ew Jersey history that Flemming examines is the tension between aristocrats and the average man. Lord John Berkley and Sir George Carteret, the two proprietors who were granted New Jersey, certainly felt this clash of classes when settlers refused to pay them quitrents. A proprietary government was not a popular idea among Jerseyans, many of who disapproved of their aristocratic privileges and felt that they had earned nothing to deserve power in New Jersey. In fact, many of the colonists were descendents of men and women who had escaped England before the Civil War to escape aristocratic persecution for their refusal to join the Anglican Church.14 Voting was also a mounting issue between the proprietors and the average man, or anti-proprietor. In both East and West Jersey, proprietors attempted to keep their enemies out of the political process, denying them this right by stating that only someone with a land title could vote. Even when the anti-proprietors finally won control of the assembly, their enemies, who had the power to choose the judges, retained control of the courts. These appointed judges consistently back the proprietors in suits over contested land, often reversing the decisions of juries. Consequently, the people retaliated with their only defense, mob violence.15Proprietors also tended to corrupt the political process in order gain power over the common man. When a proprietor found himself lagging behind his foe in an election, the sheriff had the power to suspend the election for days at a time in order to give the proprietor a chance to increase his votes. Another abused technique was known as “colonizing.” Dozens of men from distant counties were imported to Perth Amboy on election day and were granted a sliver of land in exchange for their vote for the proprietor.16Eventually, the battle between proprietors and common men lessened, but New Jersey’s industrial growth and the government&#...
