The Crown takes possession.
When the duke ascended the throne as James II., he had writs of quo warranto issued (1686) against the Jersey governments on the ground of wholesale smuggling by the residents. Under this pressure the patents were surrendered to the Crown (1688), so far as the government was concerned, but there was a proviso that the landed rights of the proprietors were to be undisturbed. Andros took the two colonies under his charge; thus he was now governor of all the country north and east of the Delaware, except New Hampshire. But though united to the northern colonies, the Jerseymen did not cease to assert their independence. Andros again attempted to levy taxes upon them, and they opposed him as stubbornly as ever, claiming that there could be no lawful taxation without representation. With the proprietors also they had ceaseless bickerings over the quit-rents. Affairs were in a feverish state until the former, tired of keeping up the profitless discussion, and now rent by dissensions in their councils, surrendered all their claims to the Crown (1702). The policy of James was to unite the colonies, and bring them into greater dependence.
New Jersey's condition as a royal province.
New Jersey, at last reunited, was made a royal colony; but until 1738, when given a governor of its own, it was under the administration of the governor of New York, who ruled through a deputy. The New Jersey council was appointed by the king, and there was a popularly elected representative assembly. All Christian sects were tolerated, but Roman Catholics were denied political privileges. There was a property qualification for suffrage,—the possession of two hundred acres of land, or other property worth £50. The inhabitants were generally prosperous. Their isolated geographical position secured them immunity from attacks by hostile Indians; they had scrupulously purchased the lands from the native inhabitants, and with the few who were now left they maintained friendly relations. The new government brought them greater political security, and under it they thrived even better than before.
Characteristics of New Jersey.
The annals of New Jersey are like the population and political system,—confused and uninteresting. It was many years before a tradition of common interest could be established between East and West New Jersey. One of the most remarkable lessons in government furnished by the colony was a decision of the courts that an Act of the assembly was void because not in accordance with the frame of government.
Penn's charter.
In 1676 William Penn, prominent among the English Quakers, became financially concerned, with others of his sect, in the colony of West New Jersey, and thereby acquired an interest in American colonization. His father, an admiral in the English navy, had left him (1670) a claim against the government for sixteen thousand pounds; in lieu of this he induced Charles II. (1681) to give him a proprietary charter of forty thousand square miles in America. The king called the region Pennsylvania, in honor of the admiral, but against the protest of the grantee, who "feared lest it be looked on as vanity in me."
His colonization scheme.