After a time, however, the claims of Virginia were withdrawn; and not
only did Berkeley and Carteret enjoy undisturbed possession of the
State, but they gave it a name, and called it _Nova Caesaria_, or New
Jersey, its name being given on account of Carteret's connection with
the Isle of Jersey. The Latin name was used for a time; but the settlers
preferred English, and so the name now stands. New Jersey was soon
afterwards divided into two provinces,--East Jersey and West Jersey. The
accompanying map shows the line of division between the two provinces,
which was made in 1676. It ran from the southern end of what is now Long
Beach, in Little Egg Harbor, to a point on the Delaware River. Two other
lines of partition were afterwards made, both starting from the same
point on the seacoast; one running somewhat to the west, and the other
to the east, of the original line.
After some changes in the proprietorship of the Colony, West Jersey came
into the possession of twelve men, one of whom was the celebrated
William Penn, whose connection with West Jersey began six years before
he had anything to do with Pennsylvania.
Penn and his colleagues gave West Jersey a purely democratic government,
founded upon principles of justice and charity, in which the people
themselves ruled. Full freedom in regard to religious views was insured;
trial by jury was granted; and punishments were made as lenient as
possible, with a view to the prevention of crimes rather than the
infliction of penalties. The result of this was that for a long time
there were no serious crimes in this Province, and the country was
rapidly settled by thrifty Quakers anxious to live where they would have
liberty of conscience.
In the course of time, East Jersey also came into the possession of Penn
and his eleven associates, and the number of proprietors was increased
to twenty-four. At the end of the century the two provinces were united
into one, and shortly afterwards they passed into the possession of the
Crown of England, and became subject to the ordinary British laws. For a
long time afterwards, however, the State was known as the "Jerseys."
HOW SCHEYICHBI REALLY BECAME NEW JERSEY.
A point in the history of New Jersey, more important in a moral point of
view than that of its European ownership, was that of the purchase of
the lands from the first and true owners, the Indians. As has been said,
Berkeley and Carteret issued an injunction that the settlers should
purchase their lands from the tribes which had lived upon them. This
system was subsequently carried out until every foot of the land of the
whole State was bought and paid for,--the first transactions of the
kind, having taken place several years before Penn's treaty with the
Indians in Pennsylvania.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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