The Quintipartite Deed was a legal document that split the

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after t ...

, dividing it into the Province of

West Jersey West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was ofte ...

and the Province of

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. ...

from 1674 until 1702. On July 1, 1676,

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, Gawen Lawrie (who served from 1683 to 1686 as Deputy to Governor Robert Barclay), Nicholas Lucas, and Edward Byllynge executed a deed with Sir

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 ...

known as the “Quintipartite Deed,” in which the territory was divided into two parts, East Jersey being taken by Carteret and

by Byllynge and his trustees. Almost as soon as the Deed was signed, disputes arose over the exact dividing point of the two provinces. The first attempt at resolving the issue, the

Keith line The Keith line was a line drawn through the Province of New Jersey, dividing it into the Province of West Jersey and the Province of East Jersey. The line was created by Surveyor-General George Keith in 1686, when he ran the first survey to ...

, was created by Surveyor-General George Keith in 1686, and runs North-Northwest from the southern part of Little Egg Harbor, passing just north of Tuckerton, and reaching upward to a point on the Delaware River which is just north of the

Delaware Water Gap Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Water Gap ...

. More accurate surveys and maps were made to further resolve property disputes. This resulted in the

Thornton line The Thornton Line is a boundary line or partition line surveyed in 1696 through the Province of New Jersey during the colonial period, separating the territory into two proprietary colonies: the Province of East Jersey and the Province of West ...

, drawn around 1696, and the

Lawrence line The Lawrence Line was a boundary line or partition line drawn through the Province of New Jersey during the colonial period, dividing it into the Province of West Jersey and the Province of East Jersey. The line was created by surveyor John Law ...

, drawn around 1743, which was adopted as the final line for legal purposes. Remnants of the most operative line Keith Line can still be seen in the county boundaries between Burlington and

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

and between Hunterdon and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, as well as in a number of municipal boundaries within Mercer and

counties, and the alignment of Province Line Road in Mercer County.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Council of Proprietors of West Jersey – Origin and HistoryNew jersey Pinelands on article on the division of East and West Jersey

Pre-statehood history of New Jersey Legal documents 1676 in law Borders of New Jersey

See also

References

External links