New Jersey
1664–1673 1702–1776
Flag
Anthem: God Save the King
The Province of New Jersey, Divided into East and West, commonly called The Jerseys, 1777 map byWilliam Faden
Status	Proprietary Colony ofEngland (1664–1673) Royal Colony ofEngland (1702–1707) Royal Colony ofGreat Britain (1707–1776)
Capital	Elizabethtown (1664–1673) Perth Amboy andBurlington (1702–1776)
Common languages	English, Dutch
Religion	Church of England(Official)
Government	Proprietary colony (1664-1673) Royal colony (1702-1776)
Lords Proprietors
• 1664-1673	Lord Berkeley of Stratton Sir George Carteret
Governor
• 1664-1665	Richard Nicolls (first)
• 1672-1673	John Berry (last)
Royal Governor
• 1702-1708	Lord Cornbury (first)
• 1763-1776	William Franklin (last)
Legislature	Council General Assembly Provincial Congress (1775-1776)
History
• 1609	1664
• 1666	1776
Currency	New Jersey pound
Preceded by Succeeded by New Netherland East Jersey West Jersey East Jersey West Jersey New Jersey
Today part of	United States

History of New Jersey
Colonial period
American Revolution
Nineteenth century
Twentieth century
Twenty-first century
v t e

TheProvince of New Jersey was one of theMiddle Colonies ofColonial America and became theU.S. state ofNew Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part ofNew Netherland but came underEnglish rule after the surrender ofFort Amsterdam in 1664, becoming aproprietary colony. The English renamed the province after theisland of Jersey in theEnglish Channel. TheDutch Republic reasserted control for a brief period in 1673–1674. After that it consisted of two political divisions,East Jersey andWest Jersey, until they were united as aroyal colony in 1702. The original boundaries of the province were slightly larger than the current state, extending into a part of the present state ofNew York, until the border was finalized in 1773.^[1]

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 entireMid-Atlantic region to the English as part of theSecond Anglo-Dutch War. The English justified the seizure by claiming thatJohn Cabot, an Italian under the sponsorship of the English KingHenry 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 NetherlandPeter 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, andfreedom of religion. After the surrender,Richard Nicolls took the position as deputy-governor ofNew Amsterdam and the rest of New Netherland, including those settlements on the west side of theNorth River (Hudson River) known asBergen and those along theDelaware River that had beenNew Sweden.

In March 1664,King Charles II granted his brother,James, theDuke of York, aRoyal colony that covered New Netherlands and present-dayMaine.^[5] This charter also included parts of present-dayMassachusetts, 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.

Later in 1664, the Duke of York gave the part of his new possessions,New York, between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to SirGeorge Carteret in recognition of his loyalty during theEnglish Civil War.^[7] The territory was named after theChannel Island ofJersey,Carteret's homeland.^[8] The other section of New Jersey was sold toLord Berkeley of Stratton, who was a close friend of the Duke. As a result, Carteret and Berkeley became the two Englishlords proprietors of New Jersey.^[9][10] 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 theConcession and Agreement, a 1665 document that granted religious freedom to all inhabitants of New Jersey;^[11] under the British government, there was no such religious freedom as theChurch of England was thestate church. In return for the land, the settlers were supposed to pay annual fees known asquit-rents.

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

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 fromRichard Nicolls,governor of New York. This forced Berkeley to sell West Jersey toJohn Fenwick andEdward Byllynge, two EnglishQuakers. 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, betweenNative Americans and New Jerseyans, and between different religious groups.

From 1674 to 1702, the Province of New Jersey was divided intoEast Jersey andWest Jersey,each with its own governor. Each had its own constitution: theWest Jersey Constitution (1681) and theEast Jersey Constitution (1683).^[12][13]

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-dayAtlantic City. The border line was created byGeorge Keith and can still be seen in the county boundaries betweenBurlington andOcean counties, and betweenHunterdon andSomerset counties. TheKeith line runs north-northwest from the southern part ofLittle Egg Harbor Township, passing just north ofTuckerton, and reaching upward to a point on the Delaware River which is just north of theDelaware Water Gap. Later, the 1676Quintipartite Deed helped to lessen the disputes. More accurate surveys and maps were made to resolve property disputes. This resulted in theThornton Line, drawn around 1696, and theLawrence Line, drawn around 1743, which was adopted as the final line for legal purposes.^[14]

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

On April 17, 1702, under the rule ofQueen Anne, the two sections of the proprietary colony were united, and New Jersey became aroyal 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 KingGeorge II in 1738.^[15]

TheNew 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 twoAmerican 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 210,000 acres (850 km²) of land were at stake between New York and New Jersey. The conflict was eventually settled by royal commission in 1769.

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

New Jersey's firststate constitution was adopted on July 2, 1776.^[16] TheAmerican Revolutionary War was underway, and GeneralGeorge Washington recently had been defeated in New York, putting the state in danger of invasion.^[16] The 1776, theNew 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.^[17] Among other provisions, it granted unmarried women and blacks who met property requirements theright to vote.^[16]

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^[18]

• 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

• Cunningham, John T.Colonial New Jersey (1971) 160pp
• Doyle, John Andrew.English Colonies in America: Volume IV The Middle Colonies (1907)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").

40°48′32″N74°31′12″W / 40.809°N 74.520°W /40.809; -74.520

• Province of New Jersey
• Pre-statehood history of New Jersey
• Thirteen Colonies
• Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas
• Former English colonies
• 1776 disestablishments in the British Empire
• Colonial United States (British)
• 1664 establishments in the British Empire
• Middle Colonies
• States and territories disestablished in 1776

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