When was new jersey founded

Berkeley and Carteret sold the land at low prices and allowed the settlers to have political and religious freedom. As a result, New Jersey was more ethnically diverse than many other colonies. Primarily a rural society, the colony grew to have about , people.

Eventually, governing power was transferred back to England. For many years, New Jersey shared a royal governor with New York.

The governorship was finally split in when New Jersey got its own governor, Lewis Morris. In the years before the Revolution, anti-British feelings spread throughout the state. About one-third of the people living here supported the rebels, one-third supported England, and one-third remained neutral. In New Jersey declared itself an independent state and joined the colonial side in the Revolutionary War.

New Jersey was an important state during the Revolutionary War because of its location near the center of the thirteen colonies and between New York City and Philadelphia. Because of this, more battles were fought in New Jersey than in any other state. The Americans and British fought battles, both large and small, here. Many people consider the Battle of Trenton to be the turning point of the Revolution. Washington and his troops spent the rest of the winter in Morristown, and the United States was well on its way to victory.

They thought no one would fight during winter, so the British and Hessian soldiers in New Jersey divided into camps to stay until spring. Trenton was considered the most desirable post, and it went to the Hessian soldiers as a reward for their good service. The Hessians used the Old Barracks in Trenton as a headquarters. The British didn't chase Washington across the Delaware River because it was full of blocks of ice that made it dangerous to cross. The Hessians didn't patrol along the river because they thought Washington couldn't cross back.

But in December, Washington and his men decided to cross. Washington's men had to push away blocks of ice from the boat's path while paddling hard to fight the strong current.

Once across, Washington decided to separate and surprise the Hessians in Trenton from two sides. The plan worked, and the patriots captured prisoners while only four American soldiers were wounded. In , New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.

Constitution and the first state to sign the Bill of Rights. In , Trenton officially became the state capital of New Jersey. William Livingston became New Jersey's first state governor. New Jersey grew and prospered during the early s. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Founded by the French, ruled for 40 years by the Spanish and bought by the United States The Dutch first settled along the Hudson River in ; two years later they established the colony of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.

In , the English took control of the area and renamed it New York. One of the original 13 colonies, New York played a crucial political Colonized by Spain, the land that is now New Mexico became U. The first native New Yorkers were the Lenape, an Algonquin people who hunted, fished and farmed in the area between the Delaware and Hudson rivers.

Europeans began to explore the region at the beginning of the 16th century—among the first was Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian New Hampshire, one of the original 13 colonies, was the first state to have its own state constitution. Constitution—the final state needed to put Farming in the Middle Colonies. New England Colonies. Middle Colonies. Southern Colonies. American Colonies Index. First 13 Colonies. New Jersey Colony Fact File. Facts about the New Jersey Colony.

Fact 1. Year Founded: by English colonists refer to article on Lords Proprietors. Fact 2. Fact 3. Geography: Mountains in the northeast, lowlands from Lake Ontario along the Canadian border. Atlantic coastal plain. The general geography of the Middle Colonies had a mix of the New England and Southern features but had fertile soil and land that was suited to farming. Fact 4.