East Jersey
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East Jersey, together with West Jersey, was a distinct, separately governed Province of New Jersey that existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Its capital was located at Perth Amboy.
Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often a matter of dispute.
Where West Jersey involved a fairly focused group of people interested in establishing a Quaker colony, East Jersey felt the influence of a variety of cultures early on. There had been Dutch settlement prior to the English conquest in 1664 but the Dutch had mostly abandoned the west side of the Hudson River after conflicts with the native people.
Between 1664 and 1674 most settlement was from other parts of the Americas, especially New England and Long Island. Elizabethtown and Newark in particular had a strong Puritan character. South of the Raritan River the Monmouth tract was developed primarily by Quakers from Long Island.
In 1675, East Jersey was partitioned into four counties for administrative purposes: Bergen County, Essex County, Middlesex County, and Monmouth County.
Although a number of the East Jersey proprietors in England were Quakers and the governor through most of the 1680s was the leading Quaker Robert Barclay, the Quaker influence on government was not significant. Even the immigration instigated by Barclay was oriented toward promoting Scottish influence more than Quaker influence. In 1682 Barclay and the other Scottish proprietors began the development of Perth Amboy as the capital of the province.
Frequent disputes between the residents and the mostly-absentee proprietors over land ownership and quitrents plagued the province until its surrender to Queen Anne's government in 1702.
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