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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
As a Royal Province New Jersey made notable economic progress, although it did not rank as one of the most valuable Crown possessions. The
farms yielded a variety of fruit, vegetables, poultry, and cattle, and the
grain crop was important enough to make New Jersey one of the "bread
colonies." Hunterdon County was known as the "bread basket," producing
more wheat than any other county in the Colonies. Cider and apple brandy
were then, as now, well known products. By 1775 the Colony was an important source for iron, leather, and lumber, while some glass and paper
were produced. On the whole, however, economic development suffered
from the proximity of New York and Philadelphia.
Despite the late start in settlement, population grew with fair rapidity.
By 1726 the total was 32,442 (including 2,550 slaves); 47,402 (3,981
slaves) by 1737; 61,383 (4,605 slaves) in 1745. At the outbreak of the
Revolution the population was estimated at 138,000.
Several important cultural contributions were made by the Colony. In
architecture some of the finest examples of the Dutch Colonial were built
in New Jersey--comfortable stone houses, modest in scale and design, and
in harmony with their surroundings. From the early Swedish settlements
came the pattern for the typical log cabin of the American frontier. The,
founding of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) and
of Queen's College (later Rutgers University) made this the only Colony
with more than one college. New Jersey was the center of the humanistic
work of John Woolman, the Quaker preacher of Mount Holly. Other
sects developed notable strength, the Baptists having been established at
Middletown in 1668, and the Presbyterians at Freehold in 1692.
Continual disagreements between the royally appointed Governors and
the popularly elected assemblies, combined with unwise commercial restrictions put in force by the British Government, ranged New Jersey in
1774 on the side of Massachusetts against the British. In February of that
year the assembly had already followed the lead of Virginia by appointing nine men as a Committee of Correspondence; similar township and
county committees sprang up during the summer. On July 21, county committees met at New Brunswick as the First Provincial Congress and chose
Stephen Crane, John de Hart, James Kinsey, William Livingston, and
Richard Smith as delegates to the proposed Continental Congress at Philadelphia.
In spite of strong Tory sentiment -- later proved by the organization of
six battalions of Loyalists -- anti-British feeling swept New Jersey. In November 1774, at Greenwich on Cohansey River, a band of young men disguised themselves as Indians and burned a shipload of tea. Indignant citizens of Newark branded a New York printer "a vile ministerial hireling"
and boycotted his paper. Rejection of other Loyalist papers from New
York and Philadelphia later resulted in the founding of a local and patriotic press. As the Royal agents desperately tried to stem the tide of the
Revolution, volunteers began drilling on village greens in the summer of
1775, and official after official yielded his authority to the aroused Colonists. Finally, in June 1776, the Provincial Congress arrested Governor
William Franklin, natural son of Benjamin, when he attempted to revive
the defunct assembly.
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