Finance.—The only State debt is that known as the war debt, amounting at present to less than $1,700,000, and paid off at the rate of $100,000 per annum. The sinking fund for the redemption of this debt is valued at something more than $1,100,000. Independently of the general State school tax the receipts and expenditures for 1882 were 1,104,303.75, distributed as follows:—interest on debt, $90,000; charitable and reformatory, $269,793.19; courts, crimes, &c., $274,025.82; State government, $158,171.04; scientific, sanitary, &c., $47,880.49; military, $70,692.22; educational, $33,983.61; publication, $105,225.47; miscellaneous, $54,531.91. It will thus be seen that the State expended for educational purposes $1,356,723.61, as against $1,070,320.14 for other purposes.
History.—The first settlement within the present State was made in 1617 by the Dutch at Bergen opposite New York. Subsequently Cornelius May, who discovered the Delaware in 1623, built a fort on its banks opposite Philadelphia. During the early colonial period the region was the scene of many petty struggles arising out of the rival efforts of the Dutch, Swedes, and English to establish trading posts and settlements on the river. The Indians among whom these early settlers were thrown were generally divided into small tribes; but in the valley of the upper Delaware were the principal and most populous seats of the Leni Lenape—known by the English as the Delawares, a name still retained by the remnants of this most interesting and once powerful tribe in their new homes west of the Mississippi. On the whole the early intercourse between the whites and Indians was peaceful, but there were occasional collisions, some of a serious nature, too often brought about by the rapacity and bad faith of the whites. As a rule the title to the Indian lands was purchased, and after the province fell into the hands of the English the general policy pursued was one of humanity and good faith. At the time of the English accession it is estimated that the Indians in New Jersey numbered about 2000.
When Charles II. wrested their North American possessions from the Dutch—in fact before this was accomplished—he granted them in bulk to his brother the duke of York, who in turn granted what is now New Jersey to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, the conveyance (June 23, 1664) providing that “the said tract of land is to be called Nova Cæsarea, or New Jersey.”[1] The royal grant was of the proprietary character, that is, it not only conveyed the absolute estate and title to the land, but also the power to govern and rule, and therefore to establish such laws as “might be thought necessary, provided they were not contrary to but, as near as conveniently might be, agreeable to the laws, statutes, and government of the realm of England.” As all these rights and powers were assignable, the duke transferred to Berkeley and Carteret, not only the lands, but also the power to govern; and they in turn possessed, and finally exercised, the power to assign to others both land and power to govern. A form of government was accordingly established in a “concession and agreement” issued by them. The governor was appointed by the proprietors, and he appointed a council of from six to twelve members; the governor and council united formed the executive. The freeholders of the province elected not less than twelve representatives, who, with the governor and council, composed the general assembly, in whom rested the legislative power, limited only by the terms of the “concession,” especially the article securing entire liberty of conscience. The general assembly established the courts of justice, and took all measures necessary to preserve order and provide for the general defence; they regulated commerce, and determined the time and duration of their own sessions; they possessed the entire power of taxation, and it was required that the executive should neither impose nor suffer to be imposed any tax other than those imposed by the general assembly. The right of petition to the lords proprietors was secured to the freeholders. The first governor was Philip Carteret, a brother of Sir George, who arrived with a number of “adventurers” in August 1665, and established himself at Elizabethtown. Upon the capture of New Amsterdam by the English, their commander, Colonel Nichols, assumed the administration of the entire territory in the name of the duke of York. Ignorant of the grant to Berkeley and Carteret, Nichols at once offered inducements to settlers from New England and Long Island to move into New Jersey, advising them to purchase the Indian titles, and promising immunity from ground rents. In consequence of this promise, which occurred before Carteret's arrival, serious difficulties afterwards arose.
The first general assembly met at Elizabeth, May 26, 1668; another session was held during the same year, but none other for seven years thereafter. In 1672 New Amsterdam and New Jersey were reconquered by the Dutch, but early in 1673 they reverted to England. Doubts arising as to the effect of the reconquest upon the validity of the original grant, the duke of York obtained a new grant from the king, and renewed his own to Berkeley and Carteret. Prior to this renewal the two proprietors had agreed to a division of their interests, and in the new grant the portion assigned to Carteret was the region east of a line drawn from Barnegat Creek to the Rancocus; to Berkeley was assigned the territory west of that line. In 1676, however, the line of separation was changed by the owners, so that it extended from Little Egg Harbour to a point on the Delaware in 40° N. lat.; this remained thereafter the boundary between East and West Jersey.
Immediately after the reconquest Philip Carteret returned to East Jersey as its governor, and on his arrival in 1674 presented a new charter, less liberal in many respects than the original. Berkeley meanwhile sold West Jersey to a firm of Quakers, who at once proceeded to colonize it, establishing their first settlement at Salem in 1675, and another shortly after at Burlington. For some years great annoyance was experienced both in East and West Jersey from the unjust interference of the governor of New York, and of the duke himself, with their internal affairs; these attempts were always met by a firm and spirited resistance, which eventually triumphed. In 1682, soon after Sir George Carteret's death, a society of Quakers under the lead of William Penn, encouraged by their success in West Jersey, purchased from his heirs their rights to East Jersey. It will give some idea of the progress already made to state that at this early period (1682) a smelting furnace and forge were in operation in New Jersey, making good iron, and that contemporary documents show that at the same date there were exported “great plenty of horses, beef, pork, pipe-staves, boards, bread, flour, wheat, barley, rye, Indian corn, butter, and cheese to Barbados, Jamaica, and other adjacent islands, as also to Portugal, Spain, the Canaries, &c.; whale oil, whale fins, beaver, mink, raccoon, and martin furs to England.”
Towards the close of the 17th century the number of proprietors in the two provinces increased so much as to render good government impracticable in consequence of the discord arising from divergent interests and views. The evil became unendurable, and in 1702, by the general consent of the proprietors and people, the former, while retaining all their property rights, surrendered their right of government to the crown, by whom the two provinces were reunited, and placed under a governor appointed by the sovereign. With him were associated in the government twelve councillors selected by the crown, and twenty-four assemblymen selected by the freeholders. The sessions of the assembly were at the pleasure of the governor, and its acts subject to the double veto of governor and crown. The governor and council organized the courts of law, determined all salaries, and appointed all civil and military officers.
The population of the two provinces at this period was probably a little more than 15,000. The great majority of the people were Quakers, Presbyterians, and Anabaptists; there were only two Church of England ministers in the province, and their followers were too few and poor to provide churches; nevertheless the Church of England was now made the established church, and its support provided for. Liberty of conscience was permitted to all except Roman Catholics. Quakers were eligible to office. The governor enjoyed the right of presentation to ecclesiastical benefices.
Lord Cornbury was the first governor appointed under the new arrangement, and the commission and instructions which he received, the chief points of which have just been given, formed the constitution and government of New Jersey until the declaration of independence, except that New York and New Jersey had the same governor until 1738, after which year each had its own governor, and in New Jersey the council became a separate branch of the legislature, the governor no longer participating in the debates. From the beginning of Cornbury's administration to the Revolution the political history of the province consisted largely of violent contests between the assembly and the governor and his council, the latter constantly striving to extend the prerogative and curb the power of the people, and the assembly maintaining a bold and able contest in defence of the principles of liberty. Not withstanding the large proportion of Quakers among its early inhabitants, New Jersey never failed to furnish its just quota of men and money for the various American wars waged in the 18th century, and its contingent bore a most honourable part in the chief military events of that period. For the campaigns of 1711, 1739, 1746, 1747, and 1748 the province supplied a battalion of 500 men. It was during these last campaigns that the name “Jersey Blues,” in vogue since that time, was first applied to the Jersey troops from the colour of their uniform—blue faced with red, grey stockings, and buckskin breeches. They were described at the time as “the likeliest well-set men who ever entered upon a campaign.” When the French war of 1754 broke out Jersey again furnished a battalion of 500 men; of these one half were captured by Montcalm at Oswego, after a gallant resistance, and the remainder at the surrender of Fort William Henry. But the province at once made good the losses, and maintained as many as 1000 men in 1758, 1759, and 1760, in which last year its contingent took part in the capture of Montreal. In 1761 and 1762 the contingent was 600 men, and again in 1764 for service against the Indians.
During the years immediately preceding the Revolution New Jersey took an active and leading part in all the discussions and measures growing out of the attempt of parliament to impose stamp duties and taxation upon the colonies without their consent. The
- ↑ In compliment to Sir George Carteret, who had defended the Isle of Jersey against the Long Parliament.
