Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey
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r Date Due T— ^ J328 Copy 3 M29i| N. J. :ianual of the Legisla- ture of New Jersey 1891 J328 Copy 3 M29U N. J. Manual of the Legis- lature of Uei'j Jersey 1691 DATE DUE BORROWER'S NAME New Jersey State Library Department of Education Trenton, New Jersey 08625 Ifc^V^3^^>K~•#tW>'>0-' =• LEON ABBETT, Governor. STATE OF NEW JERSEY. MANUAL f egislature of New Jersey Compliments of T. F. FITZGERALD, Publisher. SSION, 1891 S2>Si% CU7^3 BY AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE. COPYRIGHT SECURED. Trenton; N. J. T. F. FITZGERALD, LEGISLATIVE REPORTER, Compiler and Publisher. Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1890, by THOMAS F. FITZGERALD, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 0~ The newspaper press are welcome to use such parts of the work as they may desire, on giving credit therefor to the Manual. MacCrellish & Quigley, Printers, Opp. Post Office, Trenton, N. J. RIW JERSEY STATE LIBRARY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TEINTON. NEW JERSEY EfiirEMDfl'If 1891 1891 JAN. JULY 15 16 22 23 29 30 AUG. FEB. 5 12 19|.v 2627 25 26 ...I... MAR. SEPT. i\ 2 8 9 1516 262; 22 23 29 30 APRIL 2' 3 OCT. 6 7 1314 20 21 27 28 MAY. NOV. 3; 4 1011 1718 24 25 JUNE. DEO. 1| 2 8[ 9 1516 22 23 29 30 PERPETUAL CALENDAR FOR ASCERTAINING THE DAY OF THE WEEK FOR ANY YEAR BETWEEN 1700 AND 2199. Table of Dominical Month. Letters. year of the Jan. Oct. century. Feb. Mar. Nov. Jan. Apr. July N. B.—A star May- on the left June denotes leap Feb. Aug. year. Sept. Dec. 8 1 29 57 85 2 30 58 8(3 3 31 69 87 *60 *88 *12 *40 *20 *48 *76 2l| 49 22 50 23 51 *24 25 2'i 27 ; HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. In 1606, King James of England granted a new patent for Virginia (ignoring that of Sir Walter Kaleigh, dated in 1584), in which was included the territory now known as the New England States and New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The possession of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the adjacent lands was claimed respectively by the Dutch and Swedes. The former built Fort Nassau, on the Delaware, near Gloucester ; Fort Orange, on the Hudson, near Albany ; and the Hirsse of Good Hope, on the Connecticut. Disputes as to the rightful possession of territory continued for years, until the early summer of 1664, when Charles II. sold to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret " all that tract of land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to the westward of Long Island ; bounded on the east part by the main sea and part by the Hudson river, and hath upon the west Delaware bay or river, and extendeth soutlnvard to the main ocean as far as Cape May, at the mouth of Delaware bay, and to the nortlnvard as far as the northernmost branch of said bay or river of Delaware, Avhich is forty-one degrees and forty minutes of latitude, and worketh over thence in a straight line to Hudson river, vhicli said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name, or names, of Nova C^sarea or New Jersey." The name was given in honor of Carteret, on account of his gallant defense of the Island of Jersey, at the time he was Governor of the island. This grant regarded the Dutch as intruders, and Berkeley and Carteret not only became rulers, but acquired the right to transfer the privilege to others. Measures were speedily devised for peopling and governing the country. The pro- prietors publislied a constitution, dated February 10th, 1664, by which the government of the province was to be exercised by a Governor and Council and General Assembly. The Governor was to receive his appointment from the proprietors the Council was to be selected by the Governor, who might make choice of six Councillors, at least, (or twelve, at most,) or any even numlier between six and twelve. On the same day that the instrument of government was signed, Philip Carteret, a brother of one of the proprietors, received a commission as Governor of New Jersey. He landed at Elizabeth in August, 1665. (7) 8 R'TSTOR Y OF NEW JERSE Y. The precise date of the first settlements in New Jersey is not known, thongh it is believed that the Danes or Norwegians, who crossed the Atlantic witli the Dutch C(jlonists, began a settlement at Bergen abont tlie year 1G24. Ten years previous, an attempt was made to form a settlement at Jersey City. In 1623, tlie Dutch West India Company sent out a ship under tlie conmiand of Capt. Cornelius Jacobse Mey, who entered the Delaware bay and gave his name to its northern cape, and, sailing np the river to Gloucester, built Fort Nassau, which may be considered the first permanent settlement of the State. Upon the arrival of Governor Carteret, he entered at once upon a vigorous discharge of his duties. A lai'ge number of settlers flocked thither, and at an early period the executive authority of the province was established by the appointment of a Council, composed of Captain Nicliolas Varlett, Daniel Pierce, Rol)ert Bond, Samuel Edsall, Robei't Vanqnellen and William Pardon. James Bollen was appointed Secretary of the province. The first Legislative Assembly in the history of New Jersey met at Elizabethtown, on the 26th of May, 1668. The session lasted four days, and was characterized by harmony and strict attention to the business for which the Burgesses and Repre- sentatives were summoned by Governor Carteret. It may be noted that this Assembly passed laws by which twelve distinct offenses were made punishable with deatli. The Assembly adjourned sine die, and seven years elapsed before another convened. The capture of New York by the Dutch, July 30tli, 1673, was followed by the subjection of the surrounding country, including the province of New Jersey. The whole of the territory, however, swung back to the possession of the English crown, bv the treaty of peace with Holland, on the 9th of Febrnary, 1674. The second General Assembly began its session on the 5th of November, 1675. Eight members of Council, including the Governor, were present, and fourteen Representatives appeared from the towns. Laws were enacted looking to the proper military defense of the province, for tlie institution of regular courts, and for tlie asse.ssment of taxes. A code of capital laws was also adopted, similar in its provisions to that passed in 1668. On the 18tli of March, 1673, Lord Berkeley, one of the original proprietors of New Jersey, disposed of his riglit and interest in the i)roviiice to Jolin Fenwick and Edward Byllinge, members of the Society of Quakers, or Friends, who ])aid the sum of one tliousand j)oun(ls for the same. Jolin I'enwick received the conveyance in trust for Edward Byllinge, and a dispute as to the terms liaving arisen, William Peiin was called HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. 9 in as arbitrator. He gave one-tenth of the province and a considerable sum of money to Fenwick, and the remainder of the territory was adjudged to be tl>e property of Byllinge. A permanent settlement was made at Salem, in June, 1675. Owing to the continued disputations and dissensions, a divis- ion of tlie territory of the province was agreed upon. By this " Indenture Quintipartite," dated July 1st, 1676, the line of division was made to extend across the province, from Little Egg Harbor to a point in the Delaware river in forty-one degrees of north latitude. These divisions were known respect- ively as East and West Jersey, imtil the charters of both wei-e surrendered, and the two portions included together under a royal government. By the retercession of New Jersey to Great Britain, by the treaty of 1674, the question arose whether the title returned to the proprietors or to the King. To avoid all difficulty, the King recognized the claim of Carteret, and made a new grant to the Duke of York, who also executed a fresh conveyance to Carteret, covering, however, only a part of the original territory of New Jersey. But, before making this conveyance, the Duke included the province in a commission given to Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of New York, who refused to recognize the authority, as Governor, of Philip Carteret, arrested all magistrates who would not submit to his own jurisdiction, and finally, on April 30th, 1680, carried Carteret himself prisoner to New York. The Duke was finally pre- vailed upon to acknowledge the claims of the proprietors, and in 1681 the government of Andros came to an end. West Jersey, in February, 1682, was purchased by William Penn and eleven other Quakers. The first Governor under the new proprietors Avas Robert Barclay, a Scotchman, and one of the twelve purchasers, under whom the country became an asylum for the oppressed members of his creed, and for a time enjoyed great prosperity. But the number of proprietors, the frequent sub-divisions and transfers of shares, and various other difficulties in the way of good government, soon involved the province in trouble, and in 1702 the proprietors surren- dered the rights of government to the Crown. Queen Anne appointed Lord Cornljury Governor of New York and New Jersey, but each continued to have a separate Assembly. In 1738, New Jersey petitioned for a distinct administration, and Lewis Morris was appointed Governor.