9781422286142

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Northeast: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania

etors . They oversaw the colony under a royal charter but had broad authori- ty to govern as they saw fit. Carteret and Berkeley were progressive in their approach. They permitted religious freedom. They established a constitu- tion. They created a legislative assem- bly and empowered free males to vote for its members. Settlers from a wide variety of backgrounds flocked to New Jersey, which Carteret and Berkeley divided into eastern and western provinces. In 1702, their successors transferred governing authority back to the English crown. The two halves of New Jersey were then reunited. For a long time, though, one royal governor was in charge of both the New York and New Jersey colonies. New Jersey rarely received much attention from the governor. In 1738, New Jersey finally got its own governor.

surrendered the colony to an English fleet. England’s king, Charles II, award- ed New Jersey to his brother, the Duke of York. The duke then sold the land to two men who’d been loyal to the English monarchy. Those men, Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley, were called lords propri-

George Washington’s December 25, 1776, crossing of the Delaware River and attack on the British garrison at Trenton, New Jersey, was one of the most important Continental Army victories of the American Revolution.