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The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664, becoming a proprietary colony.
The newly formed State of New Jersey elected William Livingston as its first governor on August 31, 1776—a position he would be reelected to until his death in 1790. [5] [6] While New Jersey was in a state of war, delegates of the Provincial Congress drafted the first constitution in a span of five days and ratified it only two days later.
Proprietary colonies were governed much as royal colonies, except that lord proprietors appointed the governor rather than the king. They were set up after the English Restoration of 1660 and typically enjoyed greater civil and religious liberty. Pennsylvania (which included Delaware), New Jersey, and Maryland were proprietary colonies. [91]
Philip Carteret; French: Philippe de Carteret; (1639–1682) was the first Governor of New Jersey as an English proprietary colony, from 1665 to 1673 and governor of East New Jersey from 1674 to 1682.
Proprietary colonies were a type of colony in English America which existed during the early modern period. In English overseas possessions established from the 17th century onwards, all land in the colonies belonged to the Crown, which held ultimate authority over their management. All English colonies were divided by the Crown via royal ...
The new documents governing the lands still did not mention the lord proprietor's governing rights which led to continued confusion with colonial officials in New York. [21] Two of New Jersey's governors during the area's time as a proprietary colony were arrested and imprisoned in New York for governing without the authority to do so. [21]
The original West and East New Jersey provinces, highlighted in yellow and green, respectively. The Keith Line is shown in red, and the Coxe and Barclay line is shown in orange. With this sale, New Jersey was divided into East Jersey and West Jersey, two distinct provinces of the proprietary colony. [17]
After the British regained New Jersey and New York, New Jersey was restored as a proprietary colony and was divided into two provinces—East Jersey and West Jersey. In 1674, Berkeley sold his interest in West Jersey to Edward Byllynge and John Fenwick (1618–83).