East Jersey's retention of stricter proprietary oversight.^[35] The split spurred divergent immigration patterns and economic development, with West Jersey attracting over 200 Quaker families who founded Burlington as a planned settlement in 1677 via the ship Kent, prioritizing agrarian communities and egalitarian land distribution to evade English persecution.^[36] ^[37] East Jersey, conversely, drew Anglican proprietors and Scottish Presbyterians, establishing Perth Amboy as a commercial port from 1683 onward, fostering trade-oriented growth with feudal quit-rents and diverse denominational influences that amplified governance disparities, including separate assemblies and judiciaries straining any residual unified oversight.^[38] These administrative bifurcations, rooted in proprietors' fiscal imperatives, ultimately highlighted the colony's fragmented control amid rising settler demands for stability.^[32]

Quaker Settlements and Administrative Strains

The West Jersey Concessions and Agreements, drafted in 1676 by Quaker proprietor Edward Byllynge and formally adopted on March 3, 1677, outlined a government framework prioritizing religious toleration without oaths or tests, equality in civil rights, and protections like jury trials and due process, aligning with Quaker testimonies against coercion and hierarchy.^[39]^[40] These egalitarian provisions, which eschewed aristocratic privileges in favor of broad liberties, drew settlers including persecuted Quakers from Yorkshire, London, Wales, and Ireland, who acquired proprietary shares and migrated starting in 1675.^[41]^[42] Early Quaker settlements emphasized peaceful indigenous relations through direct land purchases and treaties. John Fenwick, a key proprietor, founded Salem in 1675 and secured titles via agreements with Lenape subgroups like the Cohanseys in 1675 and 1676, paying in goods and maintaining amicable ties without military enforcement.^[32] Burlington, settled by Yorkshire Quakers in 1677, similarly relied on equitable exchanges, reflecting a doctrinal commitment to nonviolence that yielded relative stability in native interactions compared to contemporaneous colonies.^[43] Proprietary administration, however, suffered from chronic strains rooted in financial distress and internal divisions. Byllynge's bankruptcy after the 1675 purchase from Lord Berkeley necessitated Fenwick's trusteeship, sparking litigation that fragmented authority among multiplying shareholders.^[44]^[45] Factionalism intensified as proprietors sold undivided shares to over 150 buyers by the 1680s, complicating land allocation and governance; Quaker aversion to coercive enforcement further eroded effective oversight, culminating in the trusteeship's collapse amid unresolved debts and disputes arbitrated by William Penn.^[46]^[47] East Jersey's structure diverged toward hierarchy following Scottish Quaker acquisitions, particularly Robert Barclay's influence by 1683, when Scots gained majority proprietary control.^[25] The Fundamental Constitutions of 1683 empowered a proprietors' council with proxy voting and veto rights, embedding elite dominance over assemblies and fostering a stratified order suited to Scottish investors' commercial aims.^[48] Perth Amboy emerged as the capital under this regime, with settlers arriving via organized Scottish voyages from 1683, though proprietary sales still bred administrative discord akin to West Jersey's.^[49]^[50]

Imperial Interventions and Reorganization

Dominion of New England Period

In 1688, King James II expanded the Dominion of New England to incorporate the proprietary colonies of East Jersey and West Jersey as part of a broader effort to centralize royal authority over northern American territories. Formal incorporation occurred on August 15 for East Jersey and August 18 for West Jersey, pursuant to Andros's expanded commission.^[51] Sir Edmund Andros, as governor-general seated primarily in Boston, assumed direct oversight, effectively annexing the Jerseys to the Dominion alongside New York. This administrative merger subordinated local proprietary councils to imperial directives, suspending legislative assemblies and quashing independent governance structures that had characterized the divided Jerseys since 1676.^[52] Andros enforced crown policies rigorously, including strict adherence to the Navigation Acts, validation of land titles under royal patents, and collection of quitrents and customs duties previously evaded or loosely administered. In summer 1688, Andros personally visited Burlington in West Jersey, arriving with council members and guards in a demonstration of authority that underscored the shift to centralized control. While the Jerseys' sparse population—estimated at around 6,000 settlers combined—and geographic distance from Boston limited immediate enforcement, these measures eroded local autonomy, fostering resentment among proprietors and Quaker-influenced settlers who valued self-rule and religious tolerance. Overt resistance remained minimal, however, as the region lacked the Puritan strongholds of New England that fueled broader colonial opposition to Andros's Anglican-leaning reforms and fee impositions.^[53] The Dominion's imposition highlighted tensions between proprietary liberties and emerging absolutist tendencies under James II, but its duration in the Jerseys proved brief amid the Glorious Revolution's ripple effects. News of William of Orange's accession reached Boston in late April 1689, prompting Andros's arrest there on April 18 by colonial militia, which unraveled the supercolony's apparatus. In New Jersey, the collapse by July 1689 created a governance vacuum, with proprietary interests reasserting de facto control through interim councils in East and West Jersey, pending clarification from the new monarchs. This interlude preserved divided administration until formal royal reorganization in 1702, underscoring the Dominion's failure to sustain imperial consolidation against entrenched local interests.^[53]^[54]

Transition to Royal Colony in 1702

The proprietors of East New Jersey formally surrendered their right of government to the Crown in late 1701, with the process culminating in a joint deed of surrender executed on April 15, 1702, by both East and West Jersey proprietors, who retained their land titles but relinquished administrative authority due to chronic governance instability, internal factionalism, mounting debts from unsuccessful enforcement efforts, and the financial burden of maintaining proprietary rule amid settler disputes and external threats like piracy.^[25]^[55] This transition addressed the proprietors' fiscal motives, as the divided colony's overlapping claims and weak executive control had led to repeated failures in tax collection, law enforcement, and defense, rendering proprietary management untenable without royal backing.^[56] Queen Anne accepted the surrender and issued letters patent on April 17, 1702, reconstituting the Province of New Jersey as a single royal colony under direct Crown oversight, which explicitly confirmed prior land grants and proprietary titles to encourage settlement continuity, preserved religious freedoms for Protestant dissenters and others as established under earlier concessions, and introduced a system of crown-appointed governance while maintaining local assembly rights for taxation and legislation.^[25]^[57] The patent emphasized causal continuity in property rights to avoid disrupting economic activities, but centralized executive power to resolve the proprietary era's jurisdictional overlaps, marking a shift from feudal-like proprietorship to imperial administration without nullifying vested settler interests.^[55] Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, was appointed as the first royal governor, assuming joint authority over New Jersey and New York upon his arrival in May 1702 and serving until 1708, which integrated colonial defense and trade opportunities across the Hudson but engendered administrative frictions from divided loyalties, as Cornbury's residence in New York often delayed responses to Jersey-specific issues like boundary enforcement and revenue disputes.^[1] This shared governorship preserved some proprietary-era fluidity in interstate commerce while imposing royal oversight to stabilize the province's volatile politics.^[56]

Royal Colony Governance

Shared Executive with New York

Following the surrender of proprietary charters in 1702, the Province of New Jersey shared its royal governor with the Province of New York until 1738, an arrangement commencing with Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, commissioned on May 28, 1702, to oversee both colonies. This joint executive structure engendered persistent challenges, as governors typically resided in New York and prioritized its interests, resulting in infrequent visits to New Jersey and perceptions of administrative neglect. Cornbury, for instance, faced accusations of tyranny and corruption, including favoritism toward New York proprietors and Anglican ecclesiastical preferences, which incited the New Jersey General Assembly—dominated by Quakers and nonconformists—to withhold financial supplies in defiance of his policies on militia enforcement and religious establishments during 1703–1704.^[58]^[59] Successive governors perpetuated policy divergences, with New Jersey assemblies resisting measures deemed advantageous to New York, such as uneven application of trade regulations and judicial appointments that allegedly favored external interests. These tensions manifested in assembly refusals to grant adequate support bills, leveraging control over appropriations to curb executive overreach, while governors invoked veto powers to safeguard property rights against potentially inflationary assembly acts, thereby maintaining a precarious balance amid growing legislative assertiveness. Despite criticisms of bias, the shared executive facilitated some stabilization of intercolonial trade through coordinated enforcement of navigation laws and protection of merchant interests, though New Jersey proprietors repeatedly petitioned the Crown for redress.^[58]^[60] Grievances over divided loyalties intensified after Governor William Cosby's death in 1736, prompting interim administration by John Hamilton from March 28, 1736, to September 3, 1738, during which demands for autonomy peaked. The Crown acceded to these pressures, appointing Lewis Morris as New Jersey's first independent governor on October 27, 1738, thereby dissolving the shared executive and addressing long-standing inequities in governance focus and resource allocation.^[58]^[61]

Legislative Assembly and Political Conflicts

Following the surrender of proprietary charters in April 1702 and the establishment of royal governance, the General Assembly of the Province of New Jersey convened for the first time on July 6, 1703, at Perth Amboy, with subsequent sessions held triennially thereafter to elect representatives from the colony's counties.^[62] This body served as a counterbalance to the executive, embodying early checks on gubernatorial authority through its exclusive origination of money bills, a prerogative rooted in English parliamentary tradition and fiercely defended against royal instructions.^[58] The assembly wielded this fiscal leverage to obstruct unpopular policies, notably resisting the enforcement of quit-rents—nominal annual land fees due to the Crown—which proprietors and governors sought to collect rigorously but colonists evaded through legal delays and non-payment, prompting assemblies to withhold appropriations until exemptions or reductions were granted.^[63] Such standoffs exemplified emergent principles of legislative supremacy over executive prerogative, as assemblies conditioned support for salaries, infrastructure, and defense on concessions, fostering a de facto separation of powers amid ongoing proprietary remnants' influence.^[64] Internal divisions pitted factions aligned with proprietary loyalists, who favored gubernatorial patronage and elite land interests, against popular reformers advocating broader representation and fiscal restraint, leading to acrimonious elections marked by disputes over voter qualifications tied to property holdings and residency.^[64] These conflicts intensified over issues like paper money emissions for debt relief and assembly support for executive fees, with reformers gaining ground by portraying loyalists as beholden to distant interests, thereby reinforcing local self-governance.^[65] In response to external threats, the assembly funded provincial defenses against French incursions during King George's War (1744–1748), appropriating funds in 1744 to raise 500 volunteers known as the "Jersey Blues" for expeditions to the New York frontier, and later, amid the French and Indian War, approving 1,000 men in 1758 with bounties to bolster enlistment.^[66] Though parsimonious and focused on immediate coastal vulnerabilities rather than distant imperial campaigns—rejecting broader funding at the 1754 Albany Congress—these actions cultivated colonial self-reliance by prioritizing militia organization and local appropriations over unconditional royal requisitions, prefiguring federalist tensions between provincial autonomy and centralized command.^[67]^[66]

Territorial Disputes

New York–New Jersey Line War

The New York–New Jersey Line War encompassed a series of intermittent raids and minor armed clashes spanning from 1701 to 1765, driven by overlapping territorial claims rooted in ambiguous royal grants issued in 1664.^[2] These grants, first to the Duke of York for the Province of New York encompassing lands west of the Hudson River, and subsequently the Duke's release of western territories to proprietors John Berkeley and George Carteret for New Jersey, left uncertainties regarding the precise demarcation, particularly whether Staten Island fell within New York's patent and whether New Jersey's eastern boundary extended to the middle of the Hudson River or included waterways like the Arthur Kill separating Staten Island from the mainland.^[21]^[68] The disputes manifested primarily as property enforcement actions by settlers and local militias over farmland and grazing rights in contested upland areas, such as those near the Tappan Patent in present-day Rockland County, New York, and Bergen County, New Jersey, rather than large-scale military engagements.^[69] Tensions escalated into open skirmishes around 1720, following failed attempts at bilateral agreements like the unratified 1719 Tripartite Deed proposed to clarify the northern and eastern lines.^[70] Local New Jersey proprietors and farmers resisted New York tax collectors and surveyors encroaching on claimed lands, leading to raids on isolated homesteads and brief standoffs, though documented casualties remained minimal—typically confined to injuries from small-arms fire or captures rather than fatalities.^[71] These actions underscored a prioritization of proprietary land titles and local autonomy over centralized arbitration, with New Jersey authorities viewing New York's assertions as encroachments on vested property interests derived from the 1664 conveyance.^[68] Intermittent violence persisted through the mid-18th century, fueled by population growth in border townships and competing patents, but lacked escalation to provincial-level mobilization due to shared British imperial oversight.^[70] Resolution came via a royal commission appointed on October 7, 1769, under King George III, which commissioned surveys by figures including Bernard Ratzer to delineate the boundary. The resulting decree established the water line along the middle of the Hudson River northward to 41°40' N latitude, then due west to the Delaware River, assigning sovereignty over islands in the Hudson and East Rivers (including Ellis Island) to New York while confirming New Jersey's claims to adjacent bays and the Kill van Kull, with mutual ratifications by colonial legislatures in 1770 and 1771.^[72] This compromise ended the hostilities, affirming empirical surveying over interpretive grant ambiguities, though it prefigured later federal interventions in interstate boundaries absent a constitution.^[73] The low-intensity conflict highlighted the fragility of colonial property regimes reliant on royal patents, where enforcement devolved to self-help amid jurisdictional voids.^[68]

Societal and Economic Dimensions

Demographics, Labor, and Slavery

The population of the Province of New Jersey expanded from an estimated 10,000 residents in 1702 to approximately 140,000 by 1775, driven by European immigration and natural increase.^[74] ^[75] This growth reflected a diverse ethnic composition, including English settlers in the east, Scots-Irish in the north and west, Germans in rural areas, and smaller numbers of Dutch and Swedish descendants, alongside enslaved Africans concentrated in agricultural and industrial zones.^[2] ^[76] Settlements such as Newark, founded in 1666 and growing to several thousand by the mid-18th century, and Trenton, established around 1679 with a similar trajectory, functioned as emerging urban centers amid predominantly rural distribution.^[74] Labor in the province initially relied heavily on indentured servitude, with European immigrants bound for terms of four to seven years to clear land, farm, and establish households, particularly in the fertile regions suited to grain and livestock production.^[77] This system predominated through the late 17th century but gradually declined as the availability of indentured laborers waned and the transatlantic slave trade expanded, shifting dependency toward chattel slavery by the early 18th century.^[78] Enslaved Africans, imported primarily through neighboring ports in New York and Philadelphia, comprised about 6.4 percent of the population in the 1737 census (2,951 slaves out of 46,539 total) and reached 12 percent by 1776, totaling over 10,000 individuals province-wide.^[1] ^[74] These laborers were deployed in farmsteads for crop cultivation and domestic tasks, as well as in ironworks such as those in the central and northern counties, where they performed mining, forging, and charcoal production under harsh conditions.^[79] ^[80] Native American groups, chiefly the Lenape (Delaware), faced displacement through land acquisition treaties and purchases, reducing their presence from dominant territorial control in the 17th century to marginal enclaves by the mid-18th.^[81] Key transactions included the 1664 Elizabethtown Tract sale, encompassing over 75,000 acres between the Raritan and Passaic rivers, and later agreements like the 1758 Treaty of Easton, which ceded remaining lands and prompted westward migration or assimilation into colonial society.^[82] ^[81] While occasional alliances formed during conflicts like King Philip's War (1675–1676), disease, warfare, and encroachment led to a sharp population decline, with Lenape numbers falling below 1,000 provincially by 1750.^[2]

Economic Activities and Trade

The economy of the Province of New Jersey centered on agriculture, which featured small to medium-sized family farms producing staple crops such as wheat, corn, rye, and barley, alongside livestock rearing for meat, dairy, and hides.^[83]^[84] These outputs supported local subsistence while generating surpluses exported primarily through the ports of Philadelphia and New York City, where cargoes of grain and animals were shipped to domestic and overseas markets by the mid-18th century.^[85] Industrial activities complemented farming, particularly the iron sector, which leveraged abundant local ore deposits and water-powered forges along rivers in South Jersey and northern regions. By the 1760s, operations like the Andover Iron Works, established in 1760 by William Allen and Joseph Turner, produced pig iron and bar iron using enslaved and indentured labor, contributing to tools, hardware, and later armaments.^[86]^[87] This industry fostered localized wealth accumulation through private investment in furnaces and refineries, though it remained sensitive to fluctuating raw material supplies and British import dependencies for finished goods. Trade operated within the constraints of the British Navigation Acts, enacted from 1651 onward and reinforced in 1660 and 1696, which required colonial exports like grain and timber to use British-built ships and route through British ports, limiting direct access to European buyers.^[88] Provincial merchants evaded these restrictions through smuggling, often exchanging goods at informal wharves or via indirect voyages to non-British markets, a practice widespread in the Middle Colonies by the 1730s to circumvent duties like those in the Molasses Act of 1733.^[89] Such illicit networks enhanced short-term profitability but exposed traders to seizures by royal customs enforcers and naval patrols. Maritime pursuits bolstered self-sufficiency, with shipbuilding yards in coastal South Jersey counties constructing vessels for local trade and fishing fleets using timber from inland forests.^[90]^[91] Fisheries, including whaling off Cape May starting in the late 17th century, yielded oil, whalebone, and fish for export, supporting yeoman families and integrating with broader Atlantic commerce despite mercantilist barriers.^[92] These private ventures drove economic expansion, yet wartime interruptions—such as Anglo-French conflicts disrupting shipping lanes—and policy-enforced monopolies periodically stalled growth, underscoring reliance on unregulated enterprise for prosperity.^[88] The Concessions and Agreements of 1664 granted broad religious freedoms to settlers in the Province of New Jersey, stipulating that "no men, nor number of men upon earth, hath power or authority to rule over men's consciences in religious matters," thereby prohibiting any established church and attracting diverse Protestant denominations including Quakers, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Dutch Reformed adherents.^[93]^[26] This framework enabled Quakers to dominate West Jersey settlements after 1675, while East Jersey saw strong Presbyterian influence from Scottish and Congregationalist migrants in towns like Newark and Elizabethtown, with no single sect achieving dominance despite occasional sectarian disputes over land and oaths.^[94] Efforts to impose Anglicanism, such as those by Governor Edward Hyde (Lord Cornbury) in the early 1700s through advocacy for Church of England privileges, faced resistance from the assembly and proprietors, preventing formal establishment and preserving the province's de facto pluralism.^[95] Social institutions emphasized self-reliant family farms as the economic core, with yeoman households comprising the majority of freeholders who cultivated small-to-medium plots of grains, livestock, and orchards, fostering habits of independence and local cooperation absent large manorial estates common elsewhere.^[96] Township meetings, modeled on New England practices in Puritan-founded communities like Newark (established 1666), handled civic matters such as poor relief, roads, and militia, promoting participatory governance that reinforced communal virtue and resistance to centralized authority.^[2] Education supported this structure through church-affiliated grammar schools teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, and Latin; for instance, Reverend Abraham Pierson founded one in Newark around 1670 for boys, serving as a precursor to higher learning.^[97] The College of New Jersey, chartered in 1746 initially in Elizabethtown before relocating to Newark, emerged from Presbyterian efforts to train ministers and leaders, reflecting the province's investment in literate, self-governing citizens amid religious diversity.^[98] While sectarian tensions arose—such as Quaker refusals of militia oaths clashing with Presbyterian patriotism—the absence of an established church cultivated a pragmatic tolerance that arguably contributed to the individualistic ethos underpinning revolutionary sentiments, as diverse groups prioritized personal conscience over hierarchical conformity.^[99] This pluralism, rooted in proprietary concessions rather than royal imposition, distinguished New Jersey from New England theocracies or Anglican Virginia, yielding a society where religious liberty intertwined with civic self-reliance.^[94]

Judiciary and Legal Framework

Courts and Judicial Practices

The judicial system of the Province of New Jersey was established following its reorganization as a royal colony in 1702, with the foundational Ordinance for Regulating Courts of Judicature promulgated in 1704 by Governor Lord Cornbury.^[100]^[101] This ordinance created a Supreme Court of Judicature, modeled on English superior courts such as King's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, which exercised original jurisdiction over serious felonies, civil actions exceeding specified monetary thresholds (initially adjusted to £15 by provincial acts in 1746 and 1753), and significant land disputes.^[101]^[58] The Supreme Court consisted of a chief justice and associate justices appointed by the governor, who served as itinerant judges traveling circuits to hold sessions in key locations like Perth Amboy and Burlington, ensuring broader access to higher justice amid the province's expanding settlements.^[101]^[58] At the local level, county courts formed the backbone of routine adjudication, comprising Courts of Common Pleas for civil matters (typically under 40 shillings) and Courts of General Sessions for criminal cases, presided over by justices of the peace appointed by the governor's council.^[101]^[58] These courts met quarterly and handled the bulk of property conveyances, contract enforcements, and minor disputes, adapting English common law to colonial contexts such as debtor insolvencies driven by agricultural credit cycles and trade fluctuations.^[101] Appeals from county decisions proceeded to the Supreme Court, with further review possible via writ of error to the governor-in-council as the provincial court of last resort, limited to errors of law rather than fact; higher-value cases (e.g., over £300 after 1753 adjustments) could escalate to the Privy Council in London.^[101]^[58] Judicial practices emphasized core English common law safeguards, including trial by jury in both civil and criminal proceedings for eligible cases, and the writ of habeas corpus to challenge unlawful detentions, though enforcement depended on judicial discretion amid resource constraints.^[101] The system frequently adjudicated land title conflicts arising from proprietary grants versus earlier patents, such as those in the Elizabethtown Tract disputes or Essex County ejectment actions in the 1740s, often favoring proprietary claims under common law doctrines of tenure while incorporating equity via a parallel Court of Chancery established around 1705 for fraud and fiduciary issues.^[101]^[58] Provincial assemblies exerted indirect influence over judicial operations through funding appropriations, fostering nascent tensions over tenure security—initially "during good behavior" but contested by royal instructions mandating "during pleasure" by 1761—which highlighted emerging rule-of-law pressures against executive dominance.^[58]

Revolutionary Transition

Provincial Congress and Independence Measures

The First Provincial Congress of New Jersey assembled on May 23, 1775, in Trenton, comprising delegates from all counties to coordinate defenses amid escalating tensions with Britain following the battles at Lexington and Concord.^[102] This body endorsed the Continental Association's non-importation provisions, committing to halt British goods imports to pressure Parliament economically while preserving colonial self-governance.^[103] It also enacted early militia regulations in June 1775, formalizing a colony-wide force of able-bodied men aged 16 to 50 for local defense, later codified in an October 1775 ordinance that structured regiments, officers, and training obligations.^[104]^[105] These steps extended prior assembly practices of internal regulation, directly countering imperial encroachments that bypassed colonial consent. By early 1776, the Provincial Congress intensified defiance, arresting Royal Governor William Franklin on January 8 for disseminating intelligence to British authorities and obstructing patriot mobilization, initially confining him under house arrest at Perth Amboy's Proprietary House.^[106]^[107] On June 17, militiamen under Colonel Nathaniel Heard escalated this to formal custody, transferring him for trial amid fears of loyalist intrigue; the Continental Congress affirmed imprisonment in Connecticut on June 24 to neutralize his influence.^[108]^[109] Concurrently, loyalist estates faced sequestration starting August 7 in counties like Monmouth, with properties inventoried and sold to fund defenses and avert aid to invading forces, framed as pragmatic safeguards rather than punitive excess.^[110] The Second Provincial Congress, convening in June 1776, explicitly instructed delegates Richard Stockton, Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, and Richard Bache on June 22 to concur in declaring independence, empowering them to join a confederacy while reserving colony-specific powers.^[111] This directive rested on petitions and resolves decrying Parliament's taxation schemes—such as the Stamp Act and Townshend duties—as violations of English rights, lacking electoral representation and thus severing legitimate authority over internal affairs.^[112] Such measures reflected a causal rupture: repeated imperial fiscal impositions without reciprocal consent eroded the compact, rendering continued allegiance untenable absent reform, as evidenced by Franklin's ouster and militia mobilization yielding empirical security against coercion.^[113]

First State Constitution of 1776

The Provincial Congress of New Jersey adopted the state's first constitution on July 2, 1776, at its session in Burlington, without convening a separate constitutional convention, viewing itself as the legitimate successor to colonial authority.^[114] Drafted rapidly in response to the revolutionary crisis, the document declared independence from Great Britain and established a republican framework emphasizing popular sovereignty through broad electoral participation and frequent accountability.^[115] Suffrage extended to all inhabitants of full age possessing at least fifty pounds in property, encompassing women property owners and free Black individuals in practice, marking a notably inclusive approach compared to contemporaneous state constitutions that explicitly limited voting to white males.^[116] Annual elections for legislators and the executive underscored this radical prioritization of direct popular control, minimizing terms to prevent entrenched power while relying on low property thresholds to maximize voter involvement.^[117] The constitution balanced a bicameral legislature—comprising a Legislative Council with one member per county and a General Assembly apportioned by county populations—with an intentionally feeble executive branch, where a governor, elected annually by joint legislative ballot, held limited powers such as serving as commander-in-chief but lacked veto authority or appointment prerogatives beyond military roles.^[118] This structure reflected a deliberate subordination of executive functions to legislative dominance, aligning with revolutionary suspicions of monarchical overreach and favoring assembly-driven governance to embody the people's will.^[117] Key achievements included embedding protections for natural rights directly in the preamble, such as the inalienable entitlements to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness; the right to bear arms for defense; inviolable jury trials in criminal cases; safeguards against unreasonable searches and excessive bail; and habeas corpus, making New Jersey the first state to integrate such a declaration within the constitution's core text rather than as an appendage.^[116] Critics, including later historians, noted vulnerabilities inherent in the design, such as the absence of a formal amendment process, which hindered adaptations to changing conditions and contributed to its eventual replacement in 1844.^[119] The annual election cycle and expansive suffrage, while advancing popular sovereignty, exposed the government to factional instability and short-term populism, potentially undermining deliberative governance amid wartime pressures.^[117] As a pivotal transition from provincial to sovereign statehood, the 1776 frame informed federal constitutional debates by exemplifying tensions between legislative primacy and executive restraint, influencing arguments for balanced republicanism in the U.S. Constitution.^[116]

References

[1]
A Short History of New Jersey | NJ.gov
New Jersey's complex settler and colonial past began in the seventeenth century. The first Europeans were the Dutch, who established their New Netherlands ...Missing: Province | Show results with:Province
[2]
New Jersey Colony | Facts, Settlement, History, 13 Colonies
Oct 20, 2023 · New Jersey Colony, also known as the Province of New Jersey or the Province of New Caesarea, was founded in 1664. It was briefly controlled by ...<|separator|>
[3]
History | Delaware Nation
The Lenape were a significant sovereign force politically, socially, and economically in their homeland region both before and after contact with Europeans, and ...
[4]
The Original People and Their Land: The Lenape, Pre-History to the ...
The indigenous people who inhabited the land that became Philadelphia were the Lenape (also Lenni Lenape; their English moniker was “Delaware”).
[5]
[PDF] Human History - Pinelands Preservation Alliance
The Lenape, also called the Delaware, were an Algonkin- speaking people who lived in the Delaware Valley and across New Jersey to the Atlantic. In New. Jersey, ...Missing: pre- | Show results with:pre-
[6]
[PDF] Giovanni da Verrazzano, Letter to King Francis, 1524
My intention on this voyage was to reach Cathay and the extreme eastern coast of Asia, but I did not expect to find such an obstacle of new land as I have found ...
[7]
Exploration and Settlement - NewJerseyAlmanac.com
In his voyages along the Atlantic coast ranging from the present Carolinas to Newfoundland, Verrazzano entered New York Bay in April 1524, passing through the ...
[8]
Early Exploration of New Jersey | NJfounders
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing for the French King Francois I, aboard the Dauphine, entered Raritan Bay. Verrazzano was followed in 1609 by an ...
[9]
Lessons from the 17th century 'New Netherland' | Penn Today
Feb 14, 2024 · Through study of the fur and wampum trade between the Lenape and Dutch in the 1600s, fourth-year history Ph.D. candidate Molly Leech is aiming to recenter ...
[10]
The immunogenetic impact of European colonization in the Americas
Aug 5, 2022 · Upon European contact and the resulting killings, poor social conditions, and epidemics, Native Americans underwent a severe decline in ...
[11]
The Rise and Fall of New Netherland - National Park Service
Jul 10, 2022 · Inexpensive and plentiful land was the lure that brought many Dutch to North America. The colonists found wealth in animal furs, mining, farming ...
[12]
Dutch West India Company - Library Guides at New Jersey City ...
Oct 3, 2025 · Although the desired passage was not found, Hudson's exploration gave the Dutch a claim to land in North America to found New Netherland.<|control11|><|separator|>
[13]
Part 1 – Early Settlement And The Rise Of Slavery In Colonial Dutch ...
The first settlement in New Jersey was at Pavonia, just across the Hudson ... By 1640, the Dutch New Netherland colony was firmly established, and the ...
[14]
The Dutch and the Swedes
In succeeding years they established satellite communities at Pavonia, Bergen, Vriessendael and Achter Col, the present day sites of Jersey City, Edgewater and ...
[15]
Bergen Square - Library Guides at New Jersey City University
Oct 3, 2025 · Bergen Square was established by the Dutch in 1660. It was laid out in a walled area of approximately 800 feet square.
[16]
New Sweden: A Brief History - Penn State Libraries
The travelers landed on the banks of the Delaware in the spring of 1638, disembarked, and met with the local Native Americans to purchase the land. Minuit and ...Missing: territory | Show results with:territory
[17]
America's Little Known Swedish Colony | Legacy Tree Genealogists
Sep 28, 2022 · The New Sweden Company, formed in 1637, established a colony in Delaware in 1638. It was small, with 600 mainly Swedish and Finnish settlers, ...
[18]
[PDF] The Swedes on The Delaware 1638-1664
This book is about the Swedish settlements on the Delaware from 1638-1664, and is a popular abridgment of a larger work.
[19]
The surrender of New Netherland, 1664
In May 1664 James dispatched Colonel Richard Nicolls [or Nichols] to seize the colony. Three hundred soldiers from four warships went ashore on Long Island in ...Missing: Treaty Westminster
[20]
Articles about the Transfer of New Netherland - 27th of August,1664 ...
The English seizure of New Netherland was one of the reasons why the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665--67 occurred, and it was not until the Treaty of Westminster ...
[21]
The Grant to Berkeley and Carteret, 1664 - NJ State Library
THIS INDENTURE made the four and twentieth day of June, in the sixteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by the grace of God of ...
[22]
https://www.raabcollection.com/american-history-autographs/carteret-berkeley
[23]
The Founding of New Jersey | Discover NJ 350
The two noblemen received clear title to it (or so they thought) on the 24th of June, 1664. Carteret and Berkeley had demonstrated their faithfulness to the ...
[24]
The Duke of York's Release to John Lord Berkeley, and Sir George ...
The Duke of York's Release to John Lord Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret, 24th of June, 1664 (1). THIS INDENTURE made the four and twentieth day of June, in ...
[25]
[PDF] Using the Records of the East and West Jersey Proprietors - NJ.gov
10 February 1665 – Berkeley and Carteret publish Concessions and Agreements based on Carolina's concessions. 8 April 1665 – Gov. Nicolls grants patent for ...
[26]
The Avalon Project : The Concession and Agreement of the Lords ...
The concession and agreement of the Lords proprietors of the Province of New Caesarea, or New Jersey, to and with all and every the adventurers.
[27]
New Jersey Concession 1 - NJ State Library
Jun 23, 1997 · The CONCESSIONS and Agreement of the Lords Propriators of the Province of New Cesarea or New Jersey to and with all and every the ...Missing: 1665 | Show results with:1665
[28]
New Jersey: Governors: 1665-1673 - Archontology.org
Sep 7, 2025 · The proprietary government was reestablished throughout New Jersey following the receipt of a set of documents, including letters from King ...
[29]
[PDF] The Founding of New Jersey
BACKGROUND: The colonial history of New Jersey began in 1609 when Henry Hudson first claimed the region on behalf of Holland and renamed it New Netherlands.
[30]
Concessions and Agreements - NJ State Library
Jun 23, 1997 · The Concessions and agreement of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of New Cesarea or New Jersey, to and with all and every [of] the adventurers.
[31]
[PDF] EARLY NEW JERSEY: PROPRIETARY AND COLONIAL ERA ...
New Jersey's proprietary period refers to the historical era after the British conquest of. New Jersey in 1664, and before Queen Anne established New Jersey as ...
[32]
West New Jersey - Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
In 1674, the proprietorship of New Jersey was divided in half, with Berkeley taking West New Jersey, which he promptly sold to John Fenwick (c. 1618-1683) ...
[33]
Proprietary colony | US History, Charters & Land Grants - Britannica
Oct 1, 2025 · In 1674 Berkeley sold western New Jersey to the Quakers John Fenwick and Edward Byllynge. The earliest European settlements within the ...
[34]
Where was the West Jersey/East Jersey line?
The East Jersey/West Jersey line was then defined in a 1676 Quintipartite Deed ... - straight line due east to the border with New York at the Hudson River ...Missing: Assunpink | Show results with:Assunpink
[35]
Why West Jersey is dated on this site from 1674 rather than 1676
It was in 1674, however, that John, Lord Berkeley sold his 'half-interest' in New Jersey to Quaker John Fenwick (on behalf of the bankrupt Edward Byllynge).
[36]
Burlington | Jersey Shore, Colonial History, Quaker Settlement
Settled (1677) by Quakers, it was known as New Beverly, then Bridlington (for a village in Yorkshire, England), and later Burlington (an alternate spelling of ...
[37]
History - Burlington Quaker Meeting House
1677 Meeting for Worship under sails ... “Burlington, as a Friends' settlement, is older than Philadelphia, and second only to Salem, in this part of the country.
[38]
Scotch Covenanters And Others In East Jersey - Chronicles of America
... Perth Amboy, which they named from the Scottish Earl of Perth and an Indian word meaning "point." This settlement they expected to become a great commercial ...
[39]
https://nj.gov/state/archives/pdf/proprietors.pdf
[40]
[PDF] The West Jersey Concessions: A Model for the Bill of Rights - NJ.gov
More important, the West Jersey Concessions provided for a much greater protection of Civil Liberties than in East Jersey or anywhere else in America. Religious ...
[41]
The Tavern and the Meeting House - Institute for Advanced Study
In 1675, Lord Berkeley sold his interest in West New Jersey for £1,000 to John Fenwick and Edward Byllynge, two Quakers whose subsequent dispute over the ...
[42]
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;idno=N24706.0001.001;rgn=div2;view=text;cc=evans;node=N24706.0001.001%3A13.1
[43]
You Are Our Brothers - Friends Journal
Aug 1, 2024 · Delve into the historical relationship between Quakers and the Lenape people, from peaceful negotiations to eventual displacement and ...
[44]
5. East and West Jersey
It's called the East-West Jersey Line and approximates the division between Carteret's land and Quaker territory. All land to the east of this line is ...
[45]
[PDF] The Proprietors of the Province of West New Jersey, 1674-1702
Actually, the sale was made to Fenwick in trust for Byllynge, and the price was ?1,000. In July, 1676, a division of the patent took place, leaving in its wake.Missing: factionalism | Show results with:factionalism
[46]
<i>The Province of West Jersey, 1609-1702 - Project MUSE
Apr 4, 2012 · But the story really begins in 1674 with the sale by Sir John Berkeley ... John Fenwick, with whom was associated Edward Byllynge, both Quakers.
[47]
[PDF] William Penn, Quakers, and Unfree Labor in Atlantic Pennsylvania
Fenwick and Byllynge were both proprietors of West New Jersey, a tract of land purchased from Sir John Berkeley and the first Quaker colony. Yet the two men ...<|separator|>
[48]
The Fundamental Constitutions for the Province of East New Jersey ...
XI. The four and twenty Proprietors, in their absence, may vote in the great and common Council by their proxies; one Proprietor may be proxy for another, ...
[49]
History - City of Perth Amboy
The Proprietors of East Jersey were responsible for its construction during 1762-1764 for the Royal Governor of New Jersey. In 1774, William Franklin, son ...Missing: Scottish hierarchical
[50]
Scots and the control of East New Jersey
Jul 9, 2025 · Scots did not just emigrate to East Jersey in the late 17th century, they sought to exert control over the land and commerce of the colony.
[51]
NJ: Consolidated Chronology - New Jersey - Newberry Library
The Dominion of New England formally incorporated East New Jersey (15 August 1688) and West New Jersey (18 August 1688) in accordance with the new royal ...<|separator|>
[52]
SIR EDMUND ANDROS'S SECOND COMMISSION as GOVERNOR ...
SIR EDMUND ANDROS'S SECOND COMMISSION as GOVERNOR OF THE TERRITORY AND DOMINION OF NEW ENGLAND. 7 April, 1688. James the Second by the Grace of God King of ...
[53]
West New Jersey, 1689 – Part One - GOODSPEED HISTORIES
Sep 29, 2010 · William of Orange was invited to bring his army to England and soon afterwards, in December 1688, James gave up his crown. On February 13, 1689, ...Missing: End | Show results with:End
[54]
Dominion of New England, Summary, Facts, Significance, APUSH
The Boston Revolt of 1689. When the news reached Boston, the people arrested Andros and threw him in prison, effectively ending the Dominion of New England.
[55]
Surrender from the Proprietors of East and West New Jersey
Surrender from the Proprietors of East and West New Jersey, of Their Pretended Right of Government to Her Majesty; 1702 (1). WHEREAS his late Majesty King ...
[56]
Explorers and Settlers (Historical Background) - National Park Service
Only a few months before the English conquered New Netherland in 1664, Charles II granted the territory as a proprietorship to his brother, James, Duke of York, ...
[57]
1702 Detail, Royal Colony of New Jersey Established, Pre ...
April 17, 1702 - Royal Colony of New Jersey established by Queen Anne from separate provinces of East New Jersey and West New Jersey.
[58]
[PDF] New Jersey as a Royal Province, 1738 to 1776
With the publication of this monograph, there is completed a detailed study of the colonial history of New. Jersey. Dr. Tanner's exhaustive and admirable ...
[59]
CHAP - West Jersey History Project
"The 5th, That we had manifestly interrupted justice. "These three articles are what the lord Cornbury, in his answer to the.
[60]
New Jersey Royal Governance - NewJerseyAlmanac.com
In 1711, Governor Robert Hunter--frustrated by the undermining of his authority by members of the Cornbury Ring--allied himself with the proprietary forces of ...
[61]
New Jersey: Governors: 1703-1776 - Archontology.org
New Jersey: Governors: 1703-1776 ; 28 Mar/8 Apr 1736 - 29 Aug/3 Sep 1738, John Hamilton [6][7] ; Captain General and Governor-in-Chief in and over His Majesty's ...
[62]
New Jersey: Polity Style: 1703-1776 - Archontology.org
Sep 14, 2025 · 17/28 Apr 1702, the power of government over the Provinces of East New Jersey and West New Jersey are surrendered by the Proprietors to the ...
[63]
[PDF] The quit-rent system in the American colonies
Province of New Jersey, pp. 616-618. 2 The commission displayed a partial ... assembly enacted a bill giving the receiver-general power to collect the ...Missing: triennial | Show results with:triennial
[64]
[PDF] A GLIMPSE AT NEW JERSEY COLONIAL POLITICS
" "The other party was very backward" and "broke to pieces." The Cumberland election may be regarded as typical of colonial. New Jersey's political life.
[65]
Proprietors, patronage, and paper money : Legislative politics in ...
Proprietors, patronage, and paper money : Legislative politics in New Jersey, 1703-1776 Available at State Library Forum Room 104 - Main Open Stacks ...Missing: triennial powers bills quit- rents
[66]
French and Indian Wars
An English colony removed from the frontier, New Jersey was not significantly threatened ... French, who provided less of a threat to their way of life.Missing: defense | Show results with:defense
[67]
Provincial troops in the French and Indian Wars - Wikipedia
The new vigor with which the war was fought, made the New Jersey Assembly vote 1,000 men for the campaign season of 1758; offering bounties to induce ...
[68]
New Jersey and the Albany Congress
Aug 6, 2020 · In other words, the New Jersey Assembly said that the French and Indian threat on the frontier was not really their problem. They were happy ...
[69]
the new york-new - jersey boundary - controversy, john - jstor
Did the grant include the largely uninhabited Staten. Island, and ... Hudson River encompass the Arthur Kill, between mainland New. Jersey and Staten Island?5.
[70]
New York State Historical Markers: It Happened Here
Sep 3, 2018 · The New York/New Jersey border problems originated in the charter given by Charles II to two of his political supporters. With the cleaving off ...
[71]
The New York / New Jersey Line Dispute - Hometown History NJ
Aug 21, 2024 · In 1720, with the Tri-Partate Deed officially dead, open warfare broke out in settlements along the disputed border. Local skirmishes continued ...Missing: 1701-1765 | Show results with:1701-1765
[72]
[PDF] Unsettling East Jersey: Borders of Violence in the Proprietary Era ...
governmental system, disputes about the border between New Jersey and New York patents and counties continued. Between 1702 and 1738, the year that New Jersey ...
[73]
New Jersey State Boundary Project - ArcGIS StoryMaps
Aug 30, 2022 · A royal commission was created on October 7, 1769 to settle the dispute. The legislatures on both colonies ratified the compromise agreement in ...
[74]
[PDF] The boundary line between the states of New York and New Jersey ...
eastern end of the boundary line between New York and New Jersey, as determined upon by the royal boundary commission of 1769. The absolute geographical ...
[75]
Population-Historical Overview - NewJerseyAlmanac.com
In 1702, New Jersey's population was estimated at about 10,000, Pennsylvania's at 15,000, and New York's at 20,000. In a 1737 census, the population was ...
[76]
ESTIMATED POPULATION OF AMERICAN COLONIES
1770, 1760, 1750, 1740, 1730, 1720, 1710, 1700, 1690, 1680, 1670, 1660, 1650, 1640 ... New Jersey, 139627, 117431, 93813, 71393, 51373, 37510, 29818, 19872, 14010 ...
[77]
[PDF] The Cultural Geography of Eighteenth Century New Jersey
Other non-English groups who came early to settle New Jersey included Africans, who came involuntarily, Scots, Irish, Scotch-Irish, and Germans. Africans were ...
[78]
Part 2 – Slavery In Early English East Jersey – Anthropology
The growing number of enslaved Africans in the colony came concurrent with laws meant to control this population. The first of these slave codes was passed ...
[79]
Legislating Slavery in New Jersey
East Jersey's charter did include any antislavery provision, and its legislature maintained a busy schedule regulating slavery. In 1682, East Jersey legislators ...
[80]
The Ugly Truth: Examining Slavery in Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Jun 28, 2018 · The “Andover Iron Works and the Union Iron Works in Hunterdon County both used slave labor.” Id. At New Jersey's height of slavery, in the ...
[81]
History at the Slave Labor in the Iron Industry on Virmuze
Slave Labor in the Iron Industry. History. Credits. Exhibit contents. Batsto ... Slavery began in New Jersey in the early seventeenth century as way way to ...
[82]
Native American History in New Jersey - Our Land, Our Stories
... Treaty of Easton (1758) accelerated the displacement of much of the remaining Native American population from New Jersey. Many Lenape had moved west, for a ...Missing: 1688 Elizabethtown<|separator|>
[83]
Founding of Elizabeth | Elizabeth, NJ
On October 28, 1664, the Indians of Staten Island sold to John Bailey, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson, a tract of land lying between the Raritan River and ...Missing: Woodbridge | Show results with:Woodbridge
[84]
Middle Colonies' Economy - Explained - AmericanRevolution.org
The Middle Colonies of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania produced a diverse economic output, with a focus on farming, leading to this region ...
[85]
[PDF] New Jersey Colony Economy - Leevers Foods
Unlike the plantation economies of the southern colonies, New Jersey's economy was characterized by smaller farms and a greater emphasis on mixed agriculture.
[86]
[PDF] Triangular Trade Routes
Farmers sent cargoes of wheat and livestock to New York City and Philadelphia for ship- ment, and these cities became busy ports. By the. 1760s New York ...
[87]
The Iron Works at Andover - The Historical Marker Database
Purchased from a large tract of land belonging to William Penn, William Allen and Joseph Turner started their iron works here in 1760.
[88]
The Iron Works at Andover - Sussex County
William Allen and Joseph Turner started their iron works here in 1760. Slaves and indentured servants were employed to extract and process iron ore.
[89]
Navigation Acts | Summary, Effects, Facts - AmericanRevolution.org
Customs officials no longer turned a blind eye to smuggling, and it became much more difficult to sell certain goods for a profit in foreign markets. New taxes ...
[90]
https://www.atlanticcountynj.gov/government/government-information/history-of-atlantic-county/shipbuilding-in-atlantic-county
[91]
Shipbuilding in Atlantic County
South Jersey shipyards were plentiful and busy. A good portion of Atlantic County residents depended upon shipbuilding for their livelihood. By the first half ...
[92]
[PDF] New Jersey Colony Economy - Leevers Foods
Additionally, trade, lumbering, and shipbuilding were important to the colony's economy. How did New Jersey's geography influence its colonial economy? New ...
[93]
America's first whaling industry and the whaler yeomen of Cape May ...
Whaling proved to be a valuable asset to the colonial economy of West Jersey; the whaling trade built elite family dynasties on the Jersey Cape that lasted for ...
[94]
New Jersey Concessions | Teaching American History
The common law of fundamental rights and priviledges of West New Jersey, are individually agreed upon by the Proprietors and freeholders thereof.
[95]
Religious Pluralism in the Middle Colonies
The most influential religious bodies beside the Quakers were the large congregations of German Reformed, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians.
[96]
[PDF] When Princeton wasinNewark - Newark History Society
Sep 19, 2011 · When he was Governor of New Jersey in the early 1700s, Lord Cornbury tried to create an anglican establishment, but it was never made official.
[97]
Family Labor and the Growth of the Northern Colonies, 1640-1760
But though rural families formed its backbone, northern colonial society was not made up solely of independent “yeoman” farmers. In some areas, such as New ...Missing: structure | Show results with:structure
[98]
How Two Early Newarkers Helped a Nation Grow
Mar 13, 1997 · While in Newark, he accomplished three things: He was the minister of Old First; he established a grammar school for boys, and he was tutor and ...
[99]
[PDF] Second Edition
The first commencement of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton. University) was held at Newark's First Presbyterian Church. There were six graduates. 1768.
[100]
Religious Beliefs in Colonial New Jersey - Synonym - Classroom
Many faiths lived there in relative harmony, but the presence of Catholics was resented by the predominantly Protestant population.
[101]
New Jersey Colonial Ordinances | Research Library
1704. An Ordinance For Regulating Courts of Judicature in the Province of New Jersey. Printed by William Bradford in New York. 1724.
[102]
[PDF] The Courts in the American Colonies Erwin C. Surrency The ...
Mar 17, 2008 · These courts, presided over by the chief justice and associates, had different appellations in dif- ferent colonies: Provincial Court in ...
[103]
[PDF] Provincial Congress - NJ State Library
On May 23, 1775, the First Provincial. Congress, attended by representatives from every county, met in Trenton to direct the political-turned-military contest.
[104]
Today in History: Revolutionary Moments in May
Apr 30, 2025 · In New Jersey, the Provincial Congress signs the non-importation “Association,” vowing to defend their liberties—though they do not yet speak ...
[105]
New Jersey militia during the Revolutionary war
Nov 5, 2007 · The NJ Provincial Congress passed this militia act- " a plan for regulating the Militia of this Colony" the beginning of June,1775: "The ...<|separator|>
[106]
An ordinance for regulating the Militia of New Jersey.
An ordinance for regulating the Militia of New Jersey. : Passed at a sitting of the Provincial Congress, held at Trenton in the month of October 1775.Missing: non- importation
[107]
On This Day January 8, 1776- NJ Governor William Franklin arrested
On this date, Governor Franklin was arrested for opposing the Revolution. Others, such as slaves, joined sides with the British in return for promises of ...
[108]
William Franklin | American Battlefield Trust
In January 1776, he was placed under house arrest and ousted from his role of royal governor by the Continental Congress. Six months later, he was transported ...
[109]
William Franklin Full Biography - Crossroads of the American ...
On June 17, I was placed under arrest by a force of militiamen commanded by Colonel Nathaniel Heard. After spending some months under house arrest, I was ...
[110]
Congress To Imprison Gov. William Franklin – California SAR
Jun 24, 2024 · On this day in history, June 24, 1776, Congress resolves to imprison Governor William Franklin of New Jersey in Connecticut.
[111]
County Commissioners Inventory Loyalist Estates
On August 7, Monmouth County became the first New Jersey county to begin the process for confiscating Loyalist estates (under the legal argument that an ...
[112]
New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783 - NJ State Library
... Provincial Congress on ... The Instructions for the New Jersey Delegates in the Continental Congress to Vote for Independence (PDF) – June 22, 1776 [210] ...
[113]
New Jersey Instructions, 22 June 1776 - Quill Project
Resolved, That five persons be elected to represent this Colony in Continental Congress, to serve for one year, unless a new appointment be made before that ...
[114]
What factors finally pushed the Second Continental Congress to ...
After having Royal Governor William Franklin, the son of Benjamin Franklin, arrested, New Jersey chose new delegates and authorized them on June 21, 1775 to ...<|separator|>
[115]
1776 State Constitution - New Jersey Department of State
On 2 July 1776, New Jersey became the fourth American colony to adopt a constitution declaring independence from Great Britain.
[116]
Historical Information | NJ Legislature
Learn about the history of the New Jersey Legislature and how national movements and political reform have shaped the Legislature's evolution toward equal ...Missing: factions | Show results with:factions
[117]
New Jersey Constitution - Teaching American History
New Jersey was the first state to incorporate a declaration of rights within the body of the constitution itself. Does it matter where the declaration is ...Missing: popular sovereignty
[118]
[PDF] NEW JERSEY'S THREE CONSTITUTIONS: 1776, 1844, 1947
This 1776 Constitution, however, provided for a weak governor and a government dominated by the legislature, a typical Revolutionary period reaction to what had ...
[119]
[PDF] Constitution of New Jersey.
Constitution of New Jersey. Wundas all the conftitistival Authority ... remain in full Furce, molit àlbed by lie Legislaten of. this Colony, (such ...Missing: text | Show results with:text
[120]
[PDF] The Evolution of Constitutional Rights in New Jersey
New Jersey adopted its first state constitution, interestingly, on July 2, 1776, two days before the. Declaration of Independence. 3. This constitution, which ...