WEBVTT NOTE 53. Turmoil in East New Jersey, 1678-1686 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.040 Volume 1, Chapter 53, Turmoil in East New Jersey, 1678-1686 2 00:00:10.040 --> 00:00:17.120 When Governor Edmund Andros returned in 1678 from his trip to England, he had decided that 3 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:23.680 he had a mandate for sovereignty under the Duke of York over East New Jersey and West 4 00:00:23.680 --> 00:00:30.040 of New Jersey. The latent explosiveness of two contradictory charters for New Jersey 5 00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:38.040 had now erupted. In March 1680, Andros seized ships going to Elizabeth that had not paid 6 00:00:38.040 --> 00:00:45.820 customs fees in New York. He ordered Governor Philip Cotteret of East New Jersey to cease 7 00:00:45.820 --> 00:00:53.640 exercising jurisdiction and all the inhabitants to bow to his own authority as governor. Andros's 8 00:00:53.640 --> 00:01:00.520 This action was clearly stimulated by Cotterett's permitting all ships to trade freely in East 9 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:05.120 New Jersey without paying customs duties in New York. 10 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:10.840 In short, Andrus's aggressive actions were partly motivated by an attempt to secure a 11 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:15.160 monopoly of trade for the New York port. 12 00:01:15.160 --> 00:01:21.080 Cotterett replied forthrightly that East New Jersey was subject to the proprietorship of 13 00:01:21.080 --> 00:01:26.600 of Sir George Cotterett and that East New Jersey would defend itself as best it could 14 00:01:26.600 --> 00:01:32.680 against any force by Andros. When the New York Council ordered the New Jersey towns 15 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:39.960 to send representatives to a meeting at Woodbridge on April 7, the alarmed Cotterett countermanded 16 00:01:39.960 --> 00:01:46.840 the order and warned that he would arrest any emissaries of Andros as subversive spies 17 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:53.840 In May, Andros issued a warrant for the arrest of Philip Carteret and a few of his leading 18 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:59.460 By His Majesty's command that this government was established, and without the same command, 19 00:01:59.460 --> 00:02:05.040 we shall never be resigned, but with our lives and fortunes, the people resolving to live 20 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:09.680 and die with the name of true subjects and not traitors. 21 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:15.600 In May, Andros issued a warrant for the arrest of Philip Carteret and a few of his leading 22 00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:22.000 councillors for having presumed to assume and exercise authority and jurisdiction over 23 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.560 with the King's Subjects 24 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:30.680 Cotterett was seized, beaten, and tried before the New York Court of Assises. He defended 25 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:37.680 himself vigorously and protested a court where the accuser, jailer, and judge were one. 26 00:02:38.200 --> 00:02:45.000 The jury, however, upset Andros's imperialist plans by acquitting Cotterett, a verdict they 27 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:50.440 thrice persisted in, even under severe pressure from Andros. 28 00:02:50.440 --> 00:02:56.720 The court, however, ordered Cotterett to cease jurisdiction, and Andros and his council went 29 00:02:56.720 --> 00:03:03.120 to Elizabethtown to meet the deputies from Jersey. Edmund Andros had now assumed the 30 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:09.880 governorship of East New Jersey. Addressing the meeting of the deputies in June 1680, 31 00:03:09.880 --> 00:03:15.520 he told them he forgave their trespasses against authority and suggested that they put the 32 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:27.880 The assembly demanded that it be called annually, but Andros and his council retorted that an 33 00:03:27.880 --> 00:03:34.900 assembly could be called whenever Andros deemed it necessary. The assembly also asked Andros 34 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:40.580 to confirm the privileges granted in the concessions and agreements, but the governor dismissed 35 00:03:40.580 --> 00:03:49.480 When the assembly kept pressing its request for confirmation of New Jersey liberties and 36 00:03:49.480 --> 00:03:55.720 provisions for regular meetings, Andros and his council preemptorily dissolved the New 37 00:03:55.720 --> 00:04:02.160 Jersey representative body. Philip Cotterett, not able to muster force against his powerful 38 00:04:02.160 --> 00:04:09.320 neighbor, was now in a doubly weak position. Sir George Cotterett had died, and his grandson 39 00:04:09.320 --> 00:04:16.900 One in heir, Sir George, did not have the old proprietor's influence at court. 40 00:04:16.900 --> 00:04:20.520 But resistance appeared among the people of New Jersey. 41 00:04:20.520 --> 00:04:26.480 In the July meeting at Woodbridge, the freeholders refused to obey Andros' order to nominate 42 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.840 local magistrates for his approval. 43 00:04:29.840 --> 00:04:36.440 They insisted instead that their charter gave them the right to choose their own magistrates. 44 00:04:36.440 --> 00:04:42.520 A month later, Samuel Moore signed a further refusal by Woodbridge to obey the order, and 45 00:04:42.520 --> 00:04:47.000 Samuel Dennis refused Andros's appointment as court clerk. 46 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:51.080 Moore was arrested and tried before Andros in the New York court. 47 00:04:51.080 --> 00:04:58.160 Upon recanting this error and promising good behavior, Moore was released. 48 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:03.640 Two Jerseyites were also arrested for speaking words tending to disturb the peace. 49 00:05:03.640 --> 00:05:10.440 A transient surveyor, William Taylor, denounced Andros in the council as rogues and traitors 50 00:05:10.440 --> 00:05:17.680 and said that he would not be governed by such men. Taylor was arrested and, after recanting, 51 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:23.640 dismissed on good behavior by Andros in his council. A laborer, John Curtis, arrested 52 00:05:23.640 --> 00:05:29.000 for similar seditious remarks, broke bail and disappeared. 53 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:36.520 By late 1680, however, the Duke of York's political position in England had deteriorated, 54 00:05:36.520 --> 00:05:40.400 and he was anxious to avoid making further enemies at home. 55 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:46.720 In November, the Duke informed Andros that the Jerseys were to be governed by their proprietors. 56 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.840 Andros was shortly recalled as governor and returned to England. 57 00:05:51.840 --> 00:05:59.680 The Andros menace removed, Philip Cotterett, in early 1681, jubilantly countermanded Andros's 58 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:05.640 usurpations and ordered the citizens of New Jersey to ignore the courts that New York 59 00:06:05.640 --> 00:06:13.880 had intended to operate there. But in his joy, Cotterett grew cocky and began to assert 60 00:06:13.880 --> 00:06:18.880 his authority aggressively, internally and externally. 61 00:06:18.880 --> 00:06:26.160 Externally, Carteret suddenly laid claim to Staten Island and ordered its citizens to 62 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:29.540 obey him rather than New York. 63 00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:32.880 This question remained in the hands of the Duke of York. 64 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:37.600 Meanwhile, Carteret faced far greater troubles at home. 65 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:44.640 The Assembly, with the former anti-Andros seditionist John Curtis, a member, met in 66 00:06:44.640 --> 00:06:50.560 in October and took the opportunity to have a new regime to urge reaffirmation of the 67 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:59.560 original concessions of 1665 without the oppressive amendments of the declarations of 1672 and 68 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:06.440 1674. These amendments had shifted many powers from the assembly to the appointed executive 69 00:07:06.440 --> 00:07:10.200 and had deprived the people of many of their liberties. 70 00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:15.120 Cotterette's old troubles with the people now resumed. Cotterette and his council bitterly 71 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:21.120 attacked the assembly for its presumption. Once again, the lower house threw down the 72 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:26.820 gauntlet, declaring that the inhabitants of New Jersey were not obliged to conform to 73 00:07:26.820 --> 00:07:32.920 these later declarations and instructions. The New Jersey rebellion was now in full bloom 74 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:39.320 against Cotterette. The council now insisted that the deputies pay the governor's salary 75 00:07:39.320 --> 00:07:46.320 and also the past incurred quitterance to the proprietor, a request met with only scorn 76 00:07:46.520 --> 00:07:53.520 by the assembly. After several furious interchanges, the governor and council dissolved the assembly 77 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:01.720 at the suggestion of Councilor Robert Vickers. To protest this disillusion, Edward Slater, 78 00:08:01.760 --> 00:08:08.280 deputy from the Piscataway, called a protest meeting that was invaded by two council members, 79 00:08:08.280 --> 00:08:14.440 Henry Greenland and Robert Vickers. The counselors accused Slater of sedition and of rendering 80 00:08:14.440 --> 00:08:20.040 Carteret and his government odious in the eyes and hearts of the people. They also accused 81 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:26.120 Slater of trying to stir up mutiny, insurrection and open rebellion. Greenland and Vickers 82 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:32.920 promptly had Slater arrested. They then tried Slater in their capacities as justices of 83 00:08:32.920 --> 00:08:39.220 of the Peace, and convicted him on their own testimony. 84 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:45.820 This court was conducted on no legal grounds, yet the two judges sentenced Slater to a six-month 85 00:08:45.820 --> 00:08:52.680 term in prison. Vickers now urged Carteret to take full control of the colony by ignoring 86 00:08:52.680 --> 00:08:58.700 the requirement that the assembly establish the courts and by creating his own prerogative 87 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:05.700 of Courts instead. New Jersey was now back to the appointed courts and the despotism 88 00:09:06.460 --> 00:09:13.460 of the 1666 through 73 era. Meanwhile, however, a great change in the government of East New 89 00:09:14.140 --> 00:09:20.660 Jersey was underway. The estate of Sir George Carteret sold the proprietorship of East New 90 00:09:20.660 --> 00:09:27.660 Jersey at auction in February 1682 to a group of twelve men, eleven of them quaint. 91 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:37.980 Quakers, headed by the eminent William Penn, for 3,400 pounds. In August, the Twelve expanded 92 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:45.020 the partnership to 24, including 10 more Quakers, and this patent was reconfirmed by the Duke 93 00:09:45.020 --> 00:09:53.340 of York the following March. Thus, by the end of 1682, Quakers, though still periodically 94 00:09:53.340 --> 00:10:01.300 in England, owned the colonies of East New Jersey, West New Jersey, and the extensive 95 00:10:01.300 --> 00:10:08.020 new territory on the west bank of the upper Delaware known as Pennsylvania, granted by 96 00:10:08.020 --> 00:10:16.740 King Charles II to William Penn in March 1681. However, with Quakers already settled 97 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:23.700 In West New Jersey and prepared to pour into Pennsylvania, East New Jersey was not a likely 98 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:30.060 field for Quaker settlement. There were Quaker groups at Shrewsbury and Middletown, but most 99 00:10:30.060 --> 00:10:36.860 other Jersey towns were ardently Puritan. With the English Quakers immigrating to Pennsylvania 100 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:43.860 and West New Jersey, the leading role in East New Jersey was taken by the Scots among the 101 00:10:43.860 --> 00:10:51.600 Proprietors, particularly by young Robert Barclay and his prominent non-Quaker relatives, 102 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:59.060 the Arch-Royalist James Drummond, Earl of Percy, and his brother, John Drummond, the 103 00:10:59.060 --> 00:11:06.100 Viscount Melfort. An eminent Quaker, Barclay was a close friend of the Duke of York and 104 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:12.300 was appointed Governor of East New Jersey in the fall of 1682. Barclay immediately began 105 00:11:12.300 --> 00:11:17.460 and to organize Scottish settlements in East New Jersey and to remodel the government of 106 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:24.020 the colony. Many leading Scots were induced to buy fractional proprietorships in the colony. 107 00:11:24.020 --> 00:11:30.580 Eventually, Scots formed a majority of the proprietary ownership. The proprietors appointed 108 00:11:30.580 --> 00:11:36.160 the prominent English Quaker lawyer, Thomas Rudyard, one of the proprietors and a close 109 00:11:36.160 --> 00:11:58.160 Rudyard arrived in Jersey to take office in November of 1682. The proprietors instructed Rudyard to convey to the Jersey citizens the welcome news of the confirming of their rights granted to them by the concessions of 1665. 110 00:11:58.160 --> 00:12:05.440 The proprietors adopted the fundamental constitutions, a highly complex and overblown constitution 111 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:11.040 for the colony, which would have granted great powers to themselves, voting by proxy in the 112 00:12:11.040 --> 00:12:13.180 East New Jersey Council. 113 00:12:13.180 --> 00:12:18.500 But the fundamental constitutions was never put into effect, not only because it was rejected 114 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:23.800 by the Assembly, but also because it was even turned down by the Deputy Governor and his 115 00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:25.760 Council. 116 00:12:25.760 --> 00:12:34.040 The assembly called into being again met frequently during Governor Rudyard's rule in 1683. 117 00:12:34.040 --> 00:12:39.960 All sides were determined to be conciliatory and to undo the influence of the despotic 118 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.160 Carteret clique. 119 00:12:42.160 --> 00:12:48.400 As a result, the court proceedings since late 1681 were voided and the leaders of the Carteret 120 00:12:48.400 --> 00:12:55.320 clique, Robert Vickers, who had been Secretary of the Colony, Henry Greenland, Samuel Edsel 121 00:12:55.320 --> 00:13:02.320 and Robert Vauquelin, former Surveyor General, were debarred from all public office. 122 00:13:03.760 --> 00:13:09.720 Edward Slater now took the opportunity to sue Vickers for trespass, false arrest, and 123 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:16.720 imprisonment. He collected 45 pounds in damages. Vickers was also convicted of keeping fraudulent 124 00:13:17.520 --> 00:13:24.120 records and was fined and imprisoned until payment of the fine. But despite the harmony 125 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:29.000 In the colony of Council and Assembly, in ridding the colony of the influence of the 126 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:36.640 Cotterett clique, divisions between deputies and ruling council again emerged and deepened 127 00:13:36.640 --> 00:13:44.600 during 1683. The deputies urged the right of each town to adopt local ordinances without 128 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:50.960 being subject to veto by the governor and council, and the similar right to impose local 129 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:57.960 Taxes. Furthermore, Middletown and Shrewsbury again raised the question of the old nickels 130 00:13:58.180 --> 00:14:05.180 patents and claimed that by these they were exempt from paying quit rents to the new proprietors. 131 00:14:05.520 --> 00:14:12.520 Roger and the Council rejected these claims and considerable friction developed over them. 132 00:14:12.880 --> 00:14:19.880 The towns and the deputies also vainly objected to the continuation of the compulsory militia, 133 00:14:19.880 --> 00:14:30.880 A provision of the Declaration of 1672. In each case, as before, the deputies assumed the role of libertarian opposition to the existing regime. 134 00:14:30.880 --> 00:14:46.880 However, the assembly did create a regular judicial system. The law code continued the Puritan outlawing of such deviations as stage plays, games, dances, drunkenness, and profaning the Sabbath. 135 00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:52.720 Here the Anglican Council played a more liberal role than did the Puritan deputies. The Council 136 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:58.680 reduced the penalty for not attending church services. The Council also declared itself 137 00:14:58.680 --> 00:15:03.920 for liberty of conscience and against compulsory worship. 138 00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:10.920 By the end of 1683, Governor Rudyard had incurred the displeasure of the proprietors, largely 139 00:15:10.920 --> 00:15:16.680 because Rudyard and the Council, eager to attract settlers to East New Jersey, failed 140 00:15:16.680 --> 00:15:22.680 to adhere to the clause in the concessions reserving one-seventh of the lands to the 141 00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:29.440 proprietors. Samuel Groom, one of the Quaker proprietors, had been sent out with Rudyard 142 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:35.420 to serve under him as Surveyor General of the colony. Groom now insisted on the land 143 00:15:35.420 --> 00:15:41.260 Reservation, and was quickly dismissed by Rudyard. Rudyard's firing of groom led to 144 00:15:41.260 --> 00:15:49.620 his own dismissal and replacement toward the end of 1683 by the Quaker, Gawin, Larry, lately 145 00:15:49.620 --> 00:15:57.300 become one of the proprietors. By the end of 1684, enough of the proprietors, particularly 146 00:15:57.300 --> 00:16:03.620 the Scots, had immigrated to East New Jersey that the governing proprietor's interest in 147 00:16:03.620 --> 00:16:10.620 in the colony, especially in land matters, was transferred to the fourteen resident proprietors, 148 00:16:11.020 --> 00:16:15.000 forming the Board of Proprietors of East New Jersey. 149 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:21.520 The Board was empowered to deal with all matters concerning proprietary land, land claims, collecting 150 00:16:21.520 --> 00:16:28.520 quit rents, boundaries and so forth. The resident proprietors ratified the laws of the Rudyard 151 00:16:28.520 --> 00:16:34.960 Assembly, but added what the assembly had refused to pass, exemption of the pacifist 152 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:38.800 Quakers from military service. 153 00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:44.520 The biggest problem of the Larry administration was an attempt to collect feudal quit rents 154 00:16:44.520 --> 00:16:48.600 from the settlers in behalf of the proprietors. 155 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:54.040 Larry was originally instructed by the impatient proprietors to collect the quit rents. 156 00:16:54.040 --> 00:17:00.540 In late 1684, the proprietors instructed Larry and the resident proprietors to make an end 157 00:17:00.540 --> 00:17:06.520 of all controversies over land titles and quit rents. Specifically, they arrogantly 158 00:17:06.520 --> 00:17:12.880 declared their absolute refusal to recognize any of the old nickels patents or to commute 159 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.400 any of their quit rents, even including the arrears. 160 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:22.920 Wrangling between the Larry administration and the various towns lasted a year and a 161 00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:37.440 In 1684, all East New Jersey towns except Bergen were still claiming exemption from 162 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:44.320 all quit rents on the ground that their old nickels land patents or Indian purchases were 163 00:17:44.320 --> 00:17:47.760 superior to the proprietary claim. 164 00:17:47.760 --> 00:17:55.120 Moreover, many settlers avoided payment of quitterance by not officially patenting their lands. 165 00:17:55.120 --> 00:18:01.840 The old Navsink towns of Middletown and Shrewsbury also claimed the full right to make their 166 00:18:01.840 --> 00:18:07.920 own laws and elect their officers under the Nichols patents and the Nichols promulgated 167 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:13.320 Dukes laws, but now forgotten by the East New Jersey Governors. 168 00:18:13.320 --> 00:18:20.320 Over against this permanent state of quasi-rebellion, Larry was supposed to persuade the six towns 169 00:18:20.320 --> 00:18:27.000 of the colony that the nickels patents, or Indian lands or governmental patents, were 170 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:33.520 invalid, and that all landowners must pay the quit rents due since their inception in 171 00:18:33.520 --> 00:18:41.920 1670. The new proprietary program of strict enforcement of quit rents was bound to create 172 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:49.360 Fierced Opposition in the Colony. The first crackdown was imposed in late 1684 on John 173 00:18:49.360 --> 00:18:56.580 Barry of Bergen, who was a revered old settler, an agent of William Penn in East Jersey, a 174 00:18:56.580 --> 00:19:03.160 counselor, and a former deputy governor. Barry was opposed to enforcing quit rents and had 175 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:09.960 never paid any due on his own extensive lands. He countered by dramatically challenging the 176 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:15.080 The validity of the Court of Common Right, the new Supreme Court of the colony, founded 177 00:19:15.080 --> 00:19:22.040 during the Rudyard regime. The court fined Barry for contempt, and Barry's refusal to 178 00:19:22.040 --> 00:19:28.680 pay finally caused his imprisonment in early 1685. By now, Barry had become the leader 179 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:34.520 of the colony's resistance to quit rents, and the outcome of the Barry case would greatly 180 00:19:34.520 --> 00:19:41.220 influenced the path of opposition. The Board of Proprietors in one of its first acts backed 181 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:48.220 up Larry, determined on no abatement of quit rents and took up the prosecution of Barry. 182 00:19:49.840 --> 00:19:56.840 Barry finally yielded. However, when the Board commuted his back quit rents of over 116 pounds 183 00:19:56.840 --> 00:20:07.980 for £116 to £70. During this time, negotiations began with the Napsink towns of Middletown 184 00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:15.320 and Shrewsbury. The men of these towns, headed by the Quaker Richard Hartshorn, steadfastly 185 00:20:15.320 --> 00:20:21.560 refused to pay quit rents, and Laurie and the board of proprietors began to seize the 186 00:20:21.560 --> 00:20:44.560 This forced the Napsink towns to yield by mid 1685. No agreement, however, was concluded with Piscataway, Newark or Elizabethtown, although some individual owners in the last town took out their patents to land titles, thus following the lead of Napsink. 187 00:20:44.560 --> 00:20:59.560 On the other hand, Woodbridge surrendered to the proprietary in the spring, following the lead of former Provincial Treasurer Samuel Moore, who capitulated after having vowed to pay no quid rents whatever. 188 00:20:59.560 --> 00:21:14.560 Larry and the Council finally, in April 1686, called the Assembly in decession to demand an increase in taxes, largely for the expenses of the Secretary and the Council. 189 00:21:14.560 --> 00:21:28.560 The deputies incisively replied that they saw no reason why the people should be forced to pay for the expenses of officers whom they had no power to select. 190 00:21:28.560 --> 00:21:37.020 In the fall of 1686, Governor Larry was removed, the proprietors being disgruntled with what 191 00:21:37.020 --> 00:21:43.920 they believed to be Larry's, as well as Rudger's, before him, lack of zeal in reserving land 192 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:49.520 to the proprietors. Larry had also shown a lack of interest in obtaining a high price 193 00:21:49.520 --> 00:21:57.080 in the sale of land to the settlers. The proprietors censured Larry's granting himself a large 194 00:21:57.080 --> 00:22:06.080 and the large tract of unused land at a cheap price, and his failure to push for approval of the fundamental constitutions. 195 00:22:06.080 --> 00:22:12.080 Larry was succeeded as governor by the Scot, Neil Campbell. 196 00:22:12.080 --> 00:22:20.080 In the fall meeting of the Assembly, Lord Campbell tried once again to insist that it increase taxes. 197 00:22:20.080 --> 00:22:26.080 Speaker Richard Hartshorn defiantly spoke for the deputies when he bluntly declared 198 00:22:26.080 --> 00:22:33.080 The failure of New York's attempt to assume power over East Jersey created a gaping hole in New York's attempted port monopoly. 199 00:22:56.080 --> 00:23:02.440 Monopoly. Smuggling was also rampant in East Jersey and New Yorkers kept agitating for 200 00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:08.980 forcible annexation of that colony. The merchants desired to secure their monopoly and the New 201 00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:15.580 York farmers and rural elements were envious of Jersey's freedom of trade. These grievances 202 00:23:15.580 --> 00:23:23.180 culminated in 1678 when a royal order made Perth Amboy, the newly built capital of East 203 00:23:23.180 --> 00:23:30.220 New Jersey, an approved port of entry, an act which accelerated the migration of merchants 204 00:23:30.220 --> 00:23:34.140 and other citizens from New York to New Jersey.