colony · North America and Oceania

Province of New Jersey

1664 CE – 1776 CE · capital Perth Amboy

The English colony between the Hudson and Delaware rivers, granted in 1664, split in two for a generation and reunited under the Crown in 1702.

Origins

After seizing New Netherland in 1664, James, Duke of York, granted the land between the Hudson and Delaware to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, naming it after Carteret's home island of Jersey. Their Concession and Agreement of 1665 promised religious freedom and an elected assembly, drawing settlers to Elizabethtown and other towns.

Rule and society

Disputes over land and quitrents led to division into East Jersey and West Jersey, which existed from 1674 until the proprietors surrendered government to the Crown in 1702. The reunited royal colony shared its governor with the Province of New York until 1738, and its capital alternated between Perth Amboy and Burlington. Diverse Puritan, Quaker, Dutch and Scottish settlers farmed grain, and the colleges that became Princeton and Rutgers were founded in 1746 and 1766.

Decline and legacy

Royal governor William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, was arrested in 1776. On 2 July 1776 New Jersey adopted a state constitution, and it became a state of the United States.

Lineage

West Jersey 1674 CE – 1702 CEEast Jersey 1674 CE – 1702 CEProvince of New JerseyUnited States 1776 CE – present

Connections (2)

More states of North America and Oceania →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Province of New Jersey. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/province-of-new-jersey
MLA
“Province of New Jersey.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/province-of-new-jersey. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Province of New Jersey.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/province-of-new-jersey.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Province of New Jersey’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/province-of-new-jersey (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻