Philip Carteret; french: link=no, Philippe de Carteret; (1639–1682) was the first
Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...
, from 1665 to 1673 and governor of
East New Jersey from 1674 to 1682.
Career
The English annexed the Dutch province of
New Netherland
New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...
in 1664, and lands west of
Long Island and
Manhattan Island were awarded to two
Lords Proprietors
A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary".
Origin
In the beginning of the European ...
,
John Berkeley and
George Carteret
Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet ( – 14 January 1680 N.S.) was a royalist statesman in Jersey and England, who served in the Clarendon Ministry as Treasurer of the Navy. He was also one of the original lords proprietor of the ...
(cousin of Philip). In 1665, Carteret (or "Cartaret") was appointed by them to take possession of the newly acquired territory which been renamed the
Province of New Caesaria, or New Jersey, and assume the position of governor.
Philip Carteret and Berkeley issued the ''
Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors of New Jersey'', the "most liberal grant of political privileges made by any English colonial proprietor to the people".
[Morison] Freedom of conscience was guaranteed and generous land grants were promised. Carteret indeed issued many grants of lands to settlers and landowners, partly with the purpose of increasing the worth of the colony. The pair "expected to profit from sales of their rich North American land holdings, and they were not disappointed".
[Ferrell]
Carteret designated
Elizabethtown (named after the wife of George Carteret) as the capital of New Jersey, where a representative assembly first met in 1668.
Middletown Township and
Shrewsbury Township refused to send representatives to this
New Jersey Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...
and declared their independence, electing
James Carteret as their leader. Carteret became angry and left for England, and had the English government force the New Jersey settlers to pay
quitrent
Quit rent, quit-rent, or quitrent is a tax or land tax imposed on occupants of freehold or leased land in lieu of services to a higher landowning authority, usually a government or its assigns.
Under feudal law, the payment of quit rent (Latin '' ...
s.
Carteret found the province inhabited by "a few hundred
Dutchmen and
English Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
.
During his governorship, more towns sprang up in New Jersey.
By the end of his term in 1682 the province consisted of seven towns, and many outlying ''plantations''. The populations (exclusive of
Lenape natives) was about 3500 in the seven established towns of ''Berghen, Newarke, Elizabeth Towne, Woodbridge, Piscattawy'' and ''Middletown'', with an undetermined number in outlying areas.
After the death of George Carteret, Governor
Edmund Andros
Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...
of New York attempted to seize power in
East Jersey
The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...
. When Philip Carteret refused to give up his position as governor, Andros sent a raiding party to his home and had him beaten and arrested to New York. Carteret was placed on trial, but was acquitted by the jury. The attack caused permanent injuries to Carteret, and he died in 1682.
See also
*
Bergen, New Netherland
Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, in the area in northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson and Bergen Counties. Though it only officially existed as an ...
*
List of colonial governors of New Jersey
The territory which would later become the state of New Jersey was settled by Dutch and Swedish colonists in the early seventeenth century. In 1664, at the onset of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, English forces under Richard Nicolls ousted the Du ...
*
East Jersey
The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...
References
*Samuel Eliot Morison: ''The Oxford History of the American People, Vol. 1'':
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
1965 & 1972.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
: 65-12468.
*Hugh Brogan: ''The Longman History of the United States of America'': Longman Group Ltd. 1985.
*Robert H Ferrell (with Richard Natkiel): ''Atlas of American History'':
Bison Books Ltd. 1987.
External links
Decarteret.org.uk Person Sheet
USAhistory.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carteret, Philip
1639 births
1682 deaths
Philip Carteret Governor
Colonial governors of New Jersey
Jersey people
Politicians from Elizabeth, New Jersey
Governors of East New Jersey