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New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Documentary History

Submitted by webmaster on Wed, 12 Jan 2011, 5:27pm

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New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Documentary History edited by Larry R. Gerlach and published by the New Jersey Historical Commission is a compilation of primary sources relating to the American Revolution in New Jersey.

Introduction, Preface and Abbreviations

I. Reform and Resistance

  1. Daniel Coxe to Joseph Reed, April 12, 1764 [5]
  2. The New Jersey Committee of Correspondents to Joseph Sherwood, September 10, 1764 [7]
  3. Robert Ogden to Samuel White, June 20, 1765 [9]
  4. "Caesariensis" on Stamp Collectors and the Stamp Act Congress, September 3, 1765 [10]
  5. Richard Stockton to Robert Ogden, September 13, 1765 [12]
  6. "A. Lawyer" [Elias Boudinot] on the Suspension of Legal Proceedings, October 1765 [14]
  7. Cortlandt Skinner to Thomas Boone, October 5, 1765 [16]
  8. The Essex County Stamp Act Resolves, October 25, 1765 [18]
  9. "The Effigy of a Wretch" Hanged in New Brunswick, October 29, 1765 [19]
  10. Copy of a Letter from Trenton in New Jersey, November 5, 1765 [20]
  11. The Stamp Act Resolves of the New Jersey Assembly, November 30, 1765 [22]
  12. "A Lover of Liberty" to the Woodbridge Sons of Liberty, February 1766 [24]
  13. The Resolutions of the Woodbridge Sons of Liberty, February 26, 1766 [27]
  14. Richard Smith to the Committee of Correspondence of the New York City Sons of Liberty, March 15, 1766 [28]
  15. Woodbridge Celebrates the Repeal of the Stamp Act, June 5, 1766 [30]

II. Taxes and Troops

  1. Richard Stockton to Samuel Smith, March 21, 1767  [34]
  2. British Soldiers Riot in Elizabethtown, July 27, 1767  [38]
  3. Samuel Allinson to David Cooper, January 1, 1768 [40]
  4. The Petition of the New Jersey Assembly to George III, May 6, 1768 [42]
  5. Governor William Franklin to Lord Hillsborough, November 23, 1768 [44]
  6. Residents of Gloucester County to Robert Friend Price and John Hinchman, October 3, 1769 [46]
  7. The Resoultion of the New Jersey Assembly Supporting the Boycott to Oppose Townshend
  8. Duties, October 18, 1769 [48]
  9. The Address of the Magistrates, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of New Brunswick to Major
  10. Charles Preston, May 14, 1770 [49]
  11. The Essex County Nonimportation Resolves, June 5, 1770 [50]
  12. Protest Activities at the College of New Jersey, July, 1770 [52]
  13. Public Coercion of Importers in Middlesex County, August, 1770 [53]
  14. The Mansfield Township Resistance Resolutions, August 13, 1770 [55]
  15. "Cethegus" on Nonimportation, September 25, 1770 [57]
  16. Hunterdon County Freeholders to John Hart and Samuel Tucker, May 1771 [59]
  17. Aaron Leaming to his Cape May Constituents, May 26, 1771 [61]

III. The Common Cause

  1. The Committee of Correspondence of the New Jersey Assembly to the Boston Committee of Correspondence,May 31, 1774 [67]
  2. The Essex County Resolves on the Boston Port Act, June 11, 1774 [69]
  3. James Kinsey to Elias Boudinot, June 14 and July 2, 1774  [73]
  4. The Resolves of the New Brunswick Convention, July 23, 1774  [76]
  5. "B.N." on the Continental Congress, July 25, 1774  [78]
  6. "Z" on the Nature of the Imperial Controversy, July 29, 1774 [82]
  7. The Reverend John Witherspoon, "Thoughts on American Liberty," August 1774 [85]
  8. Samuel Allinson to Patrick Henry, October 17, 1774 [87]
  9. The Essex County Grand Jury to Chief Justice Frederick Smyth, November 1, 1774  [89]
  10. "Z" on the Continental Congress, November 19, 1774  [91]
  11. The Call for the Election of Essex County Committees of Observation, November 28, 1774  [95]
  12. The Elizabethtown Association Resolutions, December 6, 1774  [97]
  13. Governor William Franklin to Lord Dartmouth, December 6, 1774  [99]
  14. The Cumberland County Committee Proceedings on the Greenwhich Tea Party, December 22-23, 1774  [100]
  15. "A Freeholder" to the Essex County Committee, January 5, 1775  [102]

IV. The Die is Cast

  1. "Y" to "Z" on Political Apostasy, January 5, 1775  [106]
  2. Governor William Franklin to the General Assembly, January 13, 1775  [109]
  3. The Testimony of the People Called Quakers, January 24, 1775  [111]
  4. The New Jersey Assembly's Endorsement of the Action of the Continental Congress, January 24, 1775 [113]
  5. "A Jersey Farmer" Proposes a Loyalist Association, January 26, 1775  [114]
  6. The Nottingham Petition to the Legislature, January 30, 1775  [115]
  7. The New Jersey Assembly's Petition of Grievances to George III, February 13, 1775  [117]
  8. John Hatton, Jr., to Thomas Hatton, February 17, 1775  [120]
  9. "Essex" to "D.C." on Intercolonial Unity, March 25, 1775  [125]
  10. Chief Justice Frederick Smyth to the Middlesex County Grand Jury, April 4, 1775  [127]
  11. Elias Boudinot to the Morris County Committee, April 30, 1775  [132]
  12. Jemina Condict on the Outbreak of Warfare, October 1, 1774-May 1, 1775  [134]
  13. Jonathan Elmer, Address to the Inhabitants of Cumberland County, May 1775 [135]
  14. The Bergen County Association, May 12, 1775  [139]
  15. Charles Clinton Beatty to Elizabeth Beattly, May 28, 1775  [140]

V. From Resistance to Rebellion

  1. The New Jersey Provincial Association, May 31, 1775 [143]
  2. "A Jersey Farmer" on Securing the Rights of Englishmen, June 14, 1775  [145]
  3. Minutes of the Shrewsbury Township Committee, June 19, 1775-February 29, 1776 [147]
  4. Daniel Coxe to Cortlandt Skinner, July 4, 1775  [151]
  5. Richard Cayford Proclaimed "An Enemy to the Rights of America" July 22, 1775  [153]
  6. John Conway to the Provincial Congress, July 31, 1775  [153]
  7. Governor William Franklin to Lord Dartmouth, August 2, 1775  [155]
  8. Charles Pettit to Joseph Reed, August 10, 1775  [156]
  9. Enforcement of the Association in Sussex County, August 10-11, 1775  [158]
  10. A Burlington County Petition to the Legislature on Reconciliation, November 1775  [160]
  11. John De Hart to the General Assembly, November 13, 1775  [161]
  12. The Reverend Philip Vickers Fithian Describes the Martial State of South Jersey, November 13, 1775  [163]
  13. The New Jersey Assembly Resolves Against Independence, November 28, 1775  [164]
  14. Cortlandt Skinner to William Skinner, December 1775  [165]
  15. "Lycurgus" on Independence, December 4, 1775  [167]
  16. Thomas Randolph Tarred and Feathered, December 6, 1775  [169]
  17. The Recantation of Ezekiel Beach, December 23, 1775  [170]
  18. A Tory Roundup in Sussex County, December 26, 1775  [171]

VI. Empire or Independence

  1. The "Plain Dealer" on Political Divisions, January 2, 1776  [174]
  2. The Political Creed of "Shary O'Brion," January 22, 1776  [175]
  3. The Salem County Petition to the Provincial Congress on Suffrage Reform, February 1776  [178]
  4. Joseph Brearley to David Brearley, March 7, 1776  [179]
  5. Charles Pettit to Joseph Reed, March 25, 1776  [181]
  6. [Ebenezer Elmer?], Valedictory Address to Captain Joseph Bloomfield's
  7. Company of Continental Forces, March 26, 1776 [183]
  8. Chief Justice Frederick Smyth to the Middlesex County Grand Jury, April 1776  [186]
  9. The Middlesex County Grand Jury to Chief Justice Frederick Smyth, April 1776  [190]
  10. "Cimon" on the Necessity of Independence, April 1776  [192]
  11. Elias Boudinot versus John Witherspoon on Independence, April 18, 1776  [195]
  12. The Reverend John Witherspoon, "On the Controversy About Independence," April-May 1776  [198]

VII. From Colony to State

  1. John Stevens to Governor William Franklin, June 1776 [202]
  2. A Loyalist Petition to the Provincial Congress Against Independence, June 1776 [203]
  3. Elias Boudinot, "Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs, "June 11, 1776 [205]
  4. The Provincial Congress Orders the Arrest of Governor William Franklin, June 14-15, 1776 [209]
  5. The Instructions for the New Jersey Delegates in the Continental Congress to Vote for Independence,
  6. June 22, 1776 [210]
  7. The Constitution of the State of New Jersey, July 2, 1776 [212]
  8. Abraham Clark to Elias Dayton, July 4, 1776  [218]
  9. Princeton and Trenton Celebrate American Independence, July 8-10, 1776  [219] <
  10. Joseph Barton to Henry Wisner, July 9, 1776  [221]
  11. An Ordinance for Punishing Treason and Counterfeiting, July 18, 1776  [222]
  12. Abraham Clark to Elias Dayton, August 6, 1776  [223]
  13. Jonathan Elmer, Adress to the Residents of Cumberland County, August 7, 1776  [225]
  14. Governor William Livingston to the New Jersey State Legislature, September 11, 1776  [228]

VIII. The Loyalist Opposition

  1. James Moody, The Making of a Loyalist, 1774-1777  [234]
  2. The Reverend Thomas Bradbury Chandler, Flight into Exile, May 15-25, 1775  [237]
  3. "A Mechanic" to Bernardus La Grange, June 1776  [239]
  4. The Reverend Jonathan Odell to the Reverend Thomas Bradbury Chandler, January 7, 1777  [242]
  5. Tory Prisoners Describe Conditions in the Morris County Jail, July 1777  [246]
  6. Joseph Hedden, Jr., to Governor William Livingston, July 9, 1777  [248]
  7. William Franklin to Governor Jonathan Trumbull, September 15, 1777  [249]
  8. Robert Lawrence to the Legislature on Martial Law, October 7, 1777  [252]
  9. Robert Morris to Gouverneur Morris, December 11, 1777  [254]
  10. John Cleves Symmes to Governor William Livingston, January 7, 1779  [256]
  11. A Writ Ordering the Sale of Confiscated Property in Monmouth County, April 29, 1779  [259]
  12. Samuel Ryerse to George Ryerse, May 19, 1781  [260] <
  13. Governor William Livingston to Robert Livingston, April 22, 1782  [263]
  14. John Rutherfurd to A Member of the Legislature, May 17, 1783  [265]
  15. Hunterdon County Residents Petition to the Legislature to Banish Loyalists, 1783  [268]
  16. The Monmouth County Association to Oppose the Return of Loyalists, 1783  [270]
  17. Bernardus La Grange, A Loyalist Testimonial, November 1783  [272]
  18. Cortlandt Skinner, The Odyssey of a Loyalist, March 25, 1784  [275]

IX. War and Peace

  1. Margaret Morris, A Woman's View of the War, December 6, 1776-January 11, 1777 [282]
  2. An Aide-de-camp to General Washington Recounts the Battle of Trenton, December 22-27, 1776  [287]
  3. An Octogenarian Jerseyman Recalls the Battle of Princeton, January 1-3, 1777  [291]
  4. The Reverend Alexander MacWhorter on British Brutality, March 12, 1777    [296]
  5. Ebenezer Hazard, Journey Through Warton New Jersey, August 5-14, 1777  [298]
  6. The Reverend Nicholas Collin on the Ravages of War, February-June 1778  [302]
  7. General George Washington Recounts the Battle of Monmouth Court House, July 4, 1778  [306]
  8. Colonel Sylvanus Seeley Describes the Battles of Connecticut Farms and Springfield, June 7-23, 1780  [309]
  9. The Killing of Hannah Caldwell, June 7, 1780  [312]
  10. "A British Officer" on Guerilla Warfare, June 20, 1780  [313] Residents of Trenton Celebrate the Victory at Yorktown, October 31, 1781  [314]
  11. Residents of Princeton Celebrate the End of the War, April 21, 1783  [317]
  12. William Peartree Smith to Elias Boudinot, April 1783  [319]
  13. David Bonnel, Sr., Inventory of Property Losses, May 25, 1789  [322]

X. Citizen Soldiers

  1. Philip Vickers Fithian to Elizabeth Fithian, July 19, 1776  [326]
  2. Andrew Hunter, Jr., The Life of an Army Chaplain, August 6-September 1, 1776  [329]
  3. [William Churchill Houston?], The Campaign Journal of a Militiaman, November 29, 1776-June 30, 1777  [332]
  4. Governor William Livingston to Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson, January 14, 1777  [336]
  5. A Woman in Arms, March 20?, 1777  [337]
  6. Colonel Elijah Hand to Colonel Charles Mawhood, March 22, 1778  [337]
  7. Colonel Joseph Ellis to Governor William Livingston, March 23, 1778  [339]
  8. "Belinda" Encourages Women to Reject Reconciliation and Support the War, May 6, 1778 [340]
  9. Lieutenant Shepard Kollock to Colonel John Lamb, May 15, 1778  [342]
  10. "Molly Pitcher" at the Battle of Monmouth Court House, June 28, 1778  [343]
  11. Memorial of the Officers of the New Jersey Brigade to the Legislature, April 17, 1779  [344]
  12. Dr. James Thacher Describes the Hardships of the Winter Encampment at Morristown, December 1779-March 1780  [345]
  13. Formation of Women's Relief Society, July 4, 1780  [348]
  14. Lieutenant Colonel Francis Barber to Colonel Jonathan Dayton, February 28, 1781  [350]
  15. John C. Post, Pension Petition to the Legislature, [undated]  [352]
  16. Samuel Sutphen, Wartime Experience of a New Jersey Slave, ca. 1834  [354]

XI. Government at War

  1. New Jersey State Loyalty Oath, September 19, 1776  [363]
  2. John Bray to Andrew Bray, December 17, 1776  [364]
  3. A Bergen County Oath of Allegiance, January 28, 1777  [365]
  4. General George Washington to the New Jersey Legislature, January 31, 1777  [366]
  5. Governor William Livingston, Speech to the Legislature on the State of the State, February 25, 1777  [368]
  6. Thomas Powell on Inflation, August 15, 1777  [373]
  7. Governor William Livingston to John Hancock, October 4, 1777  [374]
  8. The Magistrates of Trenton to General George Washington, January 2, 1778  [375]
  9. Residents of Cape May to Governor William Livingston, March 10, 1778  [377]
  10. Samuel Allinson to Governor William Livingston, July 13, 1778  [379]
  11. Governor William Livingston to Samuel Allinson, July 25, 1778  [384]
  12. General George Washington to Governor William Livingston, March 3, 1779  [387]
  13. Colonel John Taylor to Governor William Livingston, September 25, 1779  [389]
  14. Abraham Skinner to Governor William Livingston, September 9, 1780  [391]
  15. Essex County Residents to the General Assembly on Tory Raiders, 1781?  [393]
  16. Residents of Monmouth County to the General Assembly on the State of the Economy, May 12, 1781  [395]
  17. Residents of Monmouth County to the General Assembly on Vigilantism, December 1781  [397]
  18. Residents of Essex County to the General Assembly on Trade with the Enemy, [undated]  [399]

XII. An Imperfect Union

  1. John Witherspoon, Speech in the Continental Congress on the Necessity of Confederation, July 30, 1776  [404]
  2. New Jersey Legislature, Proposed Amendments to the Articles of Confederation, June 15-16, 1778  [407]
  3. Nathaniel Scudder to John Hart, July 13, 1778  [412]
  4. New Jersey Legislature, Ratification of the Articles of Confederation, November 20, 1778  [415]
  5. John Fell to Governor William Livingston, March 25, 1779  [416]
  6. "A True Patriot" on Increased National Authority, February 8, 1781  [418]

XIII. The Spirit of '76

  1. Isaac Collins Announces the First Newspaper in New Jersey, December 5, 1777  [423]
  2. "Cato" on the Characteristics of Representatives, January 7, 1778  [425]
  3. "Cato" on the "Importance of a Liberal Education to Civil Society," January 14, 1778  [427]
  4. "An Elector" Compares the British and American Systems of Government, March 4, 1778  [429]
  5. "Hortentius" [William Livingston] Satirizes the British Political System, September 9, 1778  [431]
  6. John Cooper Advocates the Abolition of Slavery, September 20, 1780  [437]
  7. "A Freeman" on the Electoral Process as a Safeguard of Liberty, October 4, 1780  [440]
  8. "A Whig" Opposes the Manumission of Slaves, October 4, 1780  [442]
  9. "A Friend to Justice" Supports the Manumission of Slaves, November 8, 1780  [445]
  10. "Homo Sum" Advocates Gradual Emancipation Rather than Immediate Abolition, March 21, 1781  [448]
  11. The Reverend John Witherspoon on the Relationship Between Religion and Civil Society, April 1783  [452]
  12. Governor William Livingston on the Republican Challenge, May 19, 1783  [455]
  13. Ashbel Green, Sr., to Ashbel Green, Jr., June 26, 1840  [456]

Index

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