![[NEW JERSEY, Colony]. Manuscript Minute Book of the Lords Proprietors of East Jersey, 1664-1683, comprising transcripts of all the significant early charters, concessions and grants from the Duke of York, Sir George Carteret and others, "The Fundamental Constitutions for the Province of East New Jersey in America, Anno Dm. 1683"; Minutes of the meetings of the Lords Proprietors of East Jersey (41 meetings in London, 6 June 1682-4 March 1683/4), 45pp.; a complete register of the 24 Proprietors listing lands sold or leased; transcripts of over ninety letters (incoming and outgoing), proclamations and documents concerning all aspects of the governance, survey and settlement of the new colony and its relations with other colonies, 1682-1688, ca 240pp.; "Extracts from Robert Barclay's Journal or Pocketbook," 1682-1688, 31pp.; five printed documents; manuscript Index, 3pp..](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01614_0009_000(102402).jpg?w=1)
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[NEW JERSEY, Colony]. Manuscript Minute Book of the Lords Proprietors of East Jersey, 1664-1683, comprising transcripts of all the significant early charters, concessions and grants from the Duke of York, Sir George Carteret and others, "The Fundamental Constitutions for the Province of East New Jersey in America, Anno Dm. 1683"; Minutes of the meetings of the Lords Proprietors of East Jersey (41 meetings in London, 6 June 1682-4 March 1683/4), 45pp.; a complete register of the 24 Proprietors listing lands sold or leased; transcripts of over ninety letters (incoming and outgoing), proclamations and documents concerning all aspects of the governance, survey and settlement of the new colony and its relations with other colonies, 1682-1688, ca 240pp.; "Extracts from Robert Barclay's Journal or Pocketbook," 1682-1688, 31pp.; five printed documents; manuscript Index, 3pp..
2o (368 x 240 mm, and smaller). Ca 316 pages. Large papered seal of the Colony of East Jersey ("Magna Sigilla Provinciae 1684") on front flyleaf. Texts in a number of typical English court hands, some pages with bold decorative headings and calligraphic touches, on various papers, watermarks similar to Heawood no. 1786, dated 1683-84). (Minor marginal tears to some leaves, scattered spotting, vellum documents laid down and repaired.) Nineteenth-century morocco gilt, upper cover gilt-lettered (slight rubbing).
Provenance: Robert Barclay of Ury (1648-1690), arms on binding. Barclay, Governor of East Jersey (1682-1688) was a friend of William Penn and George Fox and the foremost Quaker theologian of the 17th century, author of the influential exposition of Quaker principles, The Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1676, frequently reprinted). For an extensive account, see DNB.
OFFICIAL RECORDS OF WILLIAM PENN'S OTHER "HOLY EXPERIMENT": THE MINUTE BOOK OF THE LORDS PROPRIETORS OF EAST JERSEY, 1664-1684, INCLUDING THE 1683 FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTION, GRANTING FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION
THE ONLY SUCH COLLECTION OF IMPORTANT EARLY AMERICAN COLONIAL RECORDS REMAINING IN PRIVATE HANDS
As the persecution of Quakers grew in Great Britain, George Fox, the founder of the movement, began to urge the establishment of colonies in America where religious freedom could be chartered. Fox even visited America in 1672, and found present-day New Jersey to be a virtually unoccupied wilderness, ideal for such a plan. In 1675 William Penn was named co-trustee for the bankrupt Edward Billing, one of two proprietors of West Jersey (roughly half the present state of New Jersey) under grant from the Duke of York. In 1676, New Jersey was divided into East and West Jersey by the Quintipartite Deed of Revision: Sir George Carteret received East Jersey and Penn and his company were granted West Jersey. In 1681, Penn and other Quakers purchased the tract of East New Jersey at auction from Cartaret's heirs for the princely sum of £3,400.
In September 1682, probably due to his friendship with Penn, Barclay was named Governor and one of the 24 proprietors of East New Jersey. The transcripts comprising the present Minute Book were intended to allow Barclay to consult all relevant records of the Colony, from its earliest inception, in his duties as Governor in absentia. Included were fundamental documents concerning the colony: charters, patents, concessions, commissions as well as extensive correspondence from the inception of the colony in 1664. The first document is "The Concession of John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, Anno 1664," which promises liberality in government and rights to all who would settle there. William Penn's continued close connection with the new province is suggested by an interesting letter from him to the proprietors, dated Philadelphia, 11 May 1683 (no. 21), on governance and the state of the province. Further documents include Charles II's Patents to the Duke of York, 12 March 1664 and 29 June 1674, the Quinpartite Deed of Partition of 1676, the Grant of Lady Carteret's grant to the first 12 proprietors, including a copy of George Carteret's will; The Duke of York's Indenture and Release to the 24 proprietors; Instructions to Gawen Lawry, Barclay's Deputy in the province; Letters to Surveyor General Samuel Groome urging them to discover good places for trade "as much as you can upon Bayes, Rivers, Creeks, where Ships and Vessels may come."
For West Jersey, Penn had helped draft a remarkably liberal charter of government. For example, Article XVI boldly asserted that "no men, nor number of men upon earth, hath power or authority to rule over men's consciences in religious matters." In 1683 a new Fundamental Constitution was promulgated for East Jersey as well, again largely based on Penn's principles and paralleling the constitution of West Jersey (full text included here, 11pp., item 40 in the Minute Book). The Constitution guaranteed trial by jury, free elections and freedom from unjust imprisonment. Most significantly, Article XVI states: "All persons living in the Province who confess and acknowledge the one Almighty and Eternal God, and hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and quietly in a civil society, shall in no way be molested or prejudged for their religious persuasions and exercise in matters of faith and worship; nor shall they be compelled to frequent and maintain any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever." This key clause is nearly identical in wording to Article 35 of the Laws of Pennsylvania, promulgated the same year.
The East and West Jersey Constituitions--which certainly influenced subsequent American constitution-making--were suspended when the proprietors of East and West Jersey formally surrendered their rights of governance to the crown in 1702 (though they retained rights of land.) East Jersey's Fundamental Constitution--remarkably liberal for its time--is therefore less well-known than Penn's provision for religious liberty in the Laws of Pennsylvania, which remained in effect until the American Revolution.
Barclay was only 34 years old when he became Governor and during his tenure dedicated considerable energies to the colony's affairs, including the establishment of civil government, relations with the Indians, allocation, sale and survey of land-holdings, recruitment of new settlers, the chartering of municipalities and the resolution of disputes among settlers and proprietors alike (including long-running disputes with the colony of New York over Staten Island and the Neversink tracts). The survey and allocation of the colony's extensive wilderness lands are, naturally, the primary focus of many documents in the Minute Book, for the revenues from land sales and quit-rents financed the new colony; these in turn were dependent upon the accurate survey and mapping of lands distributed. These letters and documents contain a wealth of information on early land use, surveying and cartography of New Jersey. Item 11 is a particularly fascinating record, entitled "An Account of the Settled Townes and most of the Plantations or Tracts...in the Province of East Jersey," giving detailed descriptions of all settlements and plantations as of 1664 (including Middletown, Piscattaway, Woodbridge, Elizabeth Town, Newark, Bergen, etc.), noting Indian names for topographical features, estimating the number of settled families at 700, the overall population at 3500 and calculating the province to include 280,000 acres.
A number of entries and documents are of cartographical interest, such as the minutes for 12 July 1682, which instruct Surveyor-General Samuel Groome to "bespeake and buy an Instrument to distinguish the Latitude between East Jersey and New Yorke and...cause to be printed the Mapp of Jersey upon the very best terms he can." (Five highly important early maps, originally folded into the Minute Book, have since been removed and professionally conserved, and will be offered in the following lots. Digital copies will remain with the present Minute Book).
The Minute Book contains a series of very rare printed documents, most intended to represent forms for sale and lease: 1) Indenture on vellum, constituting a standard land-grant for taking up land in East Jersey (at p.36); 2) Royal Proclamation, dated Whitehall, 23 November 1683, addressed to "the Governor and Council of East New Jersey and to the Planters, Inhabitants, and all others," enjoining them to "submit and yield all due Obedience to the Laws and Government" of the Proprietors (at p.50); 3) Indenture, by which a Proprietor of East Jersey is invested in 1/24th interest in the colony; 4) Standard deed of sale (or lease?) for land in East New Jersey, printed on vellum (at end); 5) Standard deed of sale (or lease?) for land in East New Jersey (at end).
The collection presented here CONTAINS ALL THE SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY OF EAST NEW JERSEY, and we are not aware of the existence of any early colonial record collections, equivalent in importance, that remain today in private hands.
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Provenance: Robert Barclay of Ury (1648-1690), arms on binding. Barclay, Governor of East Jersey (1682-1688) was a friend of William Penn and George Fox and the foremost Quaker theologian of the 17th century, author of the influential exposition of Quaker principles, The Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1676, frequently reprinted). For an extensive account, see DNB.
OFFICIAL RECORDS OF WILLIAM PENN'S OTHER "HOLY EXPERIMENT": THE MINUTE BOOK OF THE LORDS PROPRIETORS OF EAST JERSEY, 1664-1684, INCLUDING THE 1683 FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTION, GRANTING FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION
THE ONLY SUCH COLLECTION OF IMPORTANT EARLY AMERICAN COLONIAL RECORDS REMAINING IN PRIVATE HANDS
As the persecution of Quakers grew in Great Britain, George Fox, the founder of the movement, began to urge the establishment of colonies in America where religious freedom could be chartered. Fox even visited America in 1672, and found present-day New Jersey to be a virtually unoccupied wilderness, ideal for such a plan. In 1675 William Penn was named co-trustee for the bankrupt Edward Billing, one of two proprietors of West Jersey (roughly half the present state of New Jersey) under grant from the Duke of York. In 1676, New Jersey was divided into East and West Jersey by the Quintipartite Deed of Revision: Sir George Carteret received East Jersey and Penn and his company were granted West Jersey. In 1681, Penn and other Quakers purchased the tract of East New Jersey at auction from Cartaret's heirs for the princely sum of £3,400.
In September 1682, probably due to his friendship with Penn, Barclay was named Governor and one of the 24 proprietors of East New Jersey. The transcripts comprising the present Minute Book were intended to allow Barclay to consult all relevant records of the Colony, from its earliest inception, in his duties as Governor in absentia. Included were fundamental documents concerning the colony: charters, patents, concessions, commissions as well as extensive correspondence from the inception of the colony in 1664. The first document is "The Concession of John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, Anno 1664," which promises liberality in government and rights to all who would settle there. William Penn's continued close connection with the new province is suggested by an interesting letter from him to the proprietors, dated Philadelphia, 11 May 1683 (no. 21), on governance and the state of the province. Further documents include Charles II's Patents to the Duke of York, 12 March 1664 and 29 June 1674, the Quinpartite Deed of Partition of 1676, the Grant of Lady Carteret's grant to the first 12 proprietors, including a copy of George Carteret's will; The Duke of York's Indenture and Release to the 24 proprietors; Instructions to Gawen Lawry, Barclay's Deputy in the province; Letters to Surveyor General Samuel Groome urging them to discover good places for trade "as much as you can upon Bayes, Rivers, Creeks, where Ships and Vessels may come."
For West Jersey, Penn had helped draft a remarkably liberal charter of government. For example, Article XVI boldly asserted that "no men, nor number of men upon earth, hath power or authority to rule over men's consciences in religious matters." In 1683 a new Fundamental Constitution was promulgated for East Jersey as well, again largely based on Penn's principles and paralleling the constitution of West Jersey (full text included here, 11pp., item 40 in the Minute Book). The Constitution guaranteed trial by jury, free elections and freedom from unjust imprisonment. Most significantly, Article XVI states: "All persons living in the Province who confess and acknowledge the one Almighty and Eternal God, and hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and quietly in a civil society, shall in no way be molested or prejudged for their religious persuasions and exercise in matters of faith and worship; nor shall they be compelled to frequent and maintain any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever." This key clause is nearly identical in wording to Article 35 of the Laws of Pennsylvania, promulgated the same year.
The East and West Jersey Constituitions--which certainly influenced subsequent American constitution-making--were suspended when the proprietors of East and West Jersey formally surrendered their rights of governance to the crown in 1702 (though they retained rights of land.) East Jersey's Fundamental Constitution--remarkably liberal for its time--is therefore less well-known than Penn's provision for religious liberty in the Laws of Pennsylvania, which remained in effect until the American Revolution.
Barclay was only 34 years old when he became Governor and during his tenure dedicated considerable energies to the colony's affairs, including the establishment of civil government, relations with the Indians, allocation, sale and survey of land-holdings, recruitment of new settlers, the chartering of municipalities and the resolution of disputes among settlers and proprietors alike (including long-running disputes with the colony of New York over Staten Island and the Neversink tracts). The survey and allocation of the colony's extensive wilderness lands are, naturally, the primary focus of many documents in the Minute Book, for the revenues from land sales and quit-rents financed the new colony; these in turn were dependent upon the accurate survey and mapping of lands distributed. These letters and documents contain a wealth of information on early land use, surveying and cartography of New Jersey. Item 11 is a particularly fascinating record, entitled "An Account of the Settled Townes and most of the Plantations or Tracts...in the Province of East Jersey," giving detailed descriptions of all settlements and plantations as of 1664 (including Middletown, Piscattaway, Woodbridge, Elizabeth Town, Newark, Bergen, etc.), noting Indian names for topographical features, estimating the number of settled families at 700, the overall population at 3500 and calculating the province to include 280,000 acres.
A number of entries and documents are of cartographical interest, such as the minutes for 12 July 1682, which instruct Surveyor-General Samuel Groome to "bespeake and buy an Instrument to distinguish the Latitude between East Jersey and New Yorke and...cause to be printed the Mapp of Jersey upon the very best terms he can." (Five highly important early maps, originally folded into the Minute Book, have since been removed and professionally conserved, and will be offered in the following lots. Digital copies will remain with the present Minute Book).
The Minute Book contains a series of very rare printed documents, most intended to represent forms for sale and lease: 1) Indenture on vellum, constituting a standard land-grant for taking up land in East Jersey (at p.36); 2) Royal Proclamation, dated Whitehall, 23 November 1683, addressed to "the Governor and Council of East New Jersey and to the Planters, Inhabitants, and all others," enjoining them to "submit and yield all due Obedience to the Laws and Government" of the Proprietors (at p.50); 3) Indenture, by which a Proprietor of East Jersey is invested in 1/24th interest in the colony; 4) Standard deed of sale (or lease?) for land in East New Jersey, printed on vellum (at end); 5) Standard deed of sale (or lease?) for land in East New Jersey (at end).
The collection presented here CONTAINS ALL THE SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY OF EAST NEW JERSEY, and we are not aware of the existence of any early colonial record collections, equivalent in importance, that remain today in private hands.