Province of New Jersey#East and West Jerseys

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{{see also|Colonial history of New Jersey}}

The Province of New Jersey was originally settled in the 1610s as part of the colony of New Netherland. The surrender of Fort Amsterdam in September 1664 gave control over the entire Mid-Atlantic region to the English as part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The English justified the seizure by claiming that John Cabot, an Italian under the sponsorship of the English King Henry VII, had been the first to discover the place, but it was probably to assert control over the profitable North Atlantic trade. Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, unable to rouse a military defense, relinquished control of the colony and was able in the articles of transfer to secure guarantees for property rights, laws of inheritance, and freedom of religion. After the surrender, Richard Nicolls took the position as deputy-governor of New Amsterdam and the rest of New Netherland, including those settlements on the west side of the North River (Hudson River) known as Bergen and those along the Delaware River that had been New Sweden.

{{Historical populations

|type= USA

|1670|1000

|1680|3400

|1690|8000

|1700|14010

|1710|19872

|1720|29818

|1730|37510

|1740|51373

|1750|71393

|1760|93813

|1770|117431

|1780|139627

|1784|149435

|footnote=Source: 1670–1760;{{cite book|first=Thomas L.|last=Purvis|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Balkin|title=Colonial America to 1763|year=1999|place=New York|publisher=Facts on File|isbn=978-0816025275|pages=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 128–129]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128}} 1784{{cite book|last1=Purvis|first1=Thomas L.|editor-last=Balkin|editor-first=Richard|title=Revolutionary America 1763 to 1800|year=1995|place=New York|publisher=Facts on File|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/153 153]|isbn=978-0816025282|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816025282/page/180}} 1770–1780{{cite web|title=Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics|publisher=United States Census Bureau|page=1168|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf}}

}}

In March 1664, King Charles II granted his brother, James, the Duke of York, a Royal colony that covered New Netherlands and present-day Maine.{{cite web|title=Timeline|url=https://www.nysenate.gov/timeline|website=New York State Senate|date=February 13, 2009 |access-date=15 July 2016}} This charter also included parts of present-day Massachusetts, which conflicted with that colony's charter. The charter allowed James traditional propriety rights and imposed few restrictions upon his powers. In general terms, the charter was equivalent to a conveyance of land conferring on him the right of possession, control, and government, subject only to the limitation that the government must be consistent with the laws of England. The Duke of York never visited his colony and exercised little direct control of it. He elected to administer his government through governors, councils, and other officers appointed by himself. No provision was made for an elected assembly.

Image:New Jersey Tricentennial Flag.svg

Later in 1664, the Duke of York gave the part of his new possessions between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to Sir George Carteret in exchange for settlement of a debt.{{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=Jean-Rae and Richard T. Koles|title=Elizabeth: First Capital of New Jersey|date=Aug 27, 2003|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=0738523933|page=11}} The territory was named after the island of Jersey, Carteret's ancestral home.The province was also called "the Province of New Caesaria or New Jersey". See: Philip Carteret. The other section of New Jersey was sold to Lord Berkeley of Stratton, who was a close friend of the Duke. As a result, Carteret and Berkeley became the two English lords proprietors of New Jersey.{{Citation

| last = Rieff

| first = Henry

| title = Interpretations of New York-New Jersey Agreements 1834 and 1921

| journal = Newark Law Review

| volume = 1

| issue = 2

| url = http://njlegallib.rutgers.edu/journals/docs/journal.nwk.1.29.pdf

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060506003540/http://njlegallib.rutgers.edu/journals/docs/journal.nwk.1.29.pdf

| archive-date = May 6, 2006}}{{Cite journal

| title = Land Speculation and Proprietary Beginnings of New Jersey

| journal = The Advocate

| volume = XVI

| issue = 4

| pages = 3, 20, 14

| publisher = New Jersey Land Title Association

| url = http://www.njlta.org/Dec2004.pdf

| access-date = April 15, 2010}} The two proprietors of New Jersey attempted to attract more settlers to move to the province by granting sections of lands to settlers and by passing the Concession and Agreement, a 1665 document that granted religious freedom to all inhabitants of New Jersey;The Concession and Agreement was the first of three fundamental documents that governed the Province of New Jersey. See: New Jersey State Constitution#Previous versions. See also: History of the New Jersey State Constitution. For the other two fundamental documents, see #East and West Jerseys. under the British government, there was no such religious freedom as the Church of England was the state church. In return for the land, the settlers were supposed to pay annual fees known as quit-rents.

In 1665, Philip Carteret became the first governor of New Jersey, appointed by the two proprietors. He selected Elizabeth as the capital of New Jersey. Immediately, Carteret issued several additional grants of land to landowners. Towns were started and charters granted to Newark (1666), Piscataway (1666), Bergen (1668), Middletown (1693), Woodbridge (1669), and Shrewsbury.

The idea of quit-rents became increasingly difficult because many of the settlers refused to pay them. Most of them claimed that they owed nothing to the proprietors because they received land from Richard Nicolls, governor of New York. This forced Berkeley to sell West Jersey to John Fenwick and Edward Byllynge, two English Quakers. Many more Quakers made their homes in New Jersey, seeking religious freedom from English (Church of England) rule.

Meanwhile, conflicts began rising in New Jersey. Edmund Andros, governor of New York, attempted to gain authority over East Jersey after the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680. However, he was unable to remove the position of governorship from Governor Phillip Carteret and subsequently moved to attack him and brought him to trial in New York. Carteret was later acquitted. In addition, quarrels occurred between Eastern and Western New Jerseyans, between Native Americans and New Jerseyans, and between different religious groups.

File:A new mapp of East and West New Jarsey (sic) - being an exact survey LOC 97683601 (cropped).jpgFrom 1674 to 1702, the Province of New Jersey was divided into East Jersey and West Jersey, each with its own governor. Each had its own constitution: the West Jersey Constitution (1681) and the East Jersey Constitution (1683).{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nj08.htm |title=Province of West New-Jersey, in America, The 25th of the Ninth Month Called November |author=Avalon Project |publisher=Yale Law School |access-date=2006-12-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102120721/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nj08.htm |archive-date=2007-01-02 }} {{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nj10.htm |title=The Fundamental Constitutions for the Province of East New Jersey in America, Anno Domini 1683 |author=Avalon Project |publisher=Yale Law School |access-date=2006-12-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205053838/http://yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nj10.htm |archive-date=2006-12-05 }}See: New Jersey State Constitution#Previous versions. See also: History of the New Jersey State Constitution. In addition to these two fundamental documents, a third such document was the Concession and Agreement. See: #Settlement and early history.

The exact border between West and East Jersey was often disputed. The border between the two sides reached the Atlantic Ocean to the north of present-day Atlantic City. The border line was created by George Keith and can still be seen in the county boundaries between Burlington and Ocean counties, and between Hunterdon and Somerset counties. The Keith line runs north-northwest from the southern part of Little Egg Harbor Township, passing just north of Tuckerton, and reaching upward to a point on the Delaware River which is just north of the Delaware Water Gap. Later, the 1676 Quintipartite Deed helped to lessen the disputes. More accurate surveys and maps were made to resolve property disputes. This resulted in the Thornton Line, drawn around 1696, and the Lawrence Line, drawn around 1743, which was adopted as the final line for legal purposes.{{cite journal|last=Aun|first=Fred|title=A Fine Old Line Across New Jersey|journal=Coordinate|date=January 1995|volume=15|issue=1|url=http://www.surveyhistory.org/a_fine_old_line_across_new_jersey1.htm|access-date=2 May 2013}}

The Dominion of New England was a short-lived administrative union. On May 7, 1688, the Province of New York, the Province of East Jersey, and the Province of West Jersey were added to the Dominion. The capital was located in Boston, but because of its size, New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey were run by the lieutenant governor from New York City. After news of the overthrow of James II by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 reached Boston, the colonists rose up in rebellion, and the Dominion was dissolved in 1689.

{{See also|List of colonial governors of New Jersey#As a British Crown colony (1702–76)|l1=Governors under Royal Government (1702–1776)}}

On April 17, 1702, under the rule of Queen Anne, the two sections of the proprietary colony were united, and New Jersey became a royal colony. Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of the colony as a royal colony. However, he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land. In 1708, Lord Cornbury was recalled to England. New Jersey was then again ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, accusing those governors of favoritism to New York. Judge Lewis Morris led the case for a separate governor and was appointed governor by King George II in 1738.Streissguth pg 30–36

The New York – New Jersey Line War was a series of skirmishes and raids that took place for over half a century between 1701 and 1765 at the disputed border between the two American colonies the Province of New York and the Province of New Jersey. Border wars were not unusual in the early days of settlements of the colonies and originated in conflicting land claims. Because of ignorance, willful disregard, and legal ambiguities, such conflicts arose involving local settlers until a final settlement was reached. In the largest of these squabbles some {{convert|210,000|acres|km2}} of land were at stake between New York and New Jersey. The conflict was eventually settled by royal commission in 1769.

File:The Province of New Jersey, Divided into East and West, commonly called The Jerseys. LOC 74692203 (cropped).jpg]]

The Provincial Congress of New Jersey was a transitional governing body of the Province of New Jersey in the early part of the American Revolution. It first met in 1775 with representatives from all New Jersey's thirteen counties, to supersede the royal governor.

New Jersey's first state constitution was adopted on July 2, 1776.See: New Jersey State Constitution#Previous versions. The American Revolutionary War was underway, and General George Washington recently had been defeated in New York, putting the state in danger of invasion. The 1776, the New Jersey State Constitution was drafted in five days and ratified within the next two days to establish a temporary government, thereby preventing New Jersey from collapsing and descending into anarchy.{{cite web |url= http://www.state.nj.us/njfacts/njdoc10.htm|title=The New Jersey Constitution of 1776 | access-date=2006-12-17}} Among other provisions, it granted unmarried women and blacks who met property requirements the right to vote.

The Supreme Court was established in 1704, to sit alternately at Perth Amboy and Burlington, consisting of a chief justice, a second judge and several associate judges.

;Chief justices {{cite book|title=The province of New Jersey, 1664-1738 (Volume 1)|first=Edwin|last = Tanner|url = http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/edwin-platt-tanner/the-province-of-new-jersey-1664-1738-volume-1-nna/1-the-province-of-new-jersey-1664-1738-volume-1-nna.shtm}}

• Elizabethtown Tract
• Horseneck Tract
• English Neighborhood
• Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies (Council and Assembly)
• Robert Treat
• List of the oldest buildings in New Jersey

{{reflist|30em}}

• Cunningham, John T. Colonial New Jersey (1971) 160pp
• Doyle, John Andrew. English Colonies in America: Volume IV The Middle Colonies (1907) [https://books.google.com/books?id=4wYOAAAAIAAJ online] ch 7–8
• McCormick, Richard P. New Jersey from Colony to State, 1609–1789 (1964) 191pp
• Pomfret, John Edwin. Colonial New Jersey: a history (1973), the standard modern history

• Colonial Charters, Grants and Related Documents (at "New Jersey").

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{{British overseas territories}}

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Province of New Jersey

Category:Thirteen Colonies

Category:Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas

Category:Former English colonies

Category:1776 disestablishments in the British Empire

Category:Colonial United States (British)

Category:1664 establishments in the British Empire

Category:Middle Colonies

Category:States and territories disestablished in 1776