64. New York taken by the English.—These successes of the Dutch, and the fact that their territory cut off New England from Virginia and gave Dutch traders, by means of the Hudson River, the best possible opportunity of reaching the Indians, made it impossible for England long to acquiesce in the continuance of Dutch rule in the New World. There had already been trouble in Connecticut, on Long Island, and on the Schuylkill (§§ [55] and [61]), and things came nearly to a crisis in 1654, when Cromwell sent out a fleet to take New Netherland. But peace between England and Holland delayed the crisis for ten years. In 1664 Charles II., as we have seen (§ [56]), renewed the English claim to the territory, and acting on his orders Colonel Nicolls menaced New Amsterdam with a small fleet, which carried English regulars and Connecticut volunteers. Governor Stuyvesant wished to hold out, but the townsmen surrendered in haste. The other Dutch settlements yielded rapidly, and the whole Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida thus became English. New Netherland was now called New York, in honor of its proprietor, the Duke of York, Charles’s brother—afterward James II. Nicolls was made governor, and the prosperity of the colony was greatly augmented.
65. Government of New York.—Dutch customs were on the whole little changed, but the form of government was modified in accordance with English precedents. The towns were provided with a local government, under an elected constable and overseers. Several towns formed a “riding,”[[39]] under the jurisdiction of a sheriff; later, the ridings became counties. Thus New York had an intermediate system between the town government of New England and the county government of Virginia (§§ [82] and [89]). The conduct of colonial affairs, however, depended entirely on the governor and his council. The early governors presented much the same contrasts of character as had been seen in the other colonies. Some were excellent, others were tyrannical. On the whole, the colony managed to grow and prosper, although in 1673, when England and Holland were at war, a Dutch fleet captured the town of New York. The next year the province was given back to the English by treaty, and, curiously enough, the first governor under the new English rule—Edmund Andros, the later tyrant of New England—gave the colonists an excellent administration. After a few years the people clamored for greater political privileges. An electoral assembly of deputies and certain reforms were in consequence granted by the Duke of York; but when he came to the throne as James II., he restored the old illiberal system.
66. Leisler’s Insurrection.—Relief was at hand, however; for on the news of the accession of William and Mary a German shopkeeper, Jacob Leisler, put himself at the head of the militia and drove out Francis Nicholson, who was acting as deputy for Andros. Leisler was a rash patriot, who would not give up his irregularly acquired power. Two years later he was forced to surrender, and was executed under circumstances not altogether creditable to the regular authorities. Leisler’s administration is notable for his having issued a call for a colonial congress, which came together at the town of New York, on May 1, 1690, and discussed French and Indian affairs. After Leisler, the people of New York suffered at the hands of a corrupt governor, Benjamin Fletcher, who was in league with the numerous pirates of the period; but at the end of the century his successor, the Earl of Bellomont, put down piracy and corruption, and restored order generally.
67. The Settlement of the Jerseys.—Meanwhile the country south of New York and east of the Delaware River had acquired the name of New Jersey, through the fact that in 1664 the Duke of York granted it to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, the latter of whom had been governor of the island of Jersey during the English civil war. The region for which Dutch, Swedes, and English had already struggled was still scantily populated; but the proprietors gave it a liberal form of government, and sent out as first governor Philip Carteret, nephew of Sir George, with a body of emigrants who settled at Elizabeth.
William Penn.
68. Disturbances in the Jerseys.—Other settlers came in, and by 1668 a code of laws of remarkable severity was adopted by the delegates of the people. Disturbances arose over the subject of the quit-rents paid by freeholders in discharge of services, and Lord Berkeley was so disgusted that he sold his share in the province to certain Quakers who wished to secure for their co-religionists a place of refuge in the New World. William Penn[[40]] and some associates shortly afterward acquired this interest. Then a division was made between Carteret and the new proprietors, the Quakers getting less than half, which formed West New Jersey. Here they set up a liberal government, which attracted several hundred immigrants. In 1682, two years after Carteret’s death, William Penn and others purchased his interest in East New Jersey, and established another liberal government. Governor Andros of New York endeavored to assert his jurisdiction over both the Jerseys, but his attempts were defeated until 1686, when James II., by writs of quo warranto,[[41]] forced the surrender of the patents. The Jerseymen, however, resisted all Andros’s attempts to tax them, and also quarreled with the proprietors, whose land rights had not been affected by the loss of their political powers. Finally, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the proprietors, worn out with the struggle, surrendered all their rights to the Crown, and the two provinces were united into the royal colony of New Jersey.[[42]]
69. The Founding of Pennsylvania.—William Penn’s interest in the colonization of West Jersey led to his taking a greater part in American affairs. In 1670 his father, an admiral in the English navy, died, and left him a claim against the government, in compensation for which he induced Charles II. to give him a charter for forty thousand square miles in America (1681). This region was named Pennsylvania in honor of the admiral, against the modest wishes of the proprietor. Penn at once offered liberal terms to colonists, and promised a thoroughly equitable government. Later in 1681, three shiploads of Quakers emigrated, and the next year Penn himself came over and founded Philadelphia. He soon convened an assembly, and a code of laws was drawn up, allowing considerable religious freedom and providing for the humane treatment of the Indians. With these savages Penn, through his shrewdness and kindness, was always successful in his negotiations, and as a result Pennsylvania did not suffer from border warfare.
70. Mixture of Population.—The mixed population for which Pennsylvania has been always noted was present from the beginning. The Dutch had a church within the region now known as Delaware, and settlements of Swedes also existed. This Delaware region came into Penn’s hands through a special grant from the Duke of York. When the whole province was divided into counties, three were made in Pennsylvania proper, and three in the small strip covered by the Duke’s grant, which became known as “The Territories.”
71. Delaware made a Province.—Penn was soon obliged to return to England, and did not come back again till the end of the century, when he paid a two years’ visit. His absence was marked by considerable political disturbance. There were boundary disputes with Maryland, and there was so much trouble in “The Territories” that in 1703 Penn made the latter the separate province of Delaware. Disputes in both provinces continued, however, and lasted, under both him and his heirs, down to the Revolution. Nevertheless, there was a marked and continuous growth in material prosperity.