Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/863

 NEW JERSEY

791

NEW JERSEY

upon the west, Delaware bay or river, and extendeth southward to the main ocean as far as Cape May, at the mouth of Dchiware bay, and to the northward as far as the northernmost branch of said bay or river of Delaware, which is forty-one degrees and forty min- utes of latitude, and worketh over thence in a straight line to Hudson river, which said tract of land is here- after to be called by the name or names of Nova Cae- sarea or New Jersey". This name was given in hon- our of Carteret's gallant defence of the Island of Jersey {Cwsarea), of which he was governor, during the par- liamentary wars. This grant regarded the Dutch as intruders, and Berkeley and Carteret not only became rulers, but acquired the right to transfer the privilege to others. Measures were speedily devised for peopling and governing the country. The proprietors pub- lished a constitution, dated 10 February, 1664, by which the government of the province was to be ex- ercised by a governor, council, and general assembly. The governor was to receive his appointment from the proprietors. On the same day that the instrument of government was signed, Philip Carteret, a brother of one of the proprietors, received a commission as Gov- ernor of New Jersey, and landed at Elizabeth in August, 1665. By granting a liberal form of govern- ment and extoUing the advantages of their colony, so well located for agriculture, commerce, fishing, and mining, Carteret and Berkeley attracted settlers not only from England, but from Scotland, New England, and particularly from Long Island and Connecticut. These planters were largely Calvinists from Presby- terian and Congregational communities, and occu- pied mainly land in Newark, Elizabeth, and upon the north shore of Monmouth county. The valley of the Delaware remained unsettled. The Calvinists brought with them into East Jersey their distinctive views upon religious and civil matters.

The first Legislative Assembly met at Elizabeth- town on 26 May, 1668. The session lasted foUr days, and was characterized by harmony and strict atten- tion to the business for which the burgesses and repre- sentatives were summoned by Governor Carteret. It may be noticed that this assembly passed laws by which twelve distinct offences were made punishable with death. The assembly adjourned sine die, and seven years elapsed before another convened. The capture of New York by the Dutch, on 30 July, 1673, was followed by the subjection of the surrounding country, including the province of New Jersey. The whole of the territory, however, was restored to the English Crown by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 9 Feb- ruary, 1674. The second General Assembly began its sessions on 5 November, 1675. Laws were enacted concerning the proper military defence of the prov- ince, the institution of regular courts, and the assess- ment of taxes. A code of capital laws was also adopted, similar in its provisions to that passed in 1668. On IS March, 1673, Lord Berkeley disposed of his right and interest in the province to John Fen wick and Edward Byllinge, members of the Society of Quakers, or Friends, for the sum of one thousand pounds. John Fenwick received the conveyance in trust for Edward Byllinge, and a dispute as to the terms having arisen, WiUiam Penn was called in as arbitrator. He gave one-tenth of the province and a considerable sum of money to Fenwick, the remainder of the territory being adjudged to Byllinge, In 1670 a division of the Carteret and Berki-li'v interests oc- curred. By the "Indenture Quintipartite", dated 1 July, 1676, the line of division was made to extend across the province from Little Egg Harbor to a point in the Delaware River in forty-one degrees N. lat. These divisions were known respectively as East and West Jersey, until the charters of both were sur- rendered, and the two portions included together under a royal government. After Berkeley's transfer the dominant influence in West Jersey was that of the

Society of Friends. Salem was settled in 1675; Bur- lington, Gloucester, and Trenton about five years later, while within ten years the ".shore" communi- ties of Cape May and Tuckerton came into existence. The Society of Friends established in West Jersey a series of communities in which the life of the people was different from that of East Jersey. As East Jer- sey resembled New England in civil government, so West Jersey resembled Virginia. The political and social centres of the large plantations were the shire towns; slave-holding was common; a landed aristoc- racy was established ; prominent families intermarried, and, under the advice of William Penn and his friends, good faith was kept with the Indians. Capital pun- ishment was practically unknown, and disputes were frequently settled by arbitration.

Two elements of discord marked the genesis of East Jersey and West Jersey. One was external, and arose from the attitude of the Duke of York. As we have already noted, New Jersey was recaptured in 1673 by the Dutch, who held the colony until the early spring of 1674. A question arose as to the Duke of York's title after 1674; reconveyances were made, but in spite of past assurances the duke claimed the pro- prietary right of government. To that end Sir Ed- mund Andros was commissioned Governor of New Jersey, and a climax was reached in 1680 when the proprietary Governor of East Jersey was carried pris- oner to New York. In 1681 the Crown recognized the justice of the proprietors' contention, and local gov- ernment was re-established, but not before the seeds of disaffection were sown that bore fruit in the Revo- lutionary War. An internal disturbance was the con- test between the Board of Proprietors and the small landowners. Both in East and West Jersey, Carteret and Berkeley and their assigns had transferred to wealthy combinations of capitalists (mostly non-resi- dent) much of the broad acreage of the colonies. With the land went the right of selection of governors and of members of executive councils, which right Berke- ley and Carteret derived from the Crown. This, with "quit-rent" agitation in East Jersey, led to much bit- terness. Finally, disgusted with turmoil and recog- nizing the sentiments of revolt entertained by the people, the Boards of Proprietors surrendered to the Crown in 1702 their rights of government, retaining only their interest in the soil. East and West Jersey were now united and the two provinces became the royal colony of New Jersey. Queen Anne appointed Lord Cornbury, Governor of New York and New Jer- sey, but each continued to have a sopanite assembly. In 1738 New Jersey petitioned for a distiml adminis- tration, and Lewis Morris was appointed governor. The population was then about 40,000. The last royal governor was William Franklin, the natural son of Benjamin Franklin. The opening of the Revolu- tion found New Jersey sentiment unevenly crystal- hzed. Few, if any, favoured absolute independence. There were three elements. One, the Tory and con- servative class and led by William Franklin, em- braced nearly all the Episcopalians, a vast proportion of the non-combatant members of the Society of Friends, and some East Jersey Calvinists. Another element was composed of men of various shades of be- lief, some in favour of continual protest, others desir- ous of compromise. This included at the outbreak of the struggle most of the Calvinists, .some few Quakers of the younger generation, and the Irish and Scotch. The third party drew its support from a few bold, ag- gressive spirits of influence, whose following included men who believed that war for independence would benefit their fortunes. The part played in the Revo- lution by New Jersey has been frequently told. Events succeeded rapidly after Trenton and Prince- ton; Moimiouth and Red Bank are ever-memorable, while the raids at Salem, Springfield, F^lizabeth, in the valley of the Hackensack, and the winter at Morris-