[472] R.I.  Col.  Recs., vol vi. pp. 64, 65.

[473] R.I.  Col.  Recs., vol. vii. pp. 251, 252.

[474] American Annals, vol ii. pp. 107,155, 156, 184, and 265.

CHAPTER XX.

THE COLONY OF NEW JERSEY.

1664-1775.

     NEW JERSEY PASSES INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENGLISH.—­POLITICAL
     POWERS CONVEYED TO BERKELEY AND CARTERET.—­LEGISLATION ON
     THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.—­THE
     COLONY DIVIDED INTO EAST AND WEST JERSEY—­SEPARATE
     GOVERNMENTS.—­AN ACT CONCERNING SLAVERY BY THE LEGISLATURE
     OF EAST JERSEY.—­GENERAL APPREHENSION RESPECTING THE RISING
     OF NEGRO AND INDIAN SLAVES.—­EAST AND WEST JERSEY SURRENDER
     THEIR RIGHTS OF GOVERNMENT TO THE QUEEN.—­AN ACT FOR
     REGULATING THE CONDUCT OF SLAVES.—­IMPOST-TAX OF TEN POUNDS
     LEVIED UPON EACH NEGRO IMPORTED INTO THE COLONY.—­THE
     GENERAL COURT PASSES A LAW RECREATING THE TRIAL OF
     SLAVES.—­NEGROES RULED OUT OF THE MILITIA ESTABLISHMENT UPON
     CONDITION.—­POPULATION OF THE JERSEYS IN 1738 AND 1745.

The colony of New Jersey passed into the control of the English in 1664; and the first grant of political powers, upon which the government was erected, was conveyed by the Duke of York to Berkeley and Carteret during the same year.  In the “Proprietary Articles of Concession,” the words servants, slaves, and Christian servants occur.  It was the intention of the colonists to draw a distinction between “servants for a term of years,” and “servants for life,” between white servants and black slaves, between Christians and pagans.

When slavery was introduced into Jersey is not known.[475] There is no doubt but that it made its appearance there almost as early as in New Netherlands.  The Dutch, the Quakers, and the English held slaves.  But the system was milder here than in any of the other colonies.  The Negroes were scattered among the families of the whites, and were treated with great humanity.  Legislation on the subject of slavery did not begin until the middle of the eighteenth century, and it was not severe.  Before this time, say three-quarters of a century, a few Acts had been passed calculated to protect the slave element from the sin of intoxication.  In 1675 an Act passed, imposing fines and punishments upon any white person who should transport, harbor, or entertain “apprentices, servants, or slaves.”  It was perfectly natural that the Negroes should be of a nomadic disposition.  They had no homes, no wives, no children,—­nothing to attach them to a locality.  Those who resided near the seacoast watched, with unflagging interest, the coming and going of the mysterious white-winged vessels.  They hung upon the storied lips of every fugitive, and dreamed of lands afar where they might find that liberty for which their souls thirsted as