The Last 6 Colonies Timeline: Part 2
Pursuit of freedom: Establishing the final American colonies.
Have you ever been to New Jersey or Georgia? What about Pennsylvania? What do you know about these places? Could you point these places out on the map below?
From 1664 to 1702, New Jersey was divided into two parts – East and West Jersey – with each having its own government and laws.
Check out the timelines and facts about the last of the colonies that were founded and established in early America.
1638
The Colony of New Jersey
New Jersey’s early colonial history is similar to New York’s. Like New York, the area was first colonized by Dutch settlers in the early 1600s. The colony was called New Netherland and included parts of modern-day New York and New Jersey. In 1660, the town of Bergen became the first established town in the New Jersey portion of New Netherland. Today, it is a large city named Jersey City. New Jersey had a warmer climate with good land, so the settlers were able to farm for food. They also were close to forests for wood, iron, coal, and furs. They used the iron to make items to sell to England, like tools, nails, and plows. This made them different from other colonies because other colonies mainly sold livestock, rice, wheat, indigo (dye), rice, and grain.
In 1638, the Dutch and Swedish moved into the area of present-day New Jersey. By 1664, the British had claimed the entire region and had driven the Dutch out. New Netherland was renamed New Jersey and New Amsterdam was renamed New York. Although King Charles originally gave the region to his brother, the Duke of York, eventually he decided to divide the region and gave the land between the Hudson and Delaware River (New Jersey) to two of his friends, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton. They chose to name it the New Jersey Colony after the island of Jersey on the English Channel. The New Jersey Colony was part of the Middle Colonies, and from 1664 to 1702, New Jersey was divided into two groups: East and West Jersey. In 1702, East and West Jersey joined to become one colony, which did not initially do well. As a result, the New York governor took control of New Jersey. The colony finally grew enough that it separated from New York and voted for its own governor, Lewis Morris. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to join the United States.
1681
The Colony of Pennsylvania
In 1681, William Penn founded Pennsylvania. Penn was issued a land grant of 40,000 square miles by King Charles II largely because of a significant debt owed to his father, Admiral Penn. At the time, the grant was one of the largest in terms of area ever known. It was named Pennsylvania, which means Penn’s Woods, after Admiral Penn. Pennsylvania has a mild climate, which makes farming easy. The settlers grew wheat and corn and were able to live off of dairy products from their cattle. The area also had natural resources from the land that helped the settlers survive. They found iron ore (for making materials), timber (for wood), furs, and coal that they could sell to England to make money. They also built ships and made paper.
Penn was a Quaker, and he dreamed of creating a safe place for Quakers to live. At this time, the Quakers in England had not been free to practice their faith as they wanted. Penn quickly established a government based on religious freedom for the Quakers and offered people cheap land to come and live in Pennsylvania. As a result, the population of Pennsylvania grew quickly. The colony’s religious tolerance soon attracted immigrants from England, Ireland, Wales, Holland, and Germany. From the beginning, Penn worked to have a good relationship with the Lenni Lenape people, one of the largest Native groups in the area. This led to many years of peace between the two groups. In 1737, the colonial government said they had found a lost agreement with the Native Americans and took 1,200 square miles of the Lenni Lenape land away from them. This forced the tribe to move west, making this event known as the Walking Purchase. On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to join the United States.
1733
The Colony of Georgia
In 1733, nearly 50 years after the other 12 colonies were already established, James Oglethorpe received a royal charter for the Province of Georgia, which was named after King George II. Georgia would become the last of the English colonies in the New World. The colony was located directly between the English colony of South Carolina and the Spanish colony of Florida. Oglethorpe imagined the area as a refuge for England’s poor people, who were crowded together in debtor’s prisons. He believed the debtors would become farmers and possibly soldiers to defend the colony from the Spanish in Florida. Soon, immigrants throughout the world came to Georgia in the hopes of being awarded generous land grants, and Georgia quickly become a major center for the export of rice, indigo, beef, and pork.
Georgia was founded as a charter colony, which meant the leaders were called trustees and they could elect their own governing body, make land grants, and enact their own laws and taxes. Since the corporation was a charitable body, none of the trustees could receive any land from the corporation or hold a paid position in it. Additionally, since the colony was established to benefit the poor, the trustees placed a 500-acre limit on the size of individual land holdings. People who had received charity and who had not purchased their own land could not sell, or borrow money against, it. The trustees wanted to avoid the situation in South Carolina, which had very large plantations and extreme gaps between the wealthy and the poor. Another big difference between Georgia and other colonies was that slavery was not allowed. James Oglethorpe hoped that by not allowing slavery, more religious people would come to Georgia. On January 2, 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to join the United States.
