History of New Jersey
Encyclopedia
The history of New Jersey began at the end of the Younger Dryas
climate, about 10 millennia ago. Native Americans
moved into New Jersey soon after the reversal of the Younger Dryas, which had made the area uninhabitable and, during the preceding ice age, unreachable.
European contact began with the exploration of the Jersey Shore
by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, At the time of European contact, the area was populated by many tribes of the Lenape
.
The New Jersey
region soon came under the control of the Swedes and the Dutch resulting in a struggle in which the Dutch were victorious. However, the Dutch colony of New Netherlands was seized by the English in 1664. New Jersey was one of the Thirteen Colonies
that broke off from Britain in the American Revolution
, adopting the Declaration of Independence
in 1776. Becoming a state upon the formation of the United States, New Jersey saw significant action during the American Revolutionary War
. New Jersey's delegates signed the Articles of Confederation
in 1779 and Princeton
acted as the nation's capital for four months in 1783.
In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution
.
In the 19th century, New Jersey cities led the nation into the Industrial Revolution
and provided soldiers for many of the wars the United States fought, including 88,000 men for the American Civil War
. The state became a component of the Underground Railroad
. The state's transportation system continued to improve with the construction of canals and more rail lines that helped industrialization further develop. During the early 1900s, New Jersey prospered but weakened in the Great Depression
in the 1930s. During World War II and the Cold War
New Jersey's shipyards and military bases played an important role in the defense of the United States. In the 1960s New Jersey was the site of several race riots and of the Glassboro Summit Conference
, between American President Lyndon B. Johnson
and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin.
Later other Native Americans settled in New Jersey. Around the year 1000, Native American
group known as the Lenape
, later called Delaware Indians settled in New Jersey. They came from the Mississippi valley. The Lenape were loosely organized groups who migrated seasonally in the beginning. With the advent of the bow and arrow and pottery around the year 1000, extended family groups began to stay in areas longer. They practiced small-scale agriculture (companion planting
), such as growing corn and pole beans together and squash. They were hunting and gathering
, hunting with bow and arrow, using deadfall traps, and snares. They also gathered nuts in the autumn such as acorns hickory nuts, walnuts, butternuts, beech nuts and chestnuts. The Native Americans and Paleo Indians fished in all rivers and stream using nets and fish hooks and by hand. They also fished in the region surrounding the Delaware River
, the lower Hudson River
, and western Long Island Sound
. Their Algonquian language
lends itself to many place names throughout the state.
including Sandy Hook
and the Narrows which bear his name. In 1609, Sir Henry Hudson sailing for the Dutch East India Company
. explored the East Coast including the Delaware
, Raritan
, Newark
, New York
bays and the Hudson Valley
. During the next four years, on somewhat secretive missions, Adriaen Block
explored and mapped the coast along Delaware, New Jersey, Long Island, and New England, naming it for the first time New Netherlands.
(Albany, NY) and traveled southwest to the Delaware River
and followed the river downstream. In 1616 they were captured by Native Americans near the confluence of the Schuykill River and Delaware River, south of what is now Easton, Pennsylvania
. The route the three men traveled is unknown, but they may have traveled through Sussex County or Pennsylvania. This is the earliest record of Europeans traveling in or near Sussex County.
Initially, small out-posts where built for the fur trade. In May 1624, from a ship under the command of Cornelius Jacobsen Mey
(after whom Cape May
is named) thirty families were required to spread themselves throughout the region including Fort Wilhelmus
. The last was on the east bank of the Delaware River, the site of the first European settlement in what would become New Jersey. Later another was built at Fort Nassau
.
The next European settlement was on the banks of the Upper New York Bay
across the Hudson from Fort Amsterdam
(in Manhattan
) in 1630. Located at Paulus Hook it was part of the patroonship Pavonia
, named (in Latinized form) for Micheal Pauw who had bought the tract from the Lenape
. At the time it was the territory of the Unami
, or Turtle Clan. The settlement grew slowly, impeded by mismanagemnt of the Dutch West India Company
and conflicts with the indigenous population known as Kieft's War
and The Peach Tree War
. In 1658, Director-General of New Netherland
Peter Stuyvesant
"re-purchased" the entire peninsula known as Bergen Neck
, and in 1661 granted a charter to the village at Bergen
, establishing the oldest municipality in the state. The British take-over in 1664 was formalized in 1674, ending the province of the New Netherland, though the North Jersey
would retain a "Dutch" character for many years to come.
by the mid-17th century. New Sweden
, founded in 1638, rose to its height under governor Johan Björnsson Printz
(1643–53). Led by Printz, the settlement extended north from Fort Christina
on both sides of the Delaware River. Printz helped to improve the military and commercial status of the colony by constructing Fort Nya Elfsborg
, near present-day Salem
on the east side of the Delaware River. This action prevented the river from being easily taken by the English and Dutch, who were also trying to expand into the New World. The Swedish and Finnish colonists generally lived in peace with their Dutch and Lenape
neighbors.C. A. Nothnagle Log House
and Schorn Log Cabin are remainders of this early influence.
had been the first to discover North America, the British granted the land that now encompasses New Jersey to the Duke of York
, who ordered Colonel
Richard Nicolls
to take over the area. In September 1664, a British fleet under Nicolls' command sailed into what is now New York Harbor
and seized the colony. The British encountered little resistance, perhaps due to the unpopularity of the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant. After capturing the colony, Nicolls became deputy-governor of New Amsterdam
and the rest of New Netherland, and guaranteed colonists' property rights, laws of inheritance, and the enjoyment of religious freedom. New Netherland west of the Hudson River
was renamed New Jersey after the English Channel
Island of Jersey
which Charles II of England
, after having seen their loyalty to the crown, gave to the people of Jersey as a gift having given him hospitality in the castle of Mont Orgueil
before he was proclaimed king in 1649. The city of New Amsterdam was renamed New York (after the Duke of York).
Charles II gave the region between New England
and Maryland
to his brother, the Duke of York (later King James II
), as a proprietary colony
. Later James granted the land between the Hudson River
and the Delaware River
that would become New Jersey to two friends who had been loyal to him through the English Civil War
: Sir George Carteret
and Lord Berkeley of Stratton. The two proprietors of New Jersey tried to entice more settlers to New Jersey by granting land to settlers and by passing Concession and Agreement
, a document granting religious freedom to all inhabitants of New Jersey; the British Church of England
allowed no such religious freedom. In return for land, settlers paid annual fees known as quitrents. The proprietors appointed Philip Carteret
as the first governor of New Jersey, who designated Elizabethtown
as the colony's capital. However, the two proprietors found collecting the quitrents difficult, and on March 18, 1674 Berkeley sold his share of New Jersey to the Quakers
.
This sale divided the province into East Jersey
and West Jersey
. The exact border between West and East Jersey
generally corresponded to the border
between present day South
and North Jersey
and was created by George Keith
. However, the line was constantly the subject of disputes. With the 1676 Quintipartite Deed
more accurate surveys and maps were made resulting in the Thornton line, drawn around 1696, and the Lawrence line, drawn around 1743, which was adopted as the final line for legal purposes.
Many of the colonists of New Jersey became farmers. However, despite the fertility of the soil, farmers were forced to struggle due to the dearth of English money. Some owned slaves or had indentured servant
s work for them. The majority of the colonists lived in simple log cabins, coming from the original Dutch settlers. Since New Jersey was ideally located next to the Atlantic Ocean, colonists farmed, fished, and traded by sea. Transportation was slow and difficult usually on either foot or horseback. Education came through small religious schools, private academies, or tutors.
On April 15, 1702, under the reign of Queen Anne
, West and East Jersey were reunited as a royal colony. Edward Hyde
, Lord Cornbury became the first governor of the colony as a royal colony. Lord Cornbury was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land, so in 1708 he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused those governors of favoritism to New York. Judge Lewis Morris
led the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor by King George II
in 1738. From 1701 to 1765, New Jersey's border with New York was in dispute, resulting in a series of skirmishes and raids
.
In 1746 the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University
) was founded in Elizabethtown by a group of Great Awakening
"New Lighters" that included Jonathan Dickinson
, Aaron Burr, Sr.
and Peter Van Brugh Livingston
. In 1756 the school moved to Princeton.
, and many slaves
sided with the British in exchange for freedom. The loyalists included the governor of New Jersey, William Franklin
.
On July 2, 1776, the first Constitution of New Jersey
was drafted, creating a basic framework for the state government. The New Jersey Constitution of 1776 allowed "all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money" to vote, including non-whites and widows; married women could not own property under the common law
. The Constitution declared itself temporary and to be void if there was reconciliation with Great Britain. Both political parties in elections mocked the other for relying on "petticoat electors" for allowing women to vote. The right to vote was restricted to white males in 1807. Only two days after the new constitution was enacted, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was endorsed by five representatives from New Jersey.
New Jersey is referred to as the "Crossroads of the Revolution" because the British and Continental armies fought several crucial battles there. Throughout the war 296 engagements occurred in New Jersey, more than in any other colony. Four major battles were fought at Trenton
, Princeton
, Monmouth
, and Springfield
. The Battles of Trenton and Princeton are collectively referred to as the Ten Crucial Days because these desperately needed victories bolstered the morale of the nation.
On Christmas night of 1776, the Continental Army
, commanded by General George Washington
, made the famous crossing of the Delaware River. The scene was immortalized in Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware
, and displayed on the New Jersey State Quarter. In the Battle of Trenton
which followed the crossing, the American soldiers surprised the Hessians, capturing nearly 900 prisoners in 90 minutes and taking supplies that had been for the British army. After the victory, George Washington led the army back across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
.
A few days later, British General Charles Cornwallis
hoped to engage Washington's army at Trenton
after Washington recrossed the Delaware River, resulting in the Second Battle of Trenton
. After recapturing Trenton, he ordered charges on fortified defenses at Assunpink Creek
. The Americans inflicted heavy casualties on the British from their defenses. Later, the Continental army slipped past Cornwallis’s stalled army and launched an attack on British soldiers stationed at Princeton in the Battle of Princeton
on January 3, 1777. The British at Princeton were forced to surrender. Cornwallis immediately ordered his army to engage the Americans at Princeton, but was prevented by snipers. These victories forced the British to leave New Jersey.
On June 28, 1778, the Continental Army under George Washington
met a British column under Sir Henry Clinton
at the Battle of Monmouth
. Washington hoped to surprise and overwhelm the rear of the British army. General Charles Lee
led the American attack on the British rear but retreated prematurely when the British attempted to flank the Americans. The retreat nearly led to disorder, but Washington managed to rally the troops to withstand two British counter-attacks, both of which failed. As temperatures increased to over 100o Fahrenheit, many soldiers fell to sunstroke. After the battle, Charles Lee was court-martialed for his poor command. Over 1,000 British casualties were incurred while the Americans lost 452 men. It was during this battle that the legendary "Molly Pitcher
" is said to have fought.
The last major battle to take place in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War (and for the rest of the history of New Jersey) was the Battle of Springfield
. Baron von Knyphausen, the Hessian general, hoped to invade New Jersey and expected support from colonists of New Jersey who were tired of the war. He hoped to secure Hobart Gap
, from which he could attack the American headquarters in Morristown
. On June 23, 1780, the British attacked soldiers under the command of Nathanael Greene
. General Greene successfully stopped a two-pronged attack from entrenchments held across the Raritan River
, preventing the British invasion.
New Jersey ratified and then signed the Articles of Confederation
on November 26, 1779. In the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall of Princeton University
. It had originally convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, but mutinous troops prevented the meeting from taking place. Princeton became the temporary capital for the nation for four months. During the brief stay in Princeton, the Continental Congress was informed of the end of the war by the signing of the Treaty of Paris
on September 3, 1783. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution
, and on November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first state in the Nation to ratify the United States Bill of Rights
.
New Jersey played a major role in creating the structure of the new United States Government. When Virginia delegates proposed a plan
calling for representation based on the population of each state, the smaller states refused, fearing that with such a plan they would no longer have a say in government affairs. William Paterson, a New Jersey statesman, introduced the New Jersey Plan
, by which one vote would be given to each state, providing equal representation within the legislative body. The Great Compromise accepted both plans, creating two separate bodies in the Congress
.
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Paterson
became the cradle of the Industrial Revolution
in America. Energy was harnessed from the 77 feet (23 m) high Great Falls of the Passaic River
. The city became an important site for mills and other industries. These include the textile, firearms, silk, and railroad locomotive manufacturing industries. Because of its high silk production, it became nicknamed the "Silk City". In 1835, Samuel Colt
began producing firearms in the city.
The second version of the New Jersey State Constitution
was written in 1844. The constitution provided suffrage only to white males, removing it from all women and from people of other races. Suffrage had been awarded to those groups under the original New Jersey State Constitution of 1776. Some important components of the second State Constitution include the separation of the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The new constitution also provided a bill of rights
. Underneath the constitution, the people had the right to elect the governor.
The famous inventor Thomas Edison
was born in 1847. Edison worked in Menlo Park
, and was known as "the Wizard of Menlo Park" for his many inventions; over the course of his life, he was granted 1,093 patents. His most famous inventions included the phonograph
, the kinetoscope
, the stock ticker
, the Dictaphone
and the tattoo gun
. He also is credited with improving the designs of the incandescent light bulb, radio, the telegraph, and the telephone. He started the Motion Picture Patents Company
. One of his famous sayings was, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration", as his efforts consisted of research and testing.
The agricultural products from New Jersey usually were transported to larger markets in New York City and Philadelphia, requiring better transportation. The first ocean-going steamboat went from Hoboken, New Jersey
, sailed around southern New Jersey, and ended in Philadelphia. Later, systems of canals were built, the first of which is called the Morris Canal
and ran from Phillipsburg, New Jersey
, on the Delaware River to Jersey City, New Jersey
, on the Hudson River
. The Delaware and Raritan canal
ran from New Brunswick, New Jersey
, on the Raritan River
, to Bordentown, New Jersey
, on the Delaware River. Locomotion was also improved; Hoboken-born inventor John Stevens
built a 10 ton locomotive and his son Robert L. Stevens started constructing iron railroads. By 1833, The Camden & Amboy Railroad had been completed, allowing a 7 hour passage between Philadelphia and New York City. Through the 1800s, over a dozen companies were operating railroad lines.
, an officer who led a cavalry
unit, followed General Winfield Scott
and fought in the Battle of Contreras
and Battle of Churubusco
. After the war, Kearny made his home in the state of New Jersey.
The Quaker
population was especially intolerant of slavery, and the state was a major part of the Underground Railroad
. The New Jersey legislature passed an act for the gradual abolition of slavery in 1804, providing that no person born after that date would be a slave. It was not until 1830 that most blacks were free in the state. New Jersey was the last northern state to abolish slavery completely, and by the close of the Civil War, about a dozen African-Americans in New Jersey were still apprenticed freedmen. The 1860 Census found just over 25,000 free African Americans in the state. New Jersey at first refused to ratify the Constitutional Amendment banning slavery
.
Although no Civil War battles were fought within New Jersey, the state sent over 88,000 soldiers as part of some 31 infantry and cavalry regiments, and over 6,000 died in the war. 23,116 of those soldiers served in the Army of the Potomac
. Soldiers from New Jersey fought generally in the War's Eastern theater. Philip Kearny
, an officer from the Mexican-American War, led a brigade of New Jersey regiments under Brigadier General William B. Franklin
. Kearny distinguished himself as a brilliant officer during the Peninsula Campaign
, and was promoted to the position of major general
.
New Jersey was one of the few states to favor Stephen Douglas over Abraham Lincoln
in the Presidential Election of 1860. The people of New Jersey also cast their electoral votes for George B. McClellan
when he ran for President against Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1864. The people had the distinction of being the only free state that rejected Lincoln twice. McClellan was later elected governor, serving from 1878 to 1881.
Many industrial cities like Paterson
and Camden
grew strong through Civil War production. They manufactured many necessities, including clothing and war materials like ammunition. These cities prospered through heavy production even after the end of the war.
, William Rockefeller
, and John D. Rockefeller
. In 1911, the United States Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, viewing it as violating the Sherman Antitrust Act
. Standard Oil had controlled nearly 90% of refined oil flows into the United States, having a near complete monopoly upon it. Standard Oil Company was split into 34 smaller companies as a result of the dissolution.
New Jersey was a center of shipbuilding and manufacturing during World War I. Existing factories such as the Singer Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey
were converted to making weapon parts. New refineries and ammunition factories were built by companies like DuPont Engineering
. After the war, many of these companies and plants shifted to chemicals, making New Jersey one of the world's leading chemical producers. Several Allied
ships were sunk off the New Jersey coast.
Camp Merritt
, in Cresskill
, was activated for use in World War I. It was from there that many soldiers were deployed to Hoboken before shipping off to Europe. Camp Merritt was decommissioned in November 1919. Fort Dix, in Pemberton Township, New Jersey
, was also constructed in 1917 to help in the war effort. It was used as a training and staging ground throughout the war. After the war, it was converted into a demobilization center.
Like much of the rest of the United States, New Jersey entered a prosperous state
through the 1920s. Through this period, New Jersey's population and employment rate increased greatly. Though factory production decreased after the end of World War I, production lines still churned out goods.
Transportation became much easier through the 1920s. Cars became easily affordable and roads were paved and improved such that they incorporated new road features, including jughandle
turns. As a result, people who had never been farther than the outskirts of their hometown now could travel around the state. The Jersey Shore
became extremely popular as an attraction. Many bridges and tunnels were built for the ease of interstate traveling. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge
was completed linking Camden
and Philadelphia
in 1926. The Holland Tunnel
, under the Hudson River
, was completed in 1927, providing a means of easy transportation between New Jersey and New York City. Before, ferries were required to travel across the Hudson River. Later on, the George Washington Bridge
(1931) and the Lincoln Tunnel
(1937) were completed, making access to Manhattan
even easier. All of the tunnels and bridges linking New York and New Jersey are managed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
, established on April 30, 1921.
New Jersey was the first state to ratify Prohibition
, which restricted the purchasing and selling of alcohol. However, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
, which banned alcohol manufacturing & sales, was later repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment
in December 1933. Newark's
breweries reopened almost immediately.
's New Deal
. In fact, New Jersey issued begging licenses to the poor people because the New Jersey government funds were being exhausted. Under the Works Progress Administration
, part of the Second New Deal by FDR, many new jobs were provided in order to support the poor, including the expansion of Fort Dix
, Roosevelt Park in Edison
, and Rutgers Stadium
in Piscataway. Strikes
also grew common during the Great Depression; in 1937 a group of gravediggers from New Jersey went on strike.
In 1938, Orson Welles
produced The War of the Worlds
radio broadcast. Listeners were told that a "huge, flaming object ... fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grover’s Mill ... twenty-two miles from Trenton." It described extraterrestrial
monsters that were causing much destruction. Although it was announced in advance that it was a radio play, the broadcast resulted in widespread panic into New Jersey and the surrounding areas. Many people had believed the bulletin to be real, causing them to flee the New Jersey area or to blockade their homes to ensure safety from the reported monsters. CBS
was criticized for allowing fictitious bulletins to gain attention of listeners. Welles and the other broadcasters were not punished by law, but were held under a brief informal "house arrest" for a short period.
During the Great Depression, 20-month old Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh
, was abducted from his home near Hopewell, New Jersey
in the Lindbergh kidnapping
. The police sealed off many roads to prevent the kidnapper's escape, and interrogated the members of the Lindbergh household. Federal expert Arthur Koehler
carefully examined the ladder used by the kidnapper, which he traced to a company in McCormick, South Carolina
. James J. Finn was a lieutenant who attempted to capture the kidnapper while he was passing off ransom bills. Finally, a ransom note was located and traced to Bruno Hauptmann
; the bill had the license plate number of Hauptmann's Dodge
Saloon that was written down by a gas attendant. He was tried in Flemington, New Jersey
in what was known as the "Trial of the Century", and was convicted. He was electrocuted in the New Jersey State Prison
in Trenton, New Jersey
. The Lindbergh kidnapping led to passage of the Federal Kidnapping Act
, also known as the "Lindbergh Law", which made kidnapping a federal crime.
In 1937, the German zeppelin
Hindenburg
exploded over Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester. While approaching a mooring mast at Lakehurst, the zeppelin suddenly caught fire, and within 34 seconds the entire hydrogen-filled zeppelin was engulfed in flames; 36 people died in the disaster, most of them leaping from the burning ship. Contrary to popular belief, the Hindenburg had flown an entire year of successful voyages before it caught on fire. Questions and controversy surround the accident to this day: theories for the sudden burst of flames include sabotage against the German Nazis, static build-up, and flammable fabric.
New Jersey shipyards were responsible for the construction of many naval ships in World War II, including battleships, aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers and destroyers, receiving 9% of all allied war-related contracts through the war. Nearly 500,000 residents enlisted for the war, more than 10% of the total population of New Jersey. Many women took jobs in factories during their husbands’ absences.
Camp Kilmer
was a staging area near New Brunswick
that served the port of New York. Its buildings were painted with protective camouflage patterns. Camp Kilmer helped to serve troops by offering medical care and providing supplies. Camp Kilmer was later reactivated for the Korean War
and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
. Fort Dix was reopened for the training of soldiers for the war effort. During the war, Naval Weapons Station Earle
in Monmouth County was opened for naval production and provided ships with a safe port to take on ammunition.
Millville Airport opened on August 2, 1941. It was called "America's First Defense Airport" because it was opened as a gunnery training area for fighter pilots. Over 1,500 pilots were trained for advanced aircraft fighting at this airport. Fort Hancock
was also opened in Sandy Hook. Gunners in the fort prevented German submarines from entering New York Harbor
. The airfield, currently known as McGuire Air Force Base
, was opened in 1937 as Rudd Field, a supporting Army airfield for Fort Dix. It was expanded during wartime operations and turned over to the Air Force in 1949.
One of the most dramatic war events in the Northeast occurred in 1945, when US forces hit and sank a German U-boat
(U-689) off the coast of New Jersey. The Coast Guard station at what is now Sandy Hook Gateway Park was manned for the duration of the war to protect New York harbor.
An internment camp housing people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent was located in Gloucester City
. In addition, Seabrook Farms
took advantage of Japanese-American labor to increase productivity when the government allowed small groups of people from the internment camps to work there. At the end of World War II, the government closed down the internment camps, but many people from the camps continued to work at Seabrook Farms.
In 1947, the current New Jersey State Constitution
was ratified, reorganizing the state government. Governors were allowed to serve four years instead of three, and the Legislature
was constituted with a 40-member Senate
and an 80-member General Assembly
. The new State Constitution also returned the right of suffrage to females and non-whites.
planned and built the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal
in the cities of Newark
and Elizabeth
. This was the first port in the world to containerize due to the innovation of Malcolm McLean and the founding of the Sea-Land Corporation. The newly opened port quickly made the docks of Brooklyn
, Lower Manhattan
and Hoboken
obsolete. In 1985, the port was the busiest in the world. (See Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal
).
During the 1960s, many African Americans felt disenfranchised, feelings exacerbated by poor urban conditions, declining industrial jobs, and biased police forces with little minority representation. This tension led to race riots, the first of which occurred in Jersey City
on August 2, 1964, causing heavy damage. Seventy-one stores were damaged and 46 people were injured. From August 11 to August 13, 1964, similar riots occurred in Paterson
and Elizabeth
. In the Paterson riot, twenty stores and other buildings were damaged, and eight people were injured. In the Elizabeth riot, six people were injured and seventeen stores were damaged. In the aftermath of these riots, 135 people were arrested.
In the summer of 1967, urban residents, primarily African Americans, rioted for five days in Newark
and the neighboring city of Plainfield
. Twenty-four people died in the riots, and nearly 1,600 were arrested. The riots are often cited as a major factor in the decline of Newark and its neighboring communities. Residents who could leave, fled to the suburbs following the riots.
In the middle of the Cold War
from June 23 to June 25, 1967, president Lyndon Johnson met with Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey
, for the Glassboro Summit Conference. at the Glassboro State College
. No specific agreements were reached, especially in the area of restrictions on anti-ballistic missile
systems. However, the meeting helped improve the strained relationships between the Soviet Union and the US.
Because of its strategic location on the East Coast, New Jersey played an important role in the United States' Cold War defense. Fourteen Nike
anti-aircraft missile batteries in two groups were constructed in New Jersey to protect the metropolitan areas around Philadelphia
and New York City. In addition, a regional command center was built in New Jersey. By 1974, the missile sites were deactivated. In addition to these, air defense radar sites, bases for interceptor aircraft, anti-aircraft gun batteries, surface-to-air missile sites, and command and control facilities were constructed to defend against an attack by long range, nuclear-armed aircraft of the Soviet Air Force.
In 1973, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the legislature to pass a statute funding schools more equitably for impoverished areas. The legislature did this in 1975 but failed to fund it. The Court thereupon shut down all public schools for eight days in 1976, until the legislature passed an income tax bill. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax.
In 1998, the south side of Ellis Island
came under the jurisdiction of New Jersey following a US Supreme Court decision. Before, the island had been governed by the state of New York. However, after the court decision, disagreements between New Jersey and New York led to the sharing of jurisdiction over the island by the two states.
In the September 11, 2001, attacks, hijackers took control of four domestic U.S. commercial airliners, including United Airlines Flight 93
which departed from Newark International Airport. The attacks caused 2,986 deaths, including about 700 residents of New Jersey. Over 160,000 people were evacuated by ferries and small boats from the Manhattan area to New Jersey because the subway
and PATH
station were closed down.
The destruction of Lower Manhattan office space accelerated the pre-2001 trend of moving jobs from Lower Manhattan to Midtown and New Jersey. The Goldman Sachs Tower was constructed in Jersey City as part of this relocation. Towns in New Jersey, such as Middletown
which had many residents die in the attacks, suffered from the losses.
For several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, letters bearing a Trenton, New Jersey
postmark and containing anthrax bacteria were mailed to several news media offices and two US Senators
. The letters were ultimately determined to have been mailed there by a Maryland-based scientist.
resigned on November 15, 2004 after charges of pay-to-play
and extortion scandals involving the impropriety of the appointment of an unqualified long rumored homosexual love interest. New Jersey had no Lieutenant Governor position at the time, leaving a vacancy in the office. Senate President Richard Codey
served as Acting Governor (then Governor) in McGreevey's place. Jon Corzine
was elected Governor
of New Jersey on November 8, 2005, and took office on January 17, 2006. On Election Day, November 8, 2005, the voters passed an amendment to the state constitution creating the position of Lieutenant Governor
, effective with the 2009 elections. This position was first filled by the election of Kim Guadagno
who assumed office in 2009.
Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief period of cold climatic conditions and drought between approximately 12.8 and 11.5 ka BP, or 12,800 and 11,500 years before present...
climate, about 10 millennia ago. Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
moved into New Jersey soon after the reversal of the Younger Dryas, which had made the area uninhabitable and, during the preceding ice age, unreachable.
European contact began with the exploration of the Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, At the time of European contact, the area was populated by many tribes of the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
.
The New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
region soon came under the control of the Swedes and the Dutch resulting in a struggle in which the Dutch were victorious. However, the Dutch colony of New Netherlands was seized by the English in 1664. New Jersey was one of the Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
that broke off from Britain in the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, adopting the Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
in 1776. Becoming a state upon the formation of the United States, New Jersey saw significant action during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. New Jersey's delegates signed the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...
in 1779 and Princeton
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
acted as the nation's capital for four months in 1783.
In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
In the 19th century, New Jersey cities led the nation into the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and provided soldiers for many of the wars the United States fought, including 88,000 men for the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The state became a component of the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. The state's transportation system continued to improve with the construction of canals and more rail lines that helped industrialization further develop. During the early 1900s, New Jersey prospered but weakened in the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in the 1930s. During World War II and the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
New Jersey's shipyards and military bases played an important role in the defense of the United States. In the 1960s New Jersey was the site of several race riots and of the Glassboro Summit Conference
Glassboro Summit Conference
The Glassboro Summit Conference, usually just called the Glassboro Summit, was the 23–25 June 1967 meeting of the heads of government of the United States and the Soviet Union—President Lyndon B. Johnson and Premier Alexei Kosygin, respectively—for the purpose of discussing Soviet–US relations...
, between American President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin.
Paleo Indians and Native Americans
New Jersey was first settled by Paleo Indians after the Wisconsin Glacier melted. Around 11,000 BC they had settled in southern New Jersey. By 10,500 BC they settled in northern areas. Paleo Indians were hunter gathers. They moved as soon as game became scarce.Later other Native Americans settled in New Jersey. Around the year 1000, Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
group known as the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
, later called Delaware Indians settled in New Jersey. They came from the Mississippi valley. The Lenape were loosely organized groups who migrated seasonally in the beginning. With the advent of the bow and arrow and pottery around the year 1000, extended family groups began to stay in areas longer. They practiced small-scale agriculture (companion planting
Companion planting
Companion planting is the planting of different crops in proximity , on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity...
), such as growing corn and pole beans together and squash. They were hunting and gathering
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
, hunting with bow and arrow, using deadfall traps, and snares. They also gathered nuts in the autumn such as acorns hickory nuts, walnuts, butternuts, beech nuts and chestnuts. The Native Americans and Paleo Indians fished in all rivers and stream using nets and fish hooks and by hand. They also fished in the region surrounding the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, the lower Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, and western Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
. Their Algonquian language
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
lends itself to many place names throughout the state.
European exploration
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing in the service of France, explored the Jersey CoastJersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
including Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook is a barrier spit along the Atlantic coast of New JerseySandy Hook may also refer to:-Places:United States* Sandy Hook , a village in the town of Newtown, Connecticut* Sandy Hook, Kentucky, a city in Elliott County...
and the Narrows which bear his name. In 1609, Sir Henry Hudson sailing for the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
. explored the East Coast including the Delaware
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
, Raritan
Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the south by the Raritan...
, Newark
Newark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, 3rd largest and one of busiest in the United States...
, New York
New York Bay
New York Bay is the collective term for the marine areas surrounding the entrance of the Hudson River into the Atlantic Ocean. Its two largest components are Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay, which are connected by The Narrows...
bays and the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
. During the next four years, on somewhat secretive missions, Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...
explored and mapped the coast along Delaware, New Jersey, Long Island, and New England, naming it for the first time New Netherlands.
New Netherland
Between 1611 and 1614, three Dutchmen, A. Block, H. Christiaensen and C. Mey surveyed land between the 40th and 45th parallels along the Atlantic coast and named the area they surveyed New Netherlands. In 1615, three Dutchmen left Fort NassauFort Nassau
The name Fort Nassau was used by the Dutch in the 17th century for several fortifications, mostly trading stations, named for the House of Orange-Nassau...
(Albany, NY) and traveled southwest to the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
and followed the river downstream. In 1616 they were captured by Native Americans near the confluence of the Schuykill River and Delaware River, south of what is now Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,800 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County....
. The route the three men traveled is unknown, but they may have traveled through Sussex County or Pennsylvania. This is the earliest record of Europeans traveling in or near Sussex County.
Initially, small out-posts where built for the fur trade. In May 1624, from a ship under the command of Cornelius Jacobsen Mey
Cornelius Jacobsen Mey
Cornelis Jacobszoon May , was a Dutch explorer, captain and fur trader, and namesake of Cape May, Cape May County, and the city of Cape May, New Jersey, so named first in 1620.-Family:...
(after whom Cape May
Cape May
Cape May is a peninsula and island ; the southern tip of the island is the southernmost point of the state of New Jersey, United States. It runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean...
is named) thirty families were required to spread themselves throughout the region including Fort Wilhelmus
Fort Wilhelmus
Fort Wilhelmus was a factorij in the 17th century colonial province of New Netherland, located on what had been named Verhulsten Island on the Zuyd Rivier, today's Delaware River....
. The last was on the east bank of the Delaware River, the site of the first European settlement in what would become New Jersey. Later another was built at Fort Nassau
Fort Nassau (South River)
Fort Nassau was a factorij in the colonial province of New Netherland from 1623-1651.The name Fort Nassau was used by the Dutch in the 17th century for several fortifications, mostly trading stations, named for the House of Orange-Nassau....
.
The next European settlement was on the banks of the Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
across the Hudson from Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam
For the historic fort on the island of Saint Martin, see Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan that was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then British rule of New York from...
(in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
) in 1630. Located at Paulus Hook it was part of the patroonship Pavonia
Pavonia, New Netherland
Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland in what would become today's Hudson County, New Jersey.-Hudson and the Hackensack:...
, named (in Latinized form) for Micheal Pauw who had bought the tract from the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
. At the time it was the territory of the Unami
Unami
Unami may refer to:*the Lenape language, or its sublanguage the Unami language*Unami Creek*the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq *the Unami Lodge...
, or Turtle Clan. The settlement grew slowly, impeded by mismanagemnt of the Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
and conflicts with the indigenous population known as Kieft's War
Kieft's War
Kieft's War, also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between settlers of the nascent colony of New Netherland and the native Lenape population in what would later become the New York metropolitan area of the United States...
and The Peach Tree War
Peach Tree War
The Peach Tree War, also known as the "Peach War," is the name given to a large scale attack on the New Netherland colony of Pavonia, across from New Amsterdam, and surrounding settlements along the North River by the Susquehannock Nation and allied Native Americans on September 15,...
. In 1658, Director-General of New Netherland
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
"re-purchased" the entire peninsula known as Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck is a name for the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City...
, and in 1661 granted a charter to the village at Bergen
Bergen Square
Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district...
, establishing the oldest municipality in the state. The British take-over in 1664 was formalized in 1674, ending the province of the New Netherland, though the North Jersey
North Jersey
North Jersey is a colloquial term, with no precise consensus definition, for the northern portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. A straightforward, noncolloquial term for the region is northern New Jersey.- Two-portion approaches :...
would retain a "Dutch" character for many years to come.
New Sweden
Part of southwestern New Jersey was settled by the SwedesSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
by the mid-17th century. New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
, founded in 1638, rose to its height under governor Johan Björnsson Printz
Johan Björnsson Printz
Johan Björnsson Printz was governor from 1643 until 1653 of the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware River in North America.-Early Life in Sweden:...
(1643–53). Led by Printz, the settlement extended north from Fort Christina
Fort Christina
Fort Christina was the first Swedish settlement in North America and the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony...
on both sides of the Delaware River. Printz helped to improve the military and commercial status of the colony by constructing Fort Nya Elfsborg
Fort Nya Elfsborg
Fort Nya Elfsborg was a fortification and settlement established as a part of New Sweden. Built in 1643 and named after the Älvsborg Fortress off Gothenburg, Fort Nya Elfsborg was located on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, between present day Salem and Alloway Creek.-History:Fort Nya...
, near present-day Salem
Salem, New Jersey
Salem is a city in Salem County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 5,146. It is the county seat of Salem County, the most rural county in the state of New Jersey. The name Salem is related to the Hebrew word shalom, meaning "peace".The town and...
on the east side of the Delaware River. This action prevented the river from being easily taken by the English and Dutch, who were also trying to expand into the New World. The Swedish and Finnish colonists generally lived in peace with their Dutch and Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
neighbors.C. A. Nothnagle Log House
C. A. Nothnagle Log House
C. A. Nothnagle Log House is a historic house on Swedesboro-Paulsboro Road in Gibbstown, New Jersey, near Swedesboro, that is one of the oldest surviving log houses in the United States....
and Schorn Log Cabin are remainders of this early influence.
Province
From the colony of New Netherland, the Dutch interfered with Britain's transatlantic trade with its North American colonies. Insisting that John CabotJohn Cabot
John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...
had been the first to discover North America, the British granted the land that now encompasses New Jersey to the Duke of York
Duke of York
The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch. The title has been created a remarkable eleven times, eight as "Duke of York" and three as the double-barreled "Duke of York and...
, who ordered Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Richard Nicolls
Richard Nicolls
Richard Nicolls was the first English colonial governor of New York province....
to take over the area. In September 1664, a British fleet under Nicolls' command sailed into what is now New York Harbor
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
and seized the colony. The British encountered little resistance, perhaps due to the unpopularity of the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant. After capturing the colony, Nicolls became deputy-governor of New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
and the rest of New Netherland, and guaranteed colonists' property rights, laws of inheritance, and the enjoyment of religious freedom. New Netherland west of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
was renamed New Jersey after the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
Island of Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
which Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, after having seen their loyalty to the crown, gave to the people of Jersey as a gift having given him hospitality in the castle of Mont Orgueil
Mont Orgueil
Mont Orgueil is a castle in Jersey. It is located overlooking the harbour of Gorey. It is also called Gorey Castle by English-speakers, and lé Vièr Châté by Jèrriais-speakers....
before he was proclaimed king in 1649. The city of New Amsterdam was renamed New York (after the Duke of York).
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
to his brother, the Duke of York (later King James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
), as a proprietary colony
Proprietary colony
A proprietary colony was a colony in which one or more individuals, usually land owners, remaining subject to their parent state's sanctions, retained rights that are today regarded as the privilege of the state, and in all cases eventually became so....
. Later James granted the land between the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
that would become New Jersey to two friends who had been loyal to him through the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
: Sir George Carteret
George Carteret
Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet , son of Elias de Carteret, was a royalist statesman in Jersey and England, who served in the Clarendon Ministry as Treasurer of the Navy...
and Lord Berkeley of Stratton. The two proprietors of New Jersey tried to entice more settlers to New Jersey by granting land to settlers and by passing Concession and Agreement
Concession and Agreement
Concession and Agreement was a document that provided religious freedom in the colony of New Jersey. It was issued as a proclamation for the structure of the government for the colony written in 1665 by the two proprietors, Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.The document promised religious...
, a document granting religious freedom to all inhabitants of New Jersey; the British Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
allowed no such religious freedom. In return for land, settlers paid annual fees known as quitrents. The proprietors appointed Philip Carteret
Philip Carteret (Governor)
Philip Carteret was the first and fourth British colonial governor of New Jersey, from 1665 to 1672 and from 1674 to 1682.The English annexed the Dutch province of New Netherland in 1664, and lands west of the Hudson River were awarded to two Lords Proprietors, John Berkeley and George Carteret...
as the first governor of New Jersey, who designated Elizabethtown
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
as the colony's capital. However, the two proprietors found collecting the quitrents difficult, and on March 18, 1674 Berkeley sold his share of New Jersey to the Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
.
This sale divided the province into East Jersey
East Jersey
The Province of East Jersey and the Province of West Jersey were two distinct, separately governed parts of the Province of New Jersey that existed as separate provinces for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. East Jersey's capital was located at Perth Amboy...
and West Jersey
West Jersey
West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702...
. The exact border between West and East Jersey
Border between West Jersey and East Jersey
The Province of New Jersey was formally separated into two provinces, West Jersey and East Jersey, for the 28 years between 1674 and 1702.Determination of an exact location for a West Jersey/East Jersey borderline was often a matter of dispute...
generally corresponded to the border
Keith line
The Keith line was a line drawn through the Province of New Jersey, dividing it into the Province of West Jersey and the Province of East Jersey. The line was created by Surveyor-General George Keith in 1686, when he ran the first survey to mark out the border between West Jersey and East Jersey...
between present day South
South Jersey
South Jersey comprises the southern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the lower Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation is a colloquial one, reflecting not only geographical but perceived cultural differences from the northern part of the state, with no official...
and North Jersey
North Jersey
North Jersey is a colloquial term, with no precise consensus definition, for the northern portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. A straightforward, noncolloquial term for the region is northern New Jersey.- Two-portion approaches :...
and was created by George Keith
George Keith
George Keith was a Scottish missionary.-Life:Born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to a Presbyterian family, he received an M.A. from the University of Aberdeen...
. However, the line was constantly the subject of disputes. With the 1676 Quintipartite Deed
Quintipartite Deed
The Quintipartite Deed was a legal document that split the Province of New Jersey, dividing it into the Province of West Jersey and the Province of East Jersey from 1674 until 1702....
more accurate surveys and maps were made resulting in the Thornton line, drawn around 1696, and the Lawrence line, drawn around 1743, which was adopted as the final line for legal purposes.
Many of the colonists of New Jersey became farmers. However, despite the fertility of the soil, farmers were forced to struggle due to the dearth of English money. Some owned slaves or had indentured servant
Indentured servant
Indentured servitude refers to the historical practice of contracting to work for a fixed period of time, typically three to seven years, in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, lodging and other necessities during the term of indenture. Usually the father made the arrangements and signed...
s work for them. The majority of the colonists lived in simple log cabins, coming from the original Dutch settlers. Since New Jersey was ideally located next to the Atlantic Ocean, colonists farmed, fished, and traded by sea. Transportation was slow and difficult usually on either foot or horseback. Education came through small religious schools, private academies, or tutors.
On April 15, 1702, under the reign of Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
, West and East Jersey were reunited as a royal colony. Edward Hyde
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon , styled Viscount Cornbury between 1674 and 1709, was Governor of New York and New Jersey between 1701 and 1708, and is perhaps best known for the claims of his cross-dressing while in office.-Career:Born The Hon...
, Lord Cornbury became the first governor of the colony as a royal colony. Lord Cornbury was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land, so in 1708 he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused those governors of favoritism to New York. Judge Lewis Morris
Lewis Morris (1671-1746)
Lewis Morris , chief justice of New York and British governor of New Jersey, was the first lord of the manor of Morrisania in New York .-Biography:...
led the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor by King George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
in 1738. From 1701 to 1765, New Jersey's border with New York was in dispute, resulting in a series of skirmishes and raids
New York – New Jersey Line War
The New York – New Jersey Line War refers to a series of skirmishes and raids that took place for over half a century between 1701 and 1765 at the disputed border between two American colonies, the Province of New York and the Province of New Jersey.Border wars were not unusual in the early days...
.
In 1746 the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
) was founded in Elizabethtown by a group of Great Awakening
First Great Awakening
The First Awakening was a Christian revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of personal...
"New Lighters" that included Jonathan Dickinson
Jonathan Dickinson (of New Jersey)
Jonathan Dickinson was a Congregational, later Presbyterian, minister, a leader in the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, and a co-founder and first president of the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University.-Biography:Born in Hatfield, Massachusetts on April 22, 1688,...
, Aaron Burr, Sr.
Aaron Burr, Sr.
The Reverend Aaron Burr, Sr., was a notable divine and educator in colonial America. He was a founder of the College of New Jersey and the father of the third United States Vice President, Aaron Burr , who killed Alexander Hamilton.-Biography:A native of Connecticut, Burr was born in 1716 in...
and Peter Van Brugh Livingston
Peter Van Brugh Livingston
Peter Van Brugh Livingston was a Patriot during the American Revolution.-Life:...
. In 1756 the school moved to Princeton.
American Revolution
New Jersey was one of the original thirteen colonies that joined in the struggle for independence from Great Britain. Many of the New Jersey settlers still felt ties of loyalty to the British crownLoyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
, and many slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
sided with the British in exchange for freedom. The loyalists included the governor of New Jersey, William Franklin
William Franklin
William Franklin was an American soldier and colonial administrator. He served as the last Colonial Governor of New Jersey. Franklin was a steadfast Loyalist throughout the American War of Independence, despite his father Benjamin Franklin's role as one of the most prominent Patriots during the...
.
On July 2, 1776, the first Constitution of New Jersey
New Jersey State Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the state has been governed by three constitutions...
was drafted, creating a basic framework for the state government. The New Jersey Constitution of 1776 allowed "all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money" to vote, including non-whites and widows; married women could not own property under the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
. The Constitution declared itself temporary and to be void if there was reconciliation with Great Britain. Both political parties in elections mocked the other for relying on "petticoat electors" for allowing women to vote. The right to vote was restricted to white males in 1807. Only two days after the new constitution was enacted, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was endorsed by five representatives from New Jersey.
New Jersey is referred to as the "Crossroads of the Revolution" because the British and Continental armies fought several crucial battles there. Throughout the war 296 engagements occurred in New Jersey, more than in any other colony. Four major battles were fought at Trenton
Battle of Trenton
The Battle of Trenton took place on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The hazardous crossing in adverse weather made it possible for Washington to lead the main body of the...
, Princeton
Battle of Princeton
The Battle of Princeton was a battle in which General George Washington's revolutionary forces defeated British forces near Princeton, New Jersey....
, Monmouth
Battle of Monmouth
The Battle of Monmouth was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on June 28, 1778 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Continental Army under General George Washington attacked the rear of the British Army column commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton as they left Monmouth Court...
, and Springfield
Battle of Springfield (1780)
The Battle of Springfield was fought during the American Revolutionary War on June 23, 1780. After the Battle of Connecticut Farms, on June 7, 1780, had foiled Lieutenant General Wilhelm, Baron von Knyphausen’s expedition to attack General George Washington’s army at Morristown, New Jersey,...
. The Battles of Trenton and Princeton are collectively referred to as the Ten Crucial Days because these desperately needed victories bolstered the morale of the nation.
On Christmas night of 1776, the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
, commanded by General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, made the famous crossing of the Delaware River. The scene was immortalized in Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware
Washington Crossing the Delaware
Washington Crossing the Delaware is an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by German American artist Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. It commemorates General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on December 25, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War...
, and displayed on the New Jersey State Quarter. In the Battle of Trenton
Battle of Trenton
The Battle of Trenton took place on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The hazardous crossing in adverse weather made it possible for Washington to lead the main body of the...
which followed the crossing, the American soldiers surprised the Hessians, capturing nearly 900 prisoners in 90 minutes and taking supplies that had been for the British army. After the victory, George Washington led the army back across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
A few days later, British General Charles Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG , styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator...
hoped to engage Washington's army at Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
after Washington recrossed the Delaware River, resulting in the Second Battle of Trenton
Second Battle of Trenton
The Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, was a battle between American and British troops that took place in and around Trenton, New Jersey, on January 2, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, and resulted in an American victory.Following a surprise...
. After recapturing Trenton, he ordered charges on fortified defenses at Assunpink Creek
Assunpink Creek
Assunpink Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in western New Jersey in the United States.Assunpink Creek is born in rural Monmouth County, about a mile north of Clarksburg. Flowing westwards, it soon enters the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, where it has been dammed to form Rising Sun...
. The Americans inflicted heavy casualties on the British from their defenses. Later, the Continental army slipped past Cornwallis’s stalled army and launched an attack on British soldiers stationed at Princeton in the Battle of Princeton
Battle of Princeton
The Battle of Princeton was a battle in which General George Washington's revolutionary forces defeated British forces near Princeton, New Jersey....
on January 3, 1777. The British at Princeton were forced to surrender. Cornwallis immediately ordered his army to engage the Americans at Princeton, but was prevented by snipers. These victories forced the British to leave New Jersey.
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
met a British column under Sir Henry Clinton
Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)
General Sir Henry Clinton KB was a British army officer and politician, best known for his service as a general during the American War of Independence. First arriving in Boston in May 1775, from 1778 to 1782 he was the British Commander-in-Chief in North America...
at the Battle of Monmouth
Battle of Monmouth
The Battle of Monmouth was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on June 28, 1778 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Continental Army under General George Washington attacked the rear of the British Army column commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton as they left Monmouth Court...
. Washington hoped to surprise and overwhelm the rear of the British army. General Charles Lee
Charles Lee (general)
Charles Lee was a British soldier who later served as a General of the Continental Army during the American War of Independence. Lee served in the British army during the Seven Years War. After the war he sold his commission and served for a time in the Polish army of King Stanislaus II...
led the American attack on the British rear but retreated prematurely when the British attempted to flank the Americans. The retreat nearly led to disorder, but Washington managed to rally the troops to withstand two British counter-attacks, both of which failed. As temperatures increased to over 100o Fahrenheit, many soldiers fell to sunstroke. After the battle, Charles Lee was court-martialed for his poor command. Over 1,000 British casualties were incurred while the Americans lost 452 men. It was during this battle that the legendary "Molly Pitcher
Molly Pitcher
Molly Pitcher was a nickname given to a woman said to have fought in the American Revolutionary War, who is generally believed to have been Mary Ludwig Hays...
" is said to have fought.
The last major battle to take place in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War (and for the rest of the history of New Jersey) was the Battle of Springfield
Battle of Springfield (1780)
The Battle of Springfield was fought during the American Revolutionary War on June 23, 1780. After the Battle of Connecticut Farms, on June 7, 1780, had foiled Lieutenant General Wilhelm, Baron von Knyphausen’s expedition to attack General George Washington’s army at Morristown, New Jersey,...
. Baron von Knyphausen, the Hessian general, hoped to invade New Jersey and expected support from colonists of New Jersey who were tired of the war. He hoped to secure Hobart Gap
Hobart Gap
The Hobart Gap is a strategic pass and road through the Watchung Mountains in Northern New Jersey. The confluence of the two branches of the Rahway River is located here...
, from which he could attack the American headquarters in Morristown
Morristown, New Jersey
Morristown is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 18,411. It is the county seat of Morris County. Morristown became characterized as "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the...
. On June 23, 1780, the British attacked soldiers under the command of Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank possible; he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United...
. General Greene successfully stopped a two-pronged attack from entrenchments held across the Raritan River
Raritan River
The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
, preventing the British invasion.
New Jersey ratified and then signed the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...
on November 26, 1779. In the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. It had originally convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, but mutinous troops prevented the meeting from taking place. Princeton became the temporary capital for the nation for four months. During the brief stay in Princeton, the Continental Congress was informed of the end of the war by the signing of the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
on September 3, 1783. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, and on November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first state in the Nation to ratify the United States Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
.
New Jersey played a major role in creating the structure of the new United States Government. When Virginia delegates proposed a plan
Virginia Plan
The Virginia Plan was a proposal by Virginia delegates, for a bicameral legislative branch. The plan was drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Constitutional Convention of 1787...
calling for representation based on the population of each state, the smaller states refused, fearing that with such a plan they would no longer have a say in government affairs. William Paterson, a New Jersey statesman, introduced the New Jersey Plan
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government proposed by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention on June 15, 1787...
, by which one vote would be given to each state, providing equal representation within the legislative body. The Great Compromise accepted both plans, creating two separate bodies in the Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
.
Industrial Revolution
The economy of New Jersey was largely based on agriculture, but crop failures and poor soil plagued the settlers of New Jersey. However, New Jersey eventually funded publications in the early 1850s of accurate agriculture-related surveys through the effort of George Hammell Cook. The publication of this survey helped to increase the state’s involvement in agricultural research and direct support to farmers. As agriculture became a less reliable source of income for New Jerseyans, many began turning towards more industrialized methods.Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
became the cradle of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
in America. Energy was harnessed from the 77 feet (23 m) high Great Falls of the Passaic River
Great Falls of the Passaic River
The Great Falls of the Passaic River is a prominent waterfall, high, on the Passaic River in the city of Paterson in Passaic County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The Congress authorized its establishment as a National Historical Park in 2009...
. The city became an important site for mills and other industries. These include the textile, firearms, silk, and railroad locomotive manufacturing industries. Because of its high silk production, it became nicknamed the "Silk City". In 1835, Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt was an American inventor and industrialist. He was the founder of Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company , and is widely credited with popularizing the revolver. Colt's innovative contributions to the weapons industry have been described by arms historian James E...
began producing firearms in the city.
The second version of the New Jersey State Constitution
New Jersey State Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the state has been governed by three constitutions...
was written in 1844. The constitution provided suffrage only to white males, removing it from all women and from people of other races. Suffrage had been awarded to those groups under the original New Jersey State Constitution of 1776. Some important components of the second State Constitution include the separation of the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The new constitution also provided a bill of rights
Bill of rights
A bill of rights is a list of the most important rights of the citizens of a country. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement. The term "bill of rights" originates from England, where it referred to the Bill of Rights 1689. Bills of rights may be entrenched or...
. Underneath the constitution, the people had the right to elect the governor.
The famous inventor Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
was born in 1847. Edison worked in Menlo Park
Edison, New Jersey
Edison Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. What is now Edison Township was originally incorporated as Raritan Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870, from portions of both Piscataway Township and Woodbridge Township...
, and was known as "the Wizard of Menlo Park" for his many inventions; over the course of his life, he was granted 1,093 patents. His most famous inventions included the phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
, the kinetoscope
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic...
, the stock ticker
Stock Ticker
Stock Ticker is a now out of print board game that was popular upon its release and is still played today. It was released by Copp-Clark Publishing, a venerable Canadian publisher.-Game play:...
, the Dictaphone
Dictaphone
Dictaphone was an American company, a producer of dictation machines—sound recording devices most commonly used to record speech for later playback or to be typed into print. The name "Dictaphone" is a trademark, but in some places it has also become a common way to refer to all such devices, and...
and the tattoo gun
Tattoo gun
A tattoo machine is a hand-held device generally used to create a tattoo, a permanent marking of the skin with indelible ink. Modern tattoo machines use electromagnetic coils to move an armature bar up and down, Connected to said armature bar is a barred needle grouping that pushes ink into the skin...
. He also is credited with improving the designs of the incandescent light bulb, radio, the telegraph, and the telephone. He started the Motion Picture Patents Company
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company , founded in December 1908, was a trust of all the major American film companies , the leading film distributor and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak...
. One of his famous sayings was, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration", as his efforts consisted of research and testing.
The agricultural products from New Jersey usually were transported to larger markets in New York City and Philadelphia, requiring better transportation. The first ocean-going steamboat went from Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, sailed around southern New Jersey, and ended in Philadelphia. Later, systems of canals were built, the first of which is called the Morris Canal
Morris Canal
The Morris Canal was an anthracite-carrying canal that incorporated a series of water-driven inclined planes in its course across northern New Jersey in the United States. It was in use for about a century — from the late 1820s to the 1920s....
and ran from Phillipsburg, New Jersey
Phillipsburg, New Jersey
Phillipsburg, known locally as P'burg, is a town in Warren County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 14,950....
, on the Delaware River to Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, on the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. The Delaware and Raritan canal
Delaware and Raritan Canal
The Delaware and Raritan Canal is a canal in central New Jersey, United States, built in the 1830s that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was intended as an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City,...
ran from New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
, on the Raritan River
Raritan River
The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
, to Bordentown, New Jersey
Bordentown, New Jersey
Bordentown City is in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 3,924. Bordentown is located at the confluence of the Delaware River, Blacks Creek and Crosswicks Creek...
, on the Delaware River. Locomotion was also improved; Hoboken-born inventor John Stevens
John Stevens (inventor)
Col. John Stevens, III was an American lawyer, engineer and an inventor.-Life and career:Born the son of John Stevens , a prominent New Jersey politician who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and Elizabeth Alexander, daughter of New York lawyer and statesman James Alexander. His...
built a 10 ton locomotive and his son Robert L. Stevens started constructing iron railroads. By 1833, The Camden & Amboy Railroad had been completed, allowing a 7 hour passage between Philadelphia and New York City. Through the 1800s, over a dozen companies were operating railroad lines.
War and slavery
During the Mexican-American War, a battalion of volunteers from New Jersey, in four companies, was active from September 1847 to July 1848. Philip KearnyPhilip Kearny
Philip Kearny, Jr., was a United States Army officer, notable for his leadership in the Mexican-American War and American Civil War. He was killed in action in the 1862 Battle of Chantilly.-Early life and career:...
, an officer who led a cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
unit, followed General Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....
and fought in the Battle of Contreras
Battle of Contreras
The Battle of Contreras, also known as the Battle of Padierna, took place during August 19–20, 1847, in the final encounters of the Mexican-American War. In the Battle of Churubusco, fighting continued the following day.-Background:...
and Battle of Churubusco
Battle of Churubusco
The Battle of Churubusco took place on August 20, 1847, in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Contreras during the Mexican-American War. After defeating the Mexican army at Churubusco, the U.S. Army was only 5 miles away from Mexico City, the capital of the nation...
. After the war, Kearny made his home in the state of New Jersey.
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
population was especially intolerant of slavery, and the state was a major part of the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. The New Jersey legislature passed an act for the gradual abolition of slavery in 1804, providing that no person born after that date would be a slave. It was not until 1830 that most blacks were free in the state. New Jersey was the last northern state to abolish slavery completely, and by the close of the Civil War, about a dozen African-Americans in New Jersey were still apprenticed freedmen. The 1860 Census found just over 25,000 free African Americans in the state. New Jersey at first refused to ratify the Constitutional Amendment banning slavery
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
.
Although no Civil War battles were fought within New Jersey, the state sent over 88,000 soldiers as part of some 31 infantry and cavalry regiments, and over 6,000 died in the war. 23,116 of those soldiers served in the Army of the Potomac
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...
. Soldiers from New Jersey fought generally in the War's Eastern theater. Philip Kearny
Philip Kearny
Philip Kearny, Jr., was a United States Army officer, notable for his leadership in the Mexican-American War and American Civil War. He was killed in action in the 1862 Battle of Chantilly.-Early life and career:...
, an officer from the Mexican-American War, led a brigade of New Jersey regiments under Brigadier General William B. Franklin
William B. Franklin
William Buel Franklin was a career United States Army officer and a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of a corps commander in the Army of the Potomac, fighting in several notable early battles in the Eastern Theater.-Early life:William B. Franklin was born in York,...
. Kearny distinguished himself as a brilliant officer during the Peninsula Campaign
Peninsula Campaign
The Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The operation, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B...
, and was promoted to the position of major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
.
New Jersey was one of the few states to favor Stephen Douglas over Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
in the Presidential Election of 1860. The people of New Jersey also cast their electoral votes for George B. McClellan
George B. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was a major general during the American Civil War. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union...
when he ran for President against Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1864. The people had the distinction of being the only free state that rejected Lincoln twice. McClellan was later elected governor, serving from 1878 to 1881.
Many industrial cities like Paterson
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
and Camden
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
grew strong through Civil War production. They manufactured many necessities, including clothing and war materials like ammunition. These cities prospered through heavy production even after the end of the war.
Early 1900s and World War I
The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was a large integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing organization, founded by Henry H. RogersHenry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
, William Rockefeller
William Rockefeller
William Avery Rockefeller, Jr. , American financier, was a co-founder with his older brother John D. Rockefeller of the prominent United States Rockefeller family. He was the son of William Avery Rockefeller, Sr. and Eliza Rockefeller.-Youth, education:Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York,...
, and John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
. In 1911, the United States Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, viewing it as violating the Sherman Antitrust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...
. Standard Oil had controlled nearly 90% of refined oil flows into the United States, having a near complete monopoly upon it. Standard Oil Company was split into 34 smaller companies as a result of the dissolution.
New Jersey was a center of shipbuilding and manufacturing during World War I. Existing factories such as the Singer Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
were converted to making weapon parts. New refineries and ammunition factories were built by companies like DuPont Engineering
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
. After the war, many of these companies and plants shifted to chemicals, making New Jersey one of the world's leading chemical producers. Several Allied
Participants in World War I
This is a list of countries that participated in World War I, sorted by alphabetical order.-The Entente Forces:Note: The Entente Forces are sometimes also referred to as the Entente Powers or Allies of World War I....
ships were sunk off the New Jersey coast.
Camp Merritt
Camp Merritt, New Jersey
Camp Merritt was a military base in Cresskill, in Bergen County, New Jersey, that was activated for use in World War I. It was from this camp that thousands of soldiers were deployed to Hoboken, New Jersey before being shipped off to Europe. Approximately four million troops were sent to the...
, in Cresskill
Cresskill, New Jersey
Cresskill is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,573. The town got its name from the watercress that grew in its streams, or "kills"....
, was activated for use in World War I. It was from there that many soldiers were deployed to Hoboken before shipping off to Europe. Camp Merritt was decommissioned in November 1919. Fort Dix, in Pemberton Township, New Jersey
Pemberton Township, New Jersey
Pemberton Township is a township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 28,691....
, was also constructed in 1917 to help in the war effort. It was used as a training and staging ground throughout the war. After the war, it was converted into a demobilization center.
Roaring Twenties
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, but also in London, Berlin and Paris for a period of sustained economic prosperity. The phrase was meant to emphasize the period's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism...
through the 1920s. Through this period, New Jersey's population and employment rate increased greatly. Though factory production decreased after the end of World War I, production lines still churned out goods.
Transportation became much easier through the 1920s. Cars became easily affordable and roads were paved and improved such that they incorporated new road features, including jughandle
Jughandle
A jughandle is a type of ramp or slip road that changes the way traffic turns left at at-grade intersections. Instead of a standard left turn being made from the left lane, left-turning traffic uses a ramp on the right side of the road...
turns. As a result, people who had never been farther than the outskirts of their hometown now could travel around the state. The Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore is a term used to refer to both the Atlantic coast of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities. . The New Jersey State Department of Tourism considers the Shore Region, Greater Atlantic City, and the Southern Shore to be distinct, each having...
became extremely popular as an attraction. Many bridges and tunnels were built for the ease of interstate traveling. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge
Benjamin Franklin Bridge
The Benjamin Franklin Bridge , originally named the Delaware River Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey...
was completed linking Camden
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
and Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in 1926. The Holland Tunnel
Holland Tunnel
The Holland Tunnel is a highway tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City, New Jersey at Interstate 78 on the mainland. Unusual for an American public works project, it is not named for a government official, politician, or local hero or...
, under the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, was completed in 1927, providing a means of easy transportation between New Jersey and New York City. Before, ferries were required to travel across the Hudson River. Later on, the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
(1931) and the Lincoln Tunnel
Lincoln Tunnel
The Lincoln Tunnel is a long tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and the borough of Manhattan in New York City.-History:...
(1937) were completed, making access to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
even easier. All of the tunnels and bridges linking New York and New Jersey are managed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
, established on April 30, 1921.
New Jersey was the first state to ratify Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, which restricted the purchasing and selling of alcohol. However, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established Prohibition in the United States. The separate Volstead Act set down methods of enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, and defined which "intoxicating liquors" were prohibited, and which were excluded from prohibition...
, which banned alcohol manufacturing & sales, was later repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment
Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition...
in December 1933. Newark's
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
breweries reopened almost immediately.
Great Depression era
Like the rest of the United States, the people of New Jersey were hit hard by the Great Depression. By 1933, one-tenth of the population was dependent upon Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
. In fact, New Jersey issued begging licenses to the poor people because the New Jersey government funds were being exhausted. Under the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
, part of the Second New Deal by FDR, many new jobs were provided in order to support the poor, including the expansion of Fort Dix
Fort Dix, New Jersey
JB MDL Dix , better known as Fort Dix, is a United States Army base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Dix is under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Reserve Command...
, Roosevelt Park in Edison
Edison, New Jersey
Edison Township is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. What is now Edison Township was originally incorporated as Raritan Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1870, from portions of both Piscataway Township and Woodbridge Township...
, and Rutgers Stadium
Rutgers Stadium
High Point Solutions Stadium is the on-campus football stadium for the football program at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. It is located on the Busch Campus at Rutgers, and overlooks the Raritan River to the South. High Point Solutions Stadium was opened on September 3, 1994 when the...
in Piscataway. Strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
also grew common during the Great Depression; in 1937 a group of gravediggers from New Jersey went on strike.
In 1938, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
produced The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (radio)
The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker...
radio broadcast. Listeners were told that a "huge, flaming object ... fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grover’s Mill ... twenty-two miles from Trenton." It described extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
monsters that were causing much destruction. Although it was announced in advance that it was a radio play, the broadcast resulted in widespread panic into New Jersey and the surrounding areas. Many people had believed the bulletin to be real, causing them to flee the New Jersey area or to blockade their homes to ensure safety from the reported monsters. CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
was criticized for allowing fictitious bulletins to gain attention of listeners. Welles and the other broadcasters were not punished by law, but were held under a brief informal "house arrest" for a short period.
During the Great Depression, 20-month old Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
, was abducted from his home near Hopewell, New Jersey
Hopewell, New Jersey
Hopewell is a Borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 1,922.Hopewell was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 14, 1891, from portions of Hopewell Township, based on the results of a...
in the Lindbergh kidnapping
Lindbergh kidnapping
The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of...
. The police sealed off many roads to prevent the kidnapper's escape, and interrogated the members of the Lindbergh household. Federal expert Arthur Koehler
Arthur Koehler
Arthur Koehler was a chief wood technologist at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, and was important in the development of wood forensics in the 1930s through his role in the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnapping...
carefully examined the ladder used by the kidnapper, which he traced to a company in McCormick, South Carolina
McCormick, South Carolina
McCormick is a town in McCormick County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,489 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of McCormick County.-Geography:McCormick is located at ....
. James J. Finn was a lieutenant who attempted to capture the kidnapper while he was passing off ransom bills. Finally, a ransom note was located and traced to Bruno Hauptmann
Bruno Hauptmann
Bruno Richard Hauptmann was a German ex-convict sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of the 20-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The Lindbergh kidnapping became known as "The Crime of the Century".-Background:Hauptmann was born in Kamenz in the German Empire,...
; the bill had the license plate number of Hauptmann's Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
Saloon that was written down by a gas attendant. He was tried in Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 4,581. It is the county seat of Hunterdon County....
in what was known as the "Trial of the Century", and was convicted. He was electrocuted in the New Jersey State Prison
New Jersey State Prison
The New Jersey State Prison , formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state prison in Trenton, New Jersey operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. It accommodated over 1,900 prisoners as of January, 2005....
in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
. The Lindbergh kidnapping led to passage of the Federal Kidnapping Act
Federal Kidnapping Act
Following the historic Lindbergh kidnapping , the United States Congress adopted a federal kidnapping statute—popularly known as the Federal Kidnapping Act — which was intended to let federal authorities step in and pursue kidnappers once they had...
, also known as the "Lindbergh Law", which made kidnapping a federal crime.
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
Hindenburg
Hindenburg disaster
The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey...
exploded over Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester. While approaching a mooring mast at Lakehurst, the zeppelin suddenly caught fire, and within 34 seconds the entire hydrogen-filled zeppelin was engulfed in flames; 36 people died in the disaster, most of them leaping from the burning ship. Contrary to popular belief, the Hindenburg had flown an entire year of successful voyages before it caught on fire. Questions and controversy surround the accident to this day: theories for the sudden burst of flames include sabotage against the German Nazis, static build-up, and flammable fabric.
World War II and the 1940s
Camp Kilmer
Camp Kilmer
Camp Kilmer, New Jersey is a former United States Army camp that was activated in June 1942 as a staging area and part of an installation of the New York Port of Embarkation. The camp was organized as part of the Army Service Forces Transportation Corps. Troops were quartered at Camp Kilmer in...
was a staging area near New Brunswick
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
that served the port of New York. Its buildings were painted with protective camouflage patterns. Camp Kilmer helped to serve troops by offering medical care and providing supplies. Camp Kilmer was later reactivated for the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
. Fort Dix was reopened for the training of soldiers for the war effort. During the war, Naval Weapons Station Earle
Naval Weapons Station Earle
Naval Weapons Station Earle is a United States Navy base in New Jersey. Its distinguishing feature is a 2.9-mile pier in Sandy Hook Bay where ammunition can be loaded and unloaded from warships at a safe distance from land....
in Monmouth County was opened for naval production and provided ships with a safe port to take on ammunition.
Millville Airport opened on August 2, 1941. It was called "America's First Defense Airport" because it was opened as a gunnery training area for fighter pilots. Over 1,500 pilots were trained for advanced aircraft fighting at this airport. Fort Hancock
Fort Hancock, New Jersey
Fort Hancock is a former United States Army fort at Sandy Hook, located in Middletown Township in Monmouth County, along the Atlantic coast of eastern New Jersey in the United States. This coastal artillery base played an important part in the defense of New York Harbor and played a role in the...
was also opened in Sandy Hook. Gunners in the fort prevented German submarines from entering New York Harbor
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
. The airfield, currently known as McGuire Air Force Base
McGuire Air Force Base
JB MDL McGuire is a United States Air Force base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. McGuire is under the jurisdiction of the USAF Air Mobility Command...
, was opened in 1937 as Rudd Field, a supporting Army airfield for Fort Dix. It was expanded during wartime operations and turned over to the Air Force in 1949.
One of the most dramatic war events in the Northeast occurred in 1945, when US forces hit and sank a German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
(U-689) off the coast of New Jersey. The Coast Guard station at what is now Sandy Hook Gateway Park was manned for the duration of the war to protect New York harbor.
An internment camp housing people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent was located in Gloucester City
Gloucester City, New Jersey
Gloucester City is a city in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 11,456.-Geography:Gloucester City is located at ....
. In addition, Seabrook Farms
Seabrook Farms, New Jersey
Seabrook Farms is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Upper Deerfield Township, in Cumberland County, New Jersey. It is part of the Vineland-Millville- Bridgeton Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area for statistical purposes...
took advantage of Japanese-American labor to increase productivity when the government allowed small groups of people from the internment camps to work there. At the end of World War II, the government closed down the internment camps, but many people from the camps continued to work at Seabrook Farms.
In 1947, the current New Jersey State Constitution
New Jersey State Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the state has been governed by three constitutions...
was ratified, reorganizing the state government. Governors were allowed to serve four years instead of three, and the Legislature
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate...
was constituted with a 40-member Senate
New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
and an 80-member General Assembly
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.Since the election of 1967 , the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average...
. The new State Constitution also returned the right of suffrage to females and non-whites.
Late twentieth century
In the 1950s, the Port Authority of New York and New JerseyPort Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state port district, established in 1921 through an interstate compact, that runs most of the regional transportation infrastructure, including the bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the Port of New York and New Jersey...
planned and built the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal
Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal
Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal is a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Located on the Newark Bay it serves as the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving New York-Newark metropolitan area, and the northeastern quadrant of North America...
in the cities of Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
and Elizabeth
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
. This was the first port in the world to containerize due to the innovation of Malcolm McLean and the founding of the Sea-Land Corporation. The newly opened port quickly made the docks of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
and Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
obsolete. In 1985, the port was the busiest in the world. (See Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal
Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal
Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal is a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Located on the Newark Bay it serves as the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving New York-Newark metropolitan area, and the northeastern quadrant of North America...
).
During the 1960s, many African Americans felt disenfranchised, feelings exacerbated by poor urban conditions, declining industrial jobs, and biased police forces with little minority representation. This tension led to race riots, the first of which occurred in Jersey City
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
on August 2, 1964, causing heavy damage. Seventy-one stores were damaged and 46 people were injured. From August 11 to August 13, 1964, similar riots occurred in Paterson
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
and Elizabeth
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
. In the Paterson riot, twenty stores and other buildings were damaged, and eight people were injured. In the Elizabeth riot, six people were injured and seventeen stores were damaged. In the aftermath of these riots, 135 people were arrested.
In the summer of 1967, urban residents, primarily African Americans, rioted for five days in Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
and the neighboring city of Plainfield
1967 Plainfield riots
The Plainfield Riots were a series of racially-charged violent disturbances that occurred in Plainfield, New Jersey during the summer of 1967, which mirrored the 1967 Newark riots in nearby Newark, New Jersey.-Background:...
. Twenty-four people died in the riots, and nearly 1,600 were arrested. The riots are often cited as a major factor in the decline of Newark and its neighboring communities. Residents who could leave, fled to the suburbs following the riots.
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
from June 23 to June 25, 1967, president Lyndon Johnson met with Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey
Glassboro, New Jersey
Glassboro is a borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 19,068....
, for the Glassboro Summit Conference. at the Glassboro State College
Rowan University
Rowan University is a public university in Glassboro, New Jersey, USA with a satellite campus in Camden, New Jersey. The school was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a twenty-five acre tract of land donated by the town...
. No specific agreements were reached, especially in the area of restrictions on anti-ballistic missile
Anti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...
systems. However, the meeting helped improve the strained relationships between the Soviet Union and the US.
Because of its strategic location on the East Coast, New Jersey played an important role in the United States' Cold War defense. Fourteen Nike
Project Nike
Project Nike was a U.S. Army project, proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft missile system, the Nike Ajax, in 1953...
anti-aircraft missile batteries in two groups were constructed in New Jersey to protect the metropolitan areas around Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and New York City. In addition, a regional command center was built in New Jersey. By 1974, the missile sites were deactivated. In addition to these, air defense radar sites, bases for interceptor aircraft, anti-aircraft gun batteries, surface-to-air missile sites, and command and control facilities were constructed to defend against an attack by long range, nuclear-armed aircraft of the Soviet Air Force.
In 1973, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the legislature to pass a statute funding schools more equitably for impoverished areas. The legislature did this in 1975 but failed to fund it. The Court thereupon shut down all public schools for eight days in 1976, until the legislature passed an income tax bill. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax.
In 1998, the south side of Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
came under the jurisdiction of New Jersey following a US Supreme Court decision. Before, the island had been governed by the state of New York. However, after the court decision, disagreements between New Jersey and New York led to the sharing of jurisdiction over the island by the two states.
Terrorist attacks
- See: Anthrax attacks in New Jersey
In the September 11, 2001, attacks, hijackers took control of four domestic U.S. commercial airliners, including United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
which departed from Newark International Airport. The attacks caused 2,986 deaths, including about 700 residents of New Jersey. Over 160,000 people were evacuated by ferries and small boats from the Manhattan area to New Jersey because the subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
and PATH
Port Authority Trans-Hudson
PATH, derived from Port Authority Trans-Hudson, is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York City with Newark, Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey...
station were closed down.
The destruction of Lower Manhattan office space accelerated the pre-2001 trend of moving jobs from Lower Manhattan to Midtown and New Jersey. The Goldman Sachs Tower was constructed in Jersey City as part of this relocation. Towns in New Jersey, such as Middletown
Middletown Township, New Jersey
Middletown Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 66,522...
which had many residents die in the attacks, suffered from the losses.
For several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, letters bearing a Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
postmark and containing anthrax bacteria were mailed to several news media offices and two US Senators
2001 anthrax attacks
The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to...
. The letters were ultimately determined to have been mailed there by a Maryland-based scientist.
2004–05 gubernatorial vacancy and subsequent events
Former Governor James E. McGreeveyJim McGreevey
James Edward "Jim" McGreevey is an American Democratic politician. He served as the 52nd Governor of New Jersey from January 15, 2002, until he resigned from office at 11:59 pm on November 15, 2004. His term was set to expire on January 17, 2006...
resigned on November 15, 2004 after charges of pay-to-play
Pay to Play
Pay to play, sometimes pay for play, is a phrase used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities...
and extortion scandals involving the impropriety of the appointment of an unqualified long rumored homosexual love interest. New Jersey had no Lieutenant Governor position at the time, leaving a vacancy in the office. Senate President Richard Codey
Richard Codey
Richard James Codey is an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 53rd Governor of New Jersey from November 2004 to January 2006. He has served in the New Jersey Senate since 1981 and served as the President of the Senate from 2002 to January 2010. He represents the 27th Legislative...
served as Acting Governor (then Governor) in McGreevey's place. Jon Corzine
Jon Corzine
Jon Stevens Corzine is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and of MF Global, and a one time American politician, who served as the 54th Governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. A Democrat, Corzine served five years of a six-year U.S. Senate term representing New Jersey before being elected Governor...
was elected Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of New Jersey on November 8, 2005, and took office on January 17, 2006. On Election Day, November 8, 2005, the voters passed an amendment to the state constitution creating the position of Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
, effective with the 2009 elections. This position was first filled by the election of Kim Guadagno
Kim Guadagno
Kim Guadagno is the first Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, having won the 2009 election as the running mate of Governor Chris Christie. She is also concurrently the Secretary of State of New Jersey.-Early life:...
who assumed office in 2009.
See also
- History of the mid-Atlantic states
- New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
- New Jersey Supreme CourtNew Jersey Supreme CourtThe New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
- New Jersey SenateNew Jersey SenateThe New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
- New Jersey General AssemblyNew Jersey General AssemblyThe New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.Since the election of 1967 , the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average...
- List of Governors of New Jersey
- Politics of New JerseyPolitics of New JerseyPolitically New Jersey is considered one of the more liberal states in the nation. Polls indicate that 60% of the population are self-described as pro-choice, although a majority are opposed to late trimester and Partial Birth Abortion and public funding of Abortion...