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 such apprentices should be free at birth, but were to be supported by the masters of their parents for six years. There were consequently a few vestiges of the slavery system in New Jersey until the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution.

Toward the political questions that disturbed the American people immediately before the Civil War the attitude of the state was conservative. In 1852 the Free-soil candidate for the presidency received only 350 votes in New Jersey; and in 1856 the Democratic candidate received a plurality of 18,605 votes, even though William L. Dayton, a citizen of the state, was the Republican nominee for the vice-presidency. In 1860 three of the state’s electoral votes were given to Douglas and four to Lincoln. During the Civil War New Jersey furnished 89,305 men for the Union cause and incurred extraordinary expenditures to the amount of $2,894,385. The state readily consented to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution, but in 1868 withdrew its consent to the latter. The Fifteenth Amendment was rejected by one legislature, but was accepted by its successor, in which the Republican party had obtained a majority.

Industrially the early part of the 19th century was marked in New Jersey by the construction of bridges and turnpikes, the utilization of water power for manufactures, and the introduction of steam motive power upon the navigable waters. The second war with England interrupted this material progress, and at its beginning was so unpopular, especially with the Quakers, that the Federalists carried the elections in the autumn of 1812. But the attempt of this party to retain control by a “gerrymandering” process was unsuccessful. The Democrats were triumphant in 1813, and the Federalist as well as the Democratic administration responded with aid for the defence of New York and Philadelphia. The state also contributed several hundred men to the service of the United States. Material progress in New Jersey after the war is indicated by the construction of the Morris (1824–1836) and the Delaware & Raritan (1826–1838) canals, and the completion of its first railway, the Camden & Amboy, in 1834.

The years following the Civil War were marked by great industrial development. The numerous projects, good and bad, that were inaugurated in 1866–1875, and the various kinds of laws and charters conferring special privileges that were secured, led to the constitutional prohibition of special legislation already mentioned. In this same period there was a bitter railway war. The Delaware & Raritan Canal Company and the Camden & Amboy Railroad Company, both chartered in 1830 and both monopolies, had been practically consolidated in 1831; in 1836 these joint companies gained control of the Philadelphia & Trenton railway; in 1867 these “United New Jersey Railroad & Canal Companies” consolidated with the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Company (which was opened in 1836 and controlled the important railway link between New Brunswick and Jersey City), and profits were to be divided equally between the four companies; and in 1871 these entire properties were leased for 999 years to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. This combination threatened to monopolize traffic, and it was opposed by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, and a branch of the North Pennsylvania (from Jenkintown to Yardley; sometimes called the “national” or “air-line”), and by the general public; and in 1873 the state passed a general railway law giving other railways than the United New Jersey holdings of the Pennsylvania

the right to connect New York and Philadelphia. In 1876 the “national” line was extended to Bound Brook (as the Delaware & Bound Brook) and this road, the North Pennsylvania & Central Railroad of New Jersey, were operated under a tripartite agreement as a through line between New York and Philadelphia; but in 1879 these three lines were leased for 990 years to the Philadelphia & Reading railway. The state itself then became engaged in a struggle with the railways in order to secure from them their full portion of taxes, as the property of individuals was then taxed many times as heavily as that of railways. In 1884 the state gained the victory by securing the passage of a law taxing the franchises of railway corporations.

A reform movement in politics, called the “New Idea,” and led by Everett Colby (b. 1874), then a Republican member of the Assembly and in 1906–1908 a state senator, began in 1904; it did much to secure the passage of acts limiting public service franchises to 20 years (unless extended to 40 years by the voters of the municipality concerned), the increase of taxes on railways, the increase of franchise tax rates by 1% each year up to 5%, the adoption of direct primary elections, and the modification of the existing promoters’ liability law.

Before 1800 the state was dominated by the Federalist party; from that date until 1896 it was generally controlled by the Democrats, and from 1896 to 1911 by the Republicans.

The governors of New Jersey have been as follows:—