USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Celebration of the bi-centennial anniversary of the New Jersey legislatue, 1683-1883 > Part 4
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munications open between the forts on the North River and on the Delaware, and the infrequent intercourse between the dis- tant settlements was maintained by means of letters and pack- ages carried from tribe to tribe by Indian runners.
With the change from the Dutch to the English rule came a change from torpor to activity, from stagnation to quick vitality, from helpless inertia to energetic progress and development. Promptly after the execution of the grant by the king to the Duke of York, Governor Nicolls, of New York, who was igno- rant of the subsequent conveyance of New Jersey by the Duke to Berkeley and Carteret, no notification of it having reached him till several months later, and who understood that both New York and New Jersey lay within his jurisdiction, extended invitations of a most liberal kind to settlers ; and very soon the attention of enterprising men of the English race, in New Eng- land and on Long Island, was directed to this province. On the 28th of October, 1664, he gave permission to three persons on Long Island to buy from the Indians all that territory bounded on the south and east by the Raritan and the Kills, and extend- ing westward into the country twice the length of its breadth, north and south, comprising the district within which now lie Newark, Elizabeth, Rahway, Plainfield, Piscataway, Woodbridge and Perth Amboy, and in December of that year he confirmed the purchase ; in the meantime settlers having already begun to flock in at various points. As early as December, 1663, a party of men of English ancestry, from Long Island, had visited Rari- tan bay and river, for the purpose of buying lands from the Neversink and Raritan Indians, and their visit resulted in a grant of lands from Governor Nicolls, on the 18th of April, 1665, to " certain of the inhabitants of Gravesend on. Long Island," which comprised the County of Monmouth, as it was first described and bounded. This grant was the justly cele- brated " Monmouth Patent," and by its terms the patentees, twelve in number, and their successors were to be " free from all rents, customs, excise, tax or levy whatsoever" for seven years, and were empowered to build towns and villages in such places as they thought most convenient, provided they were not "too far distant and scattering from one another." They were also guaranteed "free liberty of conscience, without any molestation or disturbance whatsoever, in their way of worship," and were authorized to select, by a majority vote, five or seven "of the ablest and discreetest inhabitants," who should have power to make their municipal laws, and hold certain courts. The first settlements under this patent were at Shrewsbury and Middle- town.
Meanwhile the Proprietors, Berkeley and Carteret, were busily engaged in preparing for the government, organization, and set- tlement of the Province. Their first act was to draft and sign a
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constitution, which was remarkably liberal and even popular in its character, and which they entitled "The Concessions and Agreements of the Lords Proprietors of New Jersey, to and with all and every of the adventurers, and all such as shall settle and plant there." By this constitution the government of the pro- vince was confided to a governor, a council chosen by the gover- nor, and an assembly of twelve to be chosen annually by the freemen of the province. To the governor and council were re- served the power to appoint and remove all officers, to exercise a general supervision over courts and executors of the laws, and to lay out the lands ; but they were restricted from the imposi- tion of any tax upon the people not authorized by the assembly. The assembly was empowered to pass laws for the government of the province (subject to the approval of the governor), to levy taxes, build forts, raise militia, suppress rebellion, make war, naturalize aliens, and apportion lands to settlers. Provision was made for laying out towns and boroughs ; and, to invite settlers, especially planters and farmers, every freeman (the word free- man being here synonymous with freeholder) who should em- bark with, or meet the first governor on his arrival in the colony, provided with a good musket of prescribed bore, and a designa- ted supply of powder and bullets, together with six months pro- visions; was promised one hundred and fifty acres of land, and as much more for every man servant or slave he brought with him similarly provided. In addition to these inducements seventy- five acres of land were promised for every female over fourteen years of age who should accompany each settler, and as many more to every Christian servant on the expiration of his term of service. To those arriving later, if before January 1665-6, one hundred and twenty acres were promised, if master or mistress, or able man servant or slave; and weaker servants, male or female, were to receive sixty acres. Those coming during the third year were promised three-fourths, and those coming during the fourth year one-half of these quantities. And all freemen set- tling here and becoming peaceful citizens were guaranteed free- dom of judgment, of conscience, and of worship, and security of person and property.
By these "Concessions " of the proprietors, and the patents and charters for lands executed thereunder by Governor Carteret on his arrival, and also by the invitations extended and the grants previously made by Gov. Nicolls-not stopping here to consider the conflicts of jurisdiction and title that ensued-a powerful impetus was given to the settlement of the province. Men of the Anglo-Saxon race, endowed with active brains and vigorous bodies, flowed in from New England, Long Island and the mother country, with a small infusion from Scotland and France. Towns and villages sprang up, farmers clustered into neighbor- hoods, churches and mills were erected, and in a few years it
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was deemed necessary to call the representatives of the people together. On the 26th of May 1668, a General Assembly for the entire province was convened at Elizabethtown, with deputies present from Bergen, Elizabethtown, Newark, Woodbridge, Middletown and Shrewsbury ; and at its subsequent session in November there were also present deputies representing Dela- ware River. Save for subsequent events that severed the chain of continuity, this Assembly of May 26th, 1668, which witnessed the first conflict in New Jersey between the executive and the representatives of the people, and which inaugurated the first code of civil and criminal law in our commonwealth, would have been the lineal ancestor of our present legislature. But, five years later, in 1673, the Dutch reconquered New Jersey ; and although the English regained possession in 1674, the change of sovereignty and mastership was supposed to have impaired the validity of the grant by Charles II. to the Duke of York, which, of course, carried with it the Duke's release to Berkeley and Carteret. In consequence, a new conveyance was made to Carteret, in 1675, for East Jersey only ; while, William Penn and his associates, having become the owners of Berkeley's share of the lands granted in the original conveyance, a deed was given to them for West Jersey, and they assumed its government and proprietorship. Numerous and intricate complications ensued, and although several separate meetings of Assembly were held in each of the sections, they were tainted with irregularity, be- cause of the defective titles and the constant conflicts of their respective proprietaries. It was not until East Jersey and West Jersey were brought under a common proprietorship, by the sale of East Jersey to William Penn and others, by the heirs of Car- teret, and the execution of a new, and a far more full and ex- plicit release from the Duke of York to twenty-four proprietors, of whom William Penn was one, that an Assembly was con- vened at Elizabethtown on the first day of March, 1683, which may be said to have had a regular . uccession until the present day.
The enactments of the General Assemblies, earlier than that of March 1, 1683, are an exceedingly interesting subject of study , for the illustrations they afford of the moral, social, religious and political characteristics of the people of the province, in the interval from 1664 to 1683. And if we institute a comparison between those that were made by the West Jersey Assemblies and those made by the East Jersey Assemblies, the latter are the sufferers in all that relates to civil and religious liberty and an enlightened humanity.
The people of East Jersey, as fairly represented by their deputies, manifested a more restless energy and a higher degree of intellectual activity than those of West Jersey. But, taking their hue partly from the Puritans of New England, partly
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from their royalist proprietors, and partly from the tenor of English law and the dominant temper of the thought and action of the Englishmen of that day, they were intolerant of all who differed from themselves in matters of religion, and were imbued with a sombreness and an austerity that were reflected in the severity of their penal codes. They elevated comparatively light offences into crimes whose punishment was truly draconian, and they often shock the moral sense by their conversion of things innocent, except in their own gloomy and austere imaginations, or that were of inferior atrocity, into capital crimes whose penalty was death. With a strong desire for equity and justice in all that relates to dealings between man and man, and a readiness to assert, and a resolute deter- mination to maintain, what they believed to be their rights, nowhere, except in their perennial conflicts with the executive power, do they seem to have had any large conception of popu- lar liberty. In West Jersey, however, where the proprietors represented those in England who were laboring for toleration, for liberty of conscience, for alleviation of human woe and dis- tress, and who were animated by a lively sympathy for popular rights, a very different temper prevailed. In 1675, the West Jersey proprietors had made the golden announcement, far in advance of the age: "We lay a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty as Christians and as men, that they may not be brought into bondage save by their own consent ; for we put the power in the people." And in conformity with this annunciation of a constitution of government more popular than any then existing or even dreamed of elsewhere, it was decreed in the very first law passed by the General Free Assem- bly of West Jersey that " no man or number of men hath any power over conscience," and that " no person shall at any time,. in any ways, or on any pretence, be called in question, or in the least punished or hurt, for any opinion in religion." It was also decreed that the deputies to the General Assembly should be chosen, not by the co fused way of cries and voices, but by the balloting box ; that every man was to be capable of choosing and being chosen ; that the deputies were to be instructed by, and were to obey the instructions of their electors; that if the deputy were disobedient or unfaithful, he could be questioned before the Legislature by any one of his electors; that in order " that he may be known as the servant of the people," one shilling was to be paid the deputy daily by his constituents in satisfaction of his trouble and outlay ; that no one should be imprisoned for debt; and that the penalty of death should be inflicted for murder only. Thus, while, in East Jersey, the chief features of the harsh codes of England and New England- multiplying capital crimes, and even punishing witchcraft with death-were transferred to their statutes by its early legislators,
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together with many other asperities of the civil and criminal . law of England ; and while they could be excited to an invin- cible jealousy of the executive and his council, but yet be forgetful of many fundamental principles of personal and public liberty, in West Jersey the laws were mild, punish- ments were bloodless, the stocks and the whipping-post were unknown, liberty was common as air, and the influence of the people upon the government and the laws was immediate and controlling.
The enactments of the General Assembly, of March 1st., 1683, while preserving, in their general lines, the austerity and sev- erity of those of the earlier assemblies of East Jersey, still dis- close a decided amelioration in numerous essential particulars. The capital crimes punishable with death under the earlier codes, twelve in number, were now reduced more than one-half. Among those struck off from the sanguinary list, and indeed erased entirely from the statute book, was that of being " found to be a witch, either male or female ; " while some others of darker hue were assigned to the category of minor crimes with lighter penalties than before. There is also a perceptible diminution in the number of specified offences, and a decided mitigation of the severity of penalties generally But while this general amelioration of the laws is visible, the lines were drawn with even greater strictness, and heavier penalties were de- nounced against delinquencies of a moral and religious nature, such as "the beastly vice of drunkenness," "profaning the Lord's day," and "profanely taking God's name in vain by cursing and swearing "; and, for the first, imprisonment for debt became a part of the statute. One very curious and touching feature of the bill, embodying the laws of the province, adopted by this assembly, was the provision that "whoever shall afflict the widow or fatherless shall be punished by the judges accord- ing to the nature of the transgression; " and another provision of the same bill, luminous with humanity, and instinct with the sentiment of justice for such as were too feeble to protect them- selves, was one for the alleviation of the condition of apprentices and those who were in servitude, and assuring them their free- dom in due time .* In addition to its other labors, which were
* "No white servant," says this provision, " whether male or female, if 17 years of age when bound or bought, shall serve above four years from the time of his arrival here, and then be free; and if they be under 17 years of age, not to serve until thev be above 21, and then to be free. . No white servant shall be sold or trans- ported, against his or their consent. to any place out of this province; and at the expiration of his or their service, his or their master, or mistress, or agent shall fur- nisn the aforesaid servant or servants, and each of them respectively, with two snits of apparel, suitable for a servant, one good falling ax, a good hoe, and seven bushels of good Indian corn. If a man or woman maim, or smite the eye of his man or maid servant, being a white servant, so that it perish, or smite out the tooth of his or their man or maid servant, such servant shall go free. If master, or mis-
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in the highest degree creditable to the manliness, sense of jus- tice, intelligence and forecast of its members, this assembly first definitely divided the province into counties, provided for the yearly appointment of a sheriff and deputy-sheriff for each, erected courts for the trial of small causes in every town, and county courts in each of the counties, established a court of com- mon rights for the whole province, and started into operation the entire machinery of our civil and political organization, so that it reached the humblest citizen, touched every ramification of society, and gave security to every man for the protection of his person, and the enjoyment of his lawful rights and property.
When we contemplate the men of those days we are prone to judge them as if their light and environments were the same as our own. We forget that allowances are due them because of the times in which they lived and the inferior opportunities and advantages they enjoyed. Let it be remembered always in judging their acts and motives, that they lived in a land that was new and for the most part unexplored ; that society was rude and unformed ; that they were separated from each other by wide and roadless tracts, and as yet formed a mere thread of civiliza- tion between the coast and the unpenetrated and to them impene- trable hills, and swamps, and forests of the interior ; that instead of the railroads and highways whose network now intersects the state at every point, rendering communication and intercourse easy, there were then but two highways traversing the state from east to west, and a few straggling and hastily improvised country roads connecting neighboring settlements; that the now mighty city of New York had then less than four thousand inhabitants,* while Philadelphia was yet to be built, having been founded less than a year before ; that the population of the province itself wasless than seven thousand, of whom about five thousand were in East Jersey and two thousand in West Jersey ; and that the men of that day, few as they were in number, and poor in purse how- ever rich they might be in hope and lavish of toil, were con- fronted by physical difficulties and embarrassments which might well have discouraged effort and have exhausted all their powers of mind and body; but, in spite of which they solidly laid the broad foundations of our social and civil fabric, and originated and put in operation a body of law, which with all its imper- fections, was dominated by keen intelligence, sound judgment, and a wise adaptedness to the needs, the temper, and the spirit of the times and society in which they lived. Nor were these
tress, or agent, immoderately correct their servants, they shall be punished for the
same by the next sessions of the county court. All masters or mistresses having rngro slaves, shall allow them sufficient accommodation of victuals and clothing.
*In 1664 the population of New York was about 1,500, in 1673 about 2000, in 1678 about 3000, and in 1683 about 3,900.
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physical and social difficulties all that they had to encounter. If their means of inter-communication were few and rude, their means for moral and intellectual culture and intercourse were still fewer. There were few churches and no school houses. There was no post office and no newspaper. There was no printing press-the only one then in America being at Cambridge in Massachusetts, Bradford's press not having been set up in Phila- delphia till two years later. The publication of books and pamphlets in this country was not merely discouraged but was prohibited ; and even in England the publications were few and far between. The English Bible, the book which of all others has exerted the profoundest and most beneficent influence upon mankind, and upon the people of the Anglo-Saxon race in especial, had been translated less than seventy-five years ; and as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was not yet founded, few copies had reached America, nor were they much more plentiful in England. John Milton's Paradise Lost was published in 1666, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in 1660, and Dryden and Sir Isaac Newton were at the zenith of their fame, but it is doubtful if there were a hundred copies of the works of all these illustrious men combined, in this country in 1683, and the great Elizabethan poets, with Shakespeare at their head, were yet more scarce.
Nor is this all. Modern literature and modern science and art were unborn. All the great poets, philosophers, theologians, his- torians, wits, essayists and scholars who have illumined the world by their writings; all the great orators, sages, statesmen, heroes, and patriots, who have adorned it and inspired it by their example for two hundred years, were unborn, or as yet, undeveloped. Chemistry, medicine, all the physical sciences were in their infancy. The powers and applications of coal and steam and electricity were undiscovered. And yet the men of the Assembly of 1683, with their few books, their simple learn- ing, their ignorance of the great practical sciences, their laek of all the tools and appliances of knowledge, which we are accus- tomed to deem indispensable, wrought well and worthily, and their work lives after them, stamped indelibly upon our laws and institutions, and upon the social character of our people.
And now, if we ask ourselves, how it was that such plain men, having at their command means so inadequate, made so lasting an impression upon the State, and so indelibly stamped their characteristics upon its people, the answer is not far to seek : and if we, of this generation, would have our works live after us as their works live after thein, we shall lay it to heart. It was because they were earnest men, sharp in temper and with wills not easily shaken, but yet gifted with that most valuable and practical of all kinds of wisdom, sterling common sense. It was because, even where they most erred, they strove after a
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lofty moral ideal. It was because they had strong convictions, and were true to them. It was because they were honest men, who dealt justly, if sharply, with one another. It was because they were clean-handed and clean-ininded men, who hated lying, and fraud, and knavery, and all manner of iniquity with an invincible hatred, and were determined to stamp them out. It was because they were single-minded men, who did the work that came to their hands with all their might. And, above all, it was because they were men who feared God, and sought to build up a commonwealth which should be framed in conformity with His laws, as they understood them.
THE GOVERNOR'S RECEPTION.
In the evening, from eight to eleven o'clock, Governor Ludlow held a reception in the Executive department at the State Capi- tol. The Senators, Assemblymen, State officers, Judiciary, and a large number of the citizens of the State and Trenton were present, and paid their respects to His Excellency. Prof. Peter- mann's orchestra was in attendance and furnished excellent music during the levee.
The celebration was a very enjoyable and interesting one, and the manner in which it was carried out is highly creditable to the committee of arrangements.
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APPENDIX.
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The following "Notes" accompany Mr. Salter's address. They were prepared by that gentleman with considerable labor and trouble, and are published herewith as an appendix to his ad- dress :
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ANCESTRY.
The founder of the family was Samuel Lincoln, who came from Norwich, England, to Massachusetts ; he had a son, Mor- decai 1st, of Hingham ; he in turn had sons, Mordecai 2d, born April 24, 1686; Abraham, born January 13, 1689; Isaac, born October 21, 1691, and a daughter, Sarah, born July 29, 1694, as stated in Savage's Genealogical Dictionary. Mordecai 2d and Abraham moved to Monmouth county, N. J., where the first- named married a granddaughter of Captain John Bowne, and his oldest son, born in Monmouth, was named John. About 1720 the Lincolns moved to Eastern Pennsylvania, where Mor- decai's first wife died, and where he married again. He died at Amity, Pa., and his will, dated February 23d, 1735, and proven June 7th, 1736, mentions wife Mary, and children John, Thomas, Hannah, Mary, Ann, Sarah, Mordecai (born 1730), and "a pros- pective child." The latter proved a boy, and was named Abra- ham, who subsequently married Ann Boone, a cousin of Daniel Boone. John Lincoln, the eldest son, with some of his neigh- bors, moved to Rockingham county, Virginia; he had sons, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Thomas and John. John 1st died at Harrisonburg, Va. His oldest son, Abraham, who was grand- father of President Lincoln, married Mary Shipley, of North Carolina, and had children Mordecai, Josiah, Thomas, Mary and Nancy. About 1780-2 he moved to Kentucky with his brother Thomas. In the spring of 1784 Abraham, while planting in a field, was killed by an Indian. His son Thomas (President Lin- coln's father), who was then about six years old, was with the father in the field, and the Indian tried to capture him, but was shot and killed by Mordecai, the oldest brother of the boy. Thomas Lincoln had only one son, Abraham, who became Pres- ident of the United States.
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APPENDIX.
CAPT. JOHN BOWNE'S LAST WORDS.
Judge George C. Beekman, of Freehold, states that the follow- ing is a copy of an old paper found among the private papers of an old Monmouth county family :
"Some words of Advice and Council spoken by Capt. John Bowne to his children, as he lay on his death bed, January ye 3rd 1682.
" There is no way in the world for a man to obtain felicity in' this world or in the world to come, but to take heed to the ways of the Lord and to put his trust in Him, who deals faithfully and truly with all men; for he knocks at the doors of your hearts and calls you to come and buy, without money and with- out price.
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