Annexed to Pennsylvania.
The district was for some time the object of contention by rival English claimants. Maryland and New Jersey both wanted it, but Penn finally secured a grant of the country (1682), to give his province of Pennsylvania an outlet to the sea. Delaware, now known as "the territories," "lower counties," or "Delaware hundreds" of Pennsylvania, was for many years the source of much anxiety to its Quaker proprietor, for political jealousy of the "province," or Pennsylvania proper, gave rise to much popular discontent. In 1691 the "territories" were granted a separate assembly and a deputy-governor. But the "territories" and the "province" were reunited under Fletcher's temporary rule (1693), and so remained until 1703, when Delaware was recognized as a separate colony, with an assembly of its own, although under the same governorship as Pennsylvania.
Characteristics of Delaware.
The separate existence of Delaware was almost an accident. The colony was unjustly cut out of the Maryland grant, and was little more than a strip along Chesapeake Bay. It remained down to the Revolution the smallest and least important of all the colonies.
88. New Jersey (1664-1738).
We have already noticed the erection of Fort Nassau by the Dutch, and the struggle over the possession of the banks of Delaware River and Bay between the Dutch, the Swedes, and the English. |Berkeley and Carteret's grant.| When the Duke of York came into possession of the country (1664), he granted the lands between the Delaware and the Hudson to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, under the name of New Jersey; this title was in compliment to Carteret, who had been governor of the island of Jersey and bravely held it for Charles II. during the Great Rebellion. New Jersey had a hundred and twenty miles of sea-coast; it was as yet sparsely settled; it had a fixed natural boundary on the west; and it was considered a particularly desirable seat for colonization.
Liberal plan of government.
The new proprietors agreed upon a plan of government by which the administration of affairs was placed in the hands of a governor, council, and representative assembly, as in the other colonies; the proprietors reserved the right to annul laws and to control the official appointments. There was to be religious liberty to all "who do not actually disturb the civil peace of said province;" and all who were subjects of the king and swore fealty to him "and faithfulness to the lords, shall be admitted to plant and become freemen."
A body of laws framed.
Philip Carteret, a nephew of Sir George, came out (1665) as governor, and with him a body of English emigrants, who founded the town of Elizabeth. There were already on the ground, at Bergen, a number of Dutch and Swedes, while at Shrewsbury were several English sectaries, exiles from Connecticut and Long Island, who had purchased land from the Indians. Other New Englanders settled Middletown and Newark in 1666. Soon after the arrival of Carteret, several more companies came out to New Jersey from the Eastern colonies, together with a plentiful sprinkling of Scotch. In May, 1668, deputies from each of the towns met at Elizabeth to frame a body of laws for the colony. The Puritan element strongly influenced the code, particularly in the penalties for crime, which were remarkable for their severity.