This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 67-2460 HOROWITZ, Gary 8., 1942- NEW JERSEY LAND BIOTS, 1745-1755. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1966 History, modem University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan I HEW JERSEY lAHB RIOTS, 1745 - 1755 DISSERTATION Presented In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Gary 8. Horowitz, B.A., H.A. ******* The Ohio State university • 1966 Approved by i iviser Department of History 7im Kftrch 4, 1942 Bom, Hew York, Hew York 1962 ........ B.A., The City College, Hew York 1963 ........... M.A., The Ohio State University, Oolimbus, Ohio 1963-1966 ........ Teaching Assistant, History De­ partment, The Ohio State Univer­ sity , Columhus , Ohio 1966 ....................... Assistant Professor, Alfred University, Alfred, Hew York FIELDS OP STUDY Major Fields History American Colonial. Professor Harry L. Coles American Early H atici^l. Professor Harry L* Coles Latin America. Professor John J. TePaske Tudor and Stuart England. Professor Clayton Roberts The Far East. Professor Jerome B. Grieder ii TâBLE OP OOBTEBÏS Paga XNÎROSUCTXON ••«•••••<)•••«•••••••• 1 Footnotes - Introduction 6 GHdPTSS X - THE GHAHTS . » . ....................................................... 7 Footnotes - Chapter I.,......»,,,.. 21 GHâPTER XI - THE HOOTS OP THE COHPIiXOT 16?0 - 1702 • . 23 Footnotes - Chapter IX . 45 CHâPTBR XIX - LEGAL miïBHVERISS 1702 - 1 7 4 5 ..... 48 Footnotes - Chapter XXX ........... 64 CHAPTER IT - BEGIBHIRG OP THE R I O T S ................................. 67 Footnotes - Chapter XV ............. 95 CHAPTER V - A BRIEF PERIOD OP COOPERATION WITH GOVERNOR BELCHER........................................................... 98 Footnotes - Chapter T............ 127 CHAPTER VI - APPEALS TO ENGLAND................................................... 131 Footnotes - Chapter VI ............. 164 CHAPTER V II - THE WAR CP WORDS........................................................l68 Footnotes - Chapter V II ................................................ 186 CHAPTER V III - THE WEST JERSEY SOCIETY......................................187 Footnotes - Chapter VXXX ..............................•• 197 CHAPTER XX - RETDRN TO PEACEFUL NEGOTIATIONS ..................... 199 Footnotes - Chapter IX .......... 206 CHAPTER X - CONCLUSION.................................................... 207 Footnotes - Chapter X.............. 215 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................216 ill INTRODUCTION v New Jersey has been compared to a keg tapped a t both ends. Historians have been more interested in either New York or Pennsylvania than in what lies between. For this reason New Jersey has been one of the neglected colonies in terms of research. In a listing of dissertations in history from 1873 to I960 there are only eight which deal with colonial New Jersey, Of these five are exclusively on that colony. Compared with New York with forty-seven, Pennsylvania with thirty-two, Virginia with sixty-one, Maryland with twenty-seven, and South Carolina with twenty, this is indeed a poor showing. The matter is placed in even sharper perspective when we see that tiny Delaware had two dissertations completed on her colonial period and yoTxng Georgia had two,^ The problem of discussing the proprietary and later royal colony is difficult because the quantity of secondary material is limited. The latest volume on colonial New Jersey is New Jersey from Colony to State (Princeton, 1964) by Richard P, McCormick and it is the first volume of the series published for the state’s tercentenary celebration by Van Nostrand Company, Volume nine of the same series. The 'SQtT Jersey Proprietors and Their Lands by John Pom- fret, is mainly sections from his two earlier works with no new research on the period after 1702, Pomfret, however, has written two excellent books on Bast and West Jersey carrying the story of the two divisions from the founding of the colony until the surrender of governmental powers to the crown in 1702,^ Three additional bsoks complete the books which deal with the history of the province from 1702 until the Re­ volution, Donald D, Kemmerer's Path to Freedom (Princeton, 1940), sees the history of the colony as a continuing struggle between the good Mew England settlers who moved to Mew Jersey and the oppressive English government. In his view the land riots were part of that contest and, of course, Kommorcr portrays virtue everrrhelming evil. Two carefully researched dissertations at Columbia University supply the remaining secondary works published in this century, Edwin P. Tanner®s, The Province of Mew Jersey. 1664-1758 (Mew York, 1908) and Edgar J, Fisher's, Mew Jersey as a Roval Province. 1738-1776 (Mew York, 1911) are topically and chronologically arranged and they pre­ sent material which had previously gone unnoticed. Before the Mew Jersey'Arvhives were published William A, Whitehead published several volumes which utilized and reproduced documents previously unpublished. The most notable was Sast Jersey under the Proprietary Governments (Newark, 1875). The best of all local histories is Edwin H atfield’s, History of Elizabeth. Hew Jersey (Hew York, 1868). Despite the fact that Hatfield wrote a century ago, his work remains an essential source for Hew Jersey his­ tory, Many local histories tend to be eulogies for local inhabitants and in some instances authors were actually paid by descendants of individuals to improve on the facts. Hatfield, on the other hand, serves as an example of how good local history should be written. Although a great deal of primary material, both printed and manuscript, is available New Jersey remains a relatively unexplored field. This work attempts to explain a problem which runs continually throughout the century of English domination of Hew Jersey, The issue be^h in June 1664 when James, Duke of York, bestowed Hew Jersey upon two court favorites, Berkeley and Carteret. In the fall of that same year the Duke's governor, Richard Hicholls, granted areas within the province to groups of settlers who had petitioned for townships. Hicholls, unfortunately, did not know that his lord had already given the lands away. Therefore, two rival claims to the same tracts were established. When the proprietors demanded that all settlers pay quit-rents for the lands that they held, the Hicholls* grantees refused to heed the call. The settlers of Eewark and Elizabeth Town said that they would not apply for patents from the proprietors and they only succumbed when the pressure to do so became overwhelming. Throughout the century after 1664 both sides resisted any efforts to compromise their positions. The animosity of the Hicholls patentees was so great that it was an important factor in the surrender of governmental rights by the proprietors in 1702, After many years of court proceedings during the early eighteenth century the people of Elizabeth Town and Newark were at the point of total frustration and they broke into open rebellion to the laws of the colony. They pro­ ceeded to rescue their fellow citizens who were arrested for trespassing on lands claimed by the proprietors and dispossessed farmers from lands that they laid claim to. Contrary to Kemmerer’s thesis this dissertation con­ tends that the rioters and their supporters were not re­ volting against the government but against tie proprietors, who were private land holders. The issue becomes confused because the proprietors dominated the government and at times the two are considered to be the same. The Assembly, composed of popularly elected representatives, was not pro-rioter as the proprietors consistently claimed. The lower house refused to take any action to suppress the riots because it was looked in battle with the other branches of government. Because the Council was controlled by two leading proprietors, James Alexander and Robert Hunter Morris, the Assembly would not join with that body to pass legislation to increase the power o f the proprietors. The governor, Jonathan Belcher, during the last eight years of the riots, was caught in the crossfire between the two houses sad was badly maligned by the Council. Throughout this paper the dates are according to the style in use during the colonial period. Until the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752 the Eng­ lish year began on 25 March, Therefore, an event which occurred between 1 January and 24 March w ill have a year denoting the old system, for example, 1663/4. NOTES - INTRODUCTION 1, Warren F. Kuehl. Dissertations In History. And Indeix to Dissertations Oomnleted In History Departments of United States and 6anadlan Universities (University of keniucky Duress, 19^5). 2. The Province of West New Jersey 1609-1702: A History of ^he Origins of an American Colony (Princeton, 1956); The Province of kast New Jersey 1609-1702; The Rebellious Proprietary (Princeton. l9o2). CHiPTER I THE GRAHTS The conflict over land titles that continued to smolder throughout New Jersey's colonial period and which finally erupted into violence in 1745 originated in 1663/4» On March 12, 1 6 6 3 /4 King Charles II granted to his brother, James, the Duke of York, a vast tract of land in New Eng­ land.^ In June 1664, James transferred by instruments of lease and release the area of New Caesarea, or New Jersey, p to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. Both King Charles* grants and the Duke's grants were