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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
In 1675 Fenwick settled Salem with his family and a few friends. Like
Byllynge, he was soon in financial trouble; ultimately Penn and the other
trustees acquired control of part of his land. On July 1, 1676, Byllynge
and the three trustees entered into a "quintipartite deed" with Sir George
Carteret. This agreement officially clarified the previous haphazard division of the province into West and East Jersey by drawing a line north-west from Little Egg Harbor to a point on Delaware River just north of
Delaware Water Gap, Carteret retaining East Jersey, and West Jersey
passing into the hands of the Quakers.
The choice of the boundary itself represented more logic than almost
any previous act in the management of the Colony. The line cut through
what is still the least populous part of the State. Across that wasteland
there was neither commercial, political, nor religious unity. East Jersey,
the section northeast of the boundary line, has always been dependent
upon New York, while West Jersey has been linked to Pennsylvania and
Delaware. Not even modern super-highways nor radio have been able entirely to controvert the astuteness of the men who divided the Colony.
The "Concessions and Agreements" for the government of West Jersey, adopted in 1677 and largely devised by Penn himself, provided a liberal and surprisingly modern frame of government, although the constitution was never put into full effect and it was not until 1681 that the first
assembly met. Meanwhile, the present town of Burlington had been settled by Quakers in 1677 and other colonists were arriving in considerable
numbers.
New Jersey was faced with a struggle for independence in 1674 when
the Duke of York sent Edmund Andros to New York with authority to
govern New Jersey as well, even though Governor Philip Carteret had returned on the same boat with Andros. No man to waste a prerogative,
Andros in 1676 dispatched soldiers to the Salem district and jailed Fenwick as a usurper, although he (Fenwick) was shortly released. The death
of Sir George Carteret in 1679 gave Andros an opportunity to employ
high-handed methods in East Jersey. Philip Carteret was warned to relinquish the governorship; when he refused, Andros jailed him. Insisting
that all New Jersey trade should clear through New York, Andros aroused
so much popular disapproval that he was summoned to England to answer
charges, leaving Carteret master of East Jersey. A strongly worded remonstrance, probably the work of Penn and his Quaker associates, induced the
Duke of York to accept New Jersey's independence of New York.
The elimination of Andros failed to bring harmony to East Jersey and
in 1682 the province was put up at public auction. For the sum of £3,400
Penn and 11 associates obtained the land; their shares were divided into
innumerable fragments, many of which were purchased by Scots and other
non-Quakers. Perth Amboy, which had already attained the dignity of
port of East Jersey, was selected as the capital in 1686.
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