About Quizzes

New Jersey

The first European to see New Jersey was probably Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian who sailed for France. He reached the New Jersey coast in 1524. The Englishman Henry Hudson, who sailed for the Netherlands, explored the Cape May area in 1609. However, the first white settlers were Dutch and Swedish. The Dutch founded an outpost in 1630 at Pavonia. Swedish settlers arrived in 1638, but were forced out by the Dutch in 1655. Dutch possessions in North America were lost to English conquest in 1664. New Jersey was granted to a pair of English aristocrats, who established West Jersey and East Jersey. West Jersey became the first Quaker colony in America. The two were united as New Jersey in 1702. Until 1738, the governor of New York had authority over New Jersey as well. In 1774, a number of New Jersey men burned a supply of British tea in stored at a ship in Greenwich. That incident became known as the Greenwich Tea Burning and was very similar to the Boston Tea Party. During the War of Independence, many important battles were fought in New Jersey, including Trenton, Monmouth, and Princeton. New Jersey ratified the Constitution in 1787, the third state to do so. Although New Jersey remained in the Union during the Civil War and many New Jersey men fought in the Union army, there was considerable pro-Confederacy sentiment as well. In 1864, New Jersey was one of only three states that did not support Abraham Lincoln's re-election as president.