<P> In 1664, James, Duke of York (later King James II) divided New Jersey, granting a portion to two men, Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, who supported the monarchy's cause during the English Civil War (1642--49) and Interregnum (1649--60). Carteret and Berkeley subsequently sold their interests to two groups of proprietors, thus creating two provinces: East Jersey and the West Jersey . The exact location of the border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often a matter of dispute . The two provinces would be distinct political divisions from 1674 to 1702 . </P> <P> West Jersey was largely a Quaker colony due to the influence of Pennsylvania founder William Penn and its prominent Quaker investors . Many of its early settlers were Quakers who came directly from England, Scotland, and Ireland to escape religious persecution . Although a number of the East Jersey proprietors in England were Quakers and First Governor Robert Barclay of Aberdeenshire Scotland (Ury served by proxy) was a leading Quaker theologian, the Quaker influence on the East Jersey government was insignificant . Many of East Jersey's early settlers came from other colonies in the Western Hemisphere, especially New England, Long Island, and the West Indies . Elizabethtown and Newark in particular had a strong Puritan character . East Jersey's Monmouth Tract, south of the Raritan River, was developed primarily by Quakers from Long Island . </P> <P> In 1702, both divisions of New Jersey were reunited as one royal colony by Queen Anne with a royal governor appointed by the Crown . Until 1738, this Province of New Jersey shared its royal governor with the neighboring Province of New York . The Province of New Jersey was governed by appointed governors until 1776 . William Franklin, the province's last royal governor before the American Revolution (1775--83), was marginalized in the last year of his tenure, as the province was run de facto by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey . In June 1776, the Provincial Congress formally deposed Franklin and had him arrested, adopted a state constitution, and reorganized the province into an independent state . The constitution granted the vote to all inhabitants who had a certain level of wealth, including single women and blacks (until 1807). The newly formed State of New Jersey elected William Livingston as its first governor on 31 August 1776--a position to which he would be reelected until his death in 1790 . New Jersey was one of the original Thirteen Colonies, and was the third colony to ratify the constitution forming the United States of America . It thereby was admitted into the new federation as a state on 18 December 1787 . On 20 November 1789 New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights . </P> <P> New Netherland (Dutch: Nieuw - Nederland) was the seventeenth - century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and the Dutch West India Company . It claimed territories along the eastern coast of North America from the Delmarva Peninsula to southwestern Cape Cod . Settled areas of New Netherland now constitute the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut as well as parts of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island . The provincial capital New Amsterdam was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan at Upper New York Bay . </P>

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