The history of New Jersey goes back to Dutch and Swedish communities established prior to settlement by the English. Ownership of lands between the Hudson and the northernmost point of the Delaware was granted to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The original grants to Berkeley and Carteret divided the region in two. The split was further defined in the Quintipartite Deed of 1676, which divided the area into East and West Jersey. East Jersey was held by Carteret. In 1681 William Penn and 11 other Quakers purchased East Jersey from Carteret's widow. New Jersey's independence from…
