The Congress had Royal Governor William Franklin arrested on June 15, declaring him 'an enemy to the liberties of this country'. The Provincial Congress of New Jersey, made up of elected delegates, formed in January 1776 to govern the colony. Finally, in 1738, King George II appointed a separate governor, Lewis Morris, to run New Jersey. After Hyde was recalled to England in 1708 over charges of graft, bribery, and corruption, the governor of New York was charged to also preside over New Jersey. Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon became the royal colony's first governor. On April 15, 1702, Queen Anne united West and East Jersey into one Royal Colony, the Province of New Jersey. From 1701 to 1765, colonists skirmished in the New York-New Jersey Line War over disputed colonial boundaries.

This sale divided New Jersey into East Jersey and West Jersey however, the border between the two was not agreed upon until the Quintipartite Deed in 1676. On March 18, 1674, after encountering difficulty collecting the taxes, Lord Berkeley sold his share in the colony to Edward Byllynge, a Quaker businessman from London. Colonists were required to pay annual quit-rent taxes. The first governor appointed in this way was Philip Carteret, who founded Elizabethtown. This document provided for religious freedom, no taxes without assembly approval, and a governor appointed by the proprietors. In 1665, the Concession and Agreement was written in an effort to entice settlers to New Jersey. This land grant became the Province of New Jersey. James II later granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had been loyal to him through the English Civil War: Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton. King Charles II renamed the land west of the Hudson River New Jersey and gave the region between New England and Maryland to his brother, the Duke of York (later King James II of England) as a proprietary colony. Main articles: Bergen, New Netherland and Province of New Jersey Map showing the borders of West New Jersey (left) and East New Jersey (right) In 1673, the Dutch retook the area but relinquished it under the Treaty of Westminster (1674), ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War the next year. Though the war ended in a Dutch victory in 1667, the English retained New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English King's brother, the Duke of York, who had co-instigated the war for personal gain and had commanded the attack on New Netherland. In October 1664, as a prelude to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the English largely conquered this land from the Dutch. This area was reclaimed by the Dutch in 1655. With Swedish funding, the third governor of New Netherland later founded the colony of New Sweden in the region around Delaware Bay in 1638. The Dutch further explored and charted the area in multiple voyages between 16 the first Dutch settlements were built in 1613 and the name New Netherland appeared on maps from 1614 on. The Middle Colonies were explored by Henry Hudson for the Dutch East India Company in 1609, sailing up the Hudson River to present-day Albany, New York, and along the Delaware Bay. This tolerance was very unusual and distinct from the situation in other British colonies.

Later settlers included members of various Protestant denominations, which were protected in the Middle Colonies by written freedom of religion laws. Farm land was both productive and much less expensive than in Europe. The Middle Colonies were the most ethnically and religiously diverse British colonies in North America with settlers from England, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and German states. The lumber and shipbuilding industries were also successful in the Middle Colonies because of the abundant forests, and Pennsylvania was moderately successful in the textile and iron industries. The Middle Colonies had much fertile soil, which allowed the area to become a major exporter of wheat and other grains. The Delaware Colony later separated from Pennsylvania, which was founded by William Penn. The Duke of York and the King of England would later grant others ownership of the land which would become the Province of New Jersey and the Province of Pennsylvania. The British captured much of the area in their war with the Dutch around 1664, and the majority of the conquered land became the Province of New York. Much of the area was part of New Netherland until the British exerted their control over the region. Along with the Chesapeake Colonies, this area now roughly makes up the Mid-Atlantic states. The Middle Colonies were a subset of the Thirteen Colonies in British America, located between the New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies.

Middle colonies prezi