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New Jersey
Map
CountryUnited States
Admitted to the UnionDecember 18, 1787 (3rd)
CapitalTrenton
Largest cityNewark
Government
 • GovernorRichard Codey (acting)
 • Upper house{{{Upperhouse}}}
 • Lower house{{{Lowerhouse}}}
U.S. senators{{{Senators}}}
Population
 • Total8,414,350
 • Density1,130/sq mi (438/km2)
Language
 • Official languageNone defined
Latitude38°55'N to 41°21'23"N
Longitude73°53'39"W to 75°35'W

New Jersey is the most densely populated state of the United States of America and has the U.S. postal abbreviation of NJ. It is also the fifth smallest state. The state is named after the island of Jersey in the English Channel.

History

Once inhabited by the tribes of the Lenape indians, the first Europeans to settle the region were the Dutch in the early 1630s, who formed a settlement at present-day Jersey City. At the time, much of what is now New Jersey was claimed as part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, which also included parts of present-day New York State and had its capital at New Amsterdam, now known as New York City. Some of southwestern New Jersey also was settled by the Swedes in the mid-1600s as part of the Swedish colony of New Sweden, which included parts of Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania. These territories were taken by the Dutch in 1654 and incorporated into New Netherland.

The entire region became a territory of Britain in 1664 when a British fleet under the command of Colonel Richard Nicolls sailed into what is today New York Harbor and took over the colony. They met minimal resistance, perhaps because of the unpopularity of the Dutch colonial governor, Peter Stuyvesant. The newly taken lands were divided by King Charles II of England, who gave his brother, the Duke of York (later King James II) the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony (as opposed to a royal colony). James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River (the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had been loyal through the English Civil War: Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton.

During the English Civil War the Island of Jersey remained loyal to The English Crown and gave sanctuary to the King. It was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was first proclaimed King of England in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I of England. In 1663 in recognition of his loyalty to the English Crown Sir George Carteret, Jersey's Royalist Governor, was gifted a large tract of land in North America henceforth known as New Jersey.

Settlement for the first 10 years of English rule was in the Hudson River region and came primarily from New England. The first permanent English settlement was Elizabethtown, now Elizabeth. On March 18, 1673 Berkeley sold his half of New Jersey to Quakers in England (with William Penn acting as trustee for a time) who settled the Delaware Valley region as a Quaker colony. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces, West Jersey and East Jersey, for the 28 years between 1674 and 1702. In 1702 the two provinces were united under a royal, rather than a proprietary, governor.

Revolutionary War Era

New Jersey was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.

During the War for Independence, British and American armies crossed New Jersey several times.

In December, 1776, the Continental Army under George Washington crossed the Delaware River and engaged Hessian troops in the Battle of Trenton. The river crossing has become an iconic moment in the early history of the United States of America, having been immortalized in Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.

This image was also chosen to represent the State of New Jersey on the reverse side of the 1999 New Jersey State Quarter released by the United States Mint.

Slightly more than a week after victory at Trenton, on January 3, 1777, the American forces scored an important victory over the British under Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.

In the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall at Princeton University, making Princeton the nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783) which ended the war.

On November 20, 1789 the state became the first in the newly-formed Union to ratify the Bill of Rights.

Ironically, on February 15, 1804 New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery by enacting legislation that slowly phased out slavery. However, by the close of the Civil War, several African-Americans in New Jersey were still in bondage and New Jersey initially refused to ratify the Constitutional Amendments banning Slavery and granting rights to America's black population.

Law and government

See: List of Governors of New Jersey; New Jersey Legislature

The capital of New Jersey is Trenton. Richard Codey (Democrat) is the acting governor, who serves in that office as President of the State Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former Governor James E. McGreevey on November 15, 2004. His term will expire in January 2006. The state's two U.S. Senators are Frank R. Lautenberg (Democrat) and Jon Corzine (Democrat). New Jersey has 13 Congressional Districts.

Internally, New Jersey is a bipartisan state; the Governorship has alternated between the parties since the election of William T. Cahill in 1970; the legislature has also switched hands, and one house was evenly divided in 1999-2001. Three of the last four Gubernatorial elections have been records in closeness. The Congressional seats have also been as evenly divided as thirteen seats can be. In national elections, the state now tends to lean towards the national Democratic Party.

It was, however, a Republican stronghold for years in the past, having given comfortable margins of victory to the Republican candidate in the close elections of 1948, 1968 and 1976. The state was a crucial swing state in the elections of 1960, 1968 and 1992. It was named as a possible swing again in the 2004 election, following the September 11 terrorist attacks on nearby New York City and President Bush's policies after those attacks. In nationa' elections, the state has given large victories to Democrats in the 1990's, while in the 2004 presidential election it was a little more close, but still an somewhat easy victory (with Kerry defeating Bush by about 6%). The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey was Clifford P. Case in 1979. (Nicholas Brady was appointed a U.S. Senator by Governor Thomas Kean in 1982 after Harrison A. Williams resigned the Senate seat following the Abscam investigations. Brady served eight months.)

The state's Democratic strongholds include Mercer County around the cities of Trenton and Princeton; Essex County and Hudson County, the state's two most urban counties, around the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City; as well as in Camden County and most of the other urban communities just outside of Philadelphia and New York City. More suburban New York bordering counties such as Union and Middlesex counties are also largely Democratic, as well as Atlantic City and the area around it.

The more suburban northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are strongholds for the Republican party: Republicans have strong backing along the coast in Ocean County and in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially Sussex County and Morris County and Warren County. Somerset and Hunterdon counties, more suburban counties in the region, are also Republican, but recently, with new immigration coming to these counties from Northern New Jersey and New York City, they are beginning to become more evenly divided. In the 2004 General Election, Bush recieved about 51% in Somerset and 56% in Hunterdon, while up in rural Republican Sussex County Bush got about 64%.

About half of the counties in New Jersey, however, are considered swing counties, but some go more one way than others. For an example, Bergen County, which leans Republican in the northern half of the county, is mostly Democratic in the more populated southern parts, causing it to usually vote slightly Democratic (same with Passaic County, with a highly populated hispanic Democratic south and a rural, Republican north), other "swing" counties like Cape May tend to go Republican, as they also have population in conservative areas.

State Constitution

The constitution was adopted in 1947. It provides for a bicameral Legislature consisting of a Senate of 40 members and an Assembly of 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one Senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected by the people for a two year term in all odd-numbered years; Senators are elected in the years ending in 1, 3, and 7 and thus serve either four or two year terms.

The New Jersey Supreme Court [1] consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of a majority of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70.

Geography

See: List of New Jersey counties.
New Jersey is broadly divided into three geographic regions: they are North Jersey, Central Jersey, and South Jersey. North Jersey is within New York City's general sphere of influence, with many of its residents commuting into the city for work. Central Jersey is a largely suburban area, while South Jersey is within Philadelphia's general sphere of influence. Such geographic definitions are broad, however, and there is often dispute over where one region begins and another ends.

High Point Sussex County is the highest elevation in the state.

New York Harbor, with views of Jersey City, in North Jersey, and its Gold Coast featuring Goldman Sachs Tower.

New Jersey is bordered on the north and northeast by New York, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania (the latter two across the Delaware River.) Prominent geographic features include:

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Jersey's total state product in 2003 was $397 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was $39,577, 3rd in the United States of America.

Its agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and dairy products. In particular, cranberries and eggplant are two of the state's largest crops. Its industrial outputs are pharmaceutical and chemical products, food processing, electric equipment, printing and publishing, and tourism. New Jersey's economy has a large base of industry and chemical manufacturing. Although the state is certainly not defined by these activities, their existence and visibility to those passing through the state along some of its major highways does contribute to many jokes about pollution and ironic plays on the state's nickname, the "Garden State."

Demographics

As of 2004, the population of New Jersey was estimated to be 8,698,879. There are 1.6 million foreign-born living in the state (accounting for 19.2% of the state population), including an estimated 221,000 illegal aliens (2.5% of the state population). New Jersey the tenth most populous U.S. state.

The state's population increased by 969,000 from 1990 to 2004, a 12.5% increase.

Race and Ancestry

The racial makeup of New Jersey is:

New Jersey has the 15th largest percentage of minority residents of any state and the 2nd highest percentage in the North. New Jersey has the 10th highest level of racial and ethnic diversity in the nation.

Race/ethnicity citation with state percentages: [2]

Diversity index citation with state percentages: [3]

It also has the second largest percentage of Jews (after New York), the second largest percentage of Muslims (after Michigan), and one of the largest percentages of immigrants in the country (trailing only California and New York and just ahead of Illinois, Texas, and Florida).

New Jersey is the third most Italian-American state in the nation, according to the 2000 Census, and has one of the largest percentages of Blacks, Hispanics, Arabs, and Asians in the country.

Ancestry citation with state percentages: [4]

The five largest ancestry groups in New Jersey are: Italian (17.9%), Irish (15.9%), African American (13.6%), German (12.6%), Polish (6.9%).

Newark and Camden are two of the poorest cities in America, but New Jersey as a whole has the highest median household income in the nation, as well as the second highest per capita income, after Connecticut. This is largely due to the fact that so much of New Jersey is comprised of suburbs, most of them affluent, of New York City and Philadelphia. New Jersey is also the most densely populated state in the nation, and the first and only state that has had every one of its 21 counties deemed "urban", as opposed to rural.

6.7% of its population were reported as under 5, 24.8% under 18, and 13.2% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.5% of the population.

Religion

The religious affiliations of adults of New Jersey are:

New Jersey Culture

Music

New Jersey has long been an important area for both rock and rap music, with many artists coming from the state, they include the musicans listed at the bottom.

  • Frank Sinatra was born December 12, 1915, the only child of working-class Italian-American immigrants, in a tenement at 415 Monroe St. in Hoboken. He sang with a neighborhood vocal group, the Hoboken Four, and appeared in neighborhood theater amateur shows before he became an entertainment legend and Academy Award winning actor.
  • Musician Bruce Springsteen has sung of New Jersey life on his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and in many of his most popular songs, including "Atlantic City", "Born to Run", "Darlington County", "Freehold", "Jersey Girl" (written by Tom Waits), "Jungleland", "Spirit in the Night", and others. Fellow musician Jon Bon Jovi has also written many songs about New Jersey and even named one of his albums after it.
  • Asbury Park, home of The Stone Pony, where Springsteen and Bon Jovi frequented early in their careers, is still considered by many to be a mecca for up-and-coming musicians.
  • Former Fugee Lauryn Hill, a South Orange resident, is hip-hop's best-selling solo female artist. Her 1998 debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, sold 10 million copies internationally.
  • Hip-hop's longest running radio show was founded by two Jerseyans, Special K (Kevin Bonners) and Teddy Ted (Ted Whiting) of Hackensack, who began on New York's WHBI in 1982 and now appear on WPAT-AM.
  • Musical artists Fountains of Wayne [5]are a group of New Jerseyians who took the name of a semi-famous lawn and garden store [6] on Route 46 in Wayne, New Jersey (also featured on an episode of The Sopranos). Another emerging New Jersey band is Seven and the Sun [7].
  • Emo lately has found its home in New Jersey, particularly near New Brunswick, New Jersey. Such bands that fit into this category include Thursday, My Chemical Romance, Midtown, Senses Fail, Saves The Day, Hidden In Plain View, The Early November, Armor For Sleep, Outmarting Simon, Denver In Dallas, and many more.
  • Punk music is also an important alternative style in New Jersey, perhaps starting with the band that essentially invented hardcore, The Misfits from Lodi, in the 90's, The Bouncing Souls and Catch 22 were also prominent figures in New Jersey punk.
  • The DeLeo brothers of Stone Temple Pilots are both from New Jersey. The brothers, Dean and Robert, are the guitarist and bassist for the band.
  • The Bloodhound Gang produced a song called "The 10 Coolest Things About New Jersey," which consists of 10 seconds of complete silence.
  • Pete Yorn is another New Jersey artist. He has two albums out: musicforthemorningafter (2001) and Day I Forgot (2003).
  • Finally, in the future, New Jersey's garage bands have become more based in 00's alternative rock and classic rock revival, two styles to expect to hear more coming out of New Jersey.

TV and film

Motion pictures and televisions shows also have been set in New Jersey. The popular television drama The Sopranos depicts the life of a New Jersey organized crime family and is filmed on location at various places throughout the state.

The 2004 Sundance Film Festival favorite Garden State (starring Zach Braff and Natalie Portman) was shot on location in Morris Township. Also, the popular animated series Megas XLR and Aqua Teen Hunger Force take place primarily in New Jersey.

Director Kevin Smith sets many of his films in New Jersey, particularly his "New Jersey Trilogy" of Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy. The 2004 movie, Jersey Girl, is also based in New Jersey. Clerks also had a short-lived animated series spin-off with the same name. It took place in the same locations as the movie.

The 2004 stoner film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle took place in New Jersey. Several locations seen in the movie include Princeton University, Newark, New Brunswick, and a fictional White Castle in Cherry Hill.

Although supposedly set in New York, the 2003 movie School of Rock was filmed primarily in Edison and Mahwah, perhaps due to the significance these towns have on rock music, also, the actor who played Lawrence in school of rock is from New Jersey.

Also the movie called 'Big' with Tom Hanks took place in Beger County New Jersey.

Urban legends

Many believe in a creature called the Jersey Devil, an evil demon born to a human mother who terrorizes the population of the Pine Barrens. It is also known sometimes as the Leeds Devil. New Jersey is also home to several other urban legends, such as the ghost of Annie's Road in Totowa, Midgetville in Edgewater, Albino Village in Clifton, the haunted and demon-possessed Clinton Road in West Milford, and the Witch of Igoe Road in Marlboro. Camp NoBeBoSco in Blairstown was also the setting of the original Friday the 13th movie, which was partially based on real murders that have occurred near the campground, in the state's very rural northwest. Such horror stories were the inspiration behind the now nationally-famous Weird NJ magazine and website.

Miscellaneous

The properties in the United States version of the board game Monopoly are named after the streets of Atlantic City.

Diner Freehold NJ

Transportation

The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the best-known and most-trafficked roadways in the USA. This toll road carries interstate traffic between Delaware and New York. Commonly referred to as simply "the Turnpike," it is also known for its numerous rest-areas named after prominent New Jerseyans as varied as inventor Thomas Edison; United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; U.S. Presidents Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, ; writers James Fenimore Cooper, Joyce Kilmer, and Walt Whitman; patriot Molly Pitcher; Red Cross advocate Clara Barton, and football coach Vince Lombardi.

The Garden State Parkway, or just "the Parkway," carries more in-state traffic, and runs from the town of Montvale along New Jersey's northern border with New York to the southernmost tip of the state at Cape May. It is true that some New Jersey residents who live near the Parkway or the Turnpike (a majority of the state population) locate their hometowns according to their respective highway exits, though very few New Jerseyans living anywhere else in the state will do so. It also acts as the trunk that connects the New York metropolitan area to Atlantic City.

Other expressways in New Jersey include the Atlantic City Expressway, Palisades Interstate Parkway, Interstate 76, Interstate 78, and Interstate 80.

The New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) operates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. NJ Transit is a state-run corporation that began with the consolidation of several private bus companies in North Jersey. In the early 1980s, it acquired the commuter train operations of CONRAIL that connect towns in northern and central New Jersey to New York City. In 1989, NJ Transit began service between Atlantic City and Lindenwold, extending it to Philadelphia in the 1990s.

New Jersey has interstate compacts with all three neighboring states. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Delaware River Port Authority (with Pennsylvania), and the Delaware River and Bay Authority (with Delaware) operate most of the major transportation routes into and out of New Jersey. Tolls for the bridges are charged in one direction - it's free to get into New Jersey, but you have to pay to get out. The Scudders Falls bridge on I-95 near Trenton is still free as of this writing.

Newark Liberty International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who runs the other two major airports in the New York City region: John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, it is one of the main airports serving the New York City area. Continental Airlines is Newark's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal at Newark which they use as a hub. United Airlines and FedEx operate cargo hubs. The airport has its own ralroad station on New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor Line which is also served by Amtrak.

See also: List of New Jersey State Highways

Important cities and towns

Map of New Jersey showing major roads and cities

Major cities (and their populations):

see also: List of Municipalities in New Jersey (by population)

Large Cities (+ 100,000 pop.)

  • Newark: 273546 (Census Estimate 2003: 278,000)
  • Jersey City: 240055 (Census Estimate 2003: 242,000)
  • Paterson: 149222 (Census Estimate 2003: 152,000)
  • Elizabeth: 120568 (Census Estimate 2003: 124,000)
  • Edison 97687 (Census Estimate 2003: 101,000)
  • Woodbridge: 97203 (Census Estimate 2003: 108,000)

Small Cities (60,000-99,999 pop.)

Other (59,999 -)

The following communities are college towns or other notable places in New Jersey with under 60,000 people.

Wealth of cities by per capita income:

see also: New Jersey locations by per capita income

1 Mantoloking, New Jersey $114,017
2 Saddle River, New Jersey $85,934
3 Far Hills, New Jersey $81,535
4 Essex Fells, New Jersey $77,434
5 Alpine, New Jersey $76,995
6 Millburn, New Jersey $76,796
7 Rumson, New Jersey $73,692
8 Harding Township, New Jersey $72,689
9 Teterboro, New Jersey $72,613
10 Bernardsville, New Jersey $69,854

693 Newark, New Jersey $13,009
694 Laurel Lake, New Jersey $12,965
695 Passaic, New Jersey $12,874
696 Seabrook Farms, New Jersey $12,499
697 McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey $12,364
698 New Hanover Township, New Jersey $12,140
699 Lakewood, New Jersey $11,802
700 Bridgeton, New Jersey $10,917
701 Fort Dix, New Jersey $10,543
702 Camden, New Jersey $9,815

Education

Although some problems exist in certain inner city neighborhoods, New Jersey overall is considered to have one of the best public education systems in the United States. In addition, 54% of high school graduates continue on to college or university, tied with Massachusetts for the second highest rate in the nation (North Dakota holds first place at 59%. New Jersey also has the highest average scores for advanced placement testing in public schools in the nation.

New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers than any other state. [8]

Colleges and universities

Institution Name, Location

In addition to the above institutions, there are 19 community colleges, serving the 21 counties in the state.

Institution Name, Location

Professional sports teams

Miscellaneous Information

The USS New Jersey, one of the most decorated vessels in the United States Navy, was named in honor of this state and is now a tourist attraction in Camden, New Jersey.


Miscellaneous

The properties in the United States version of the board game Monopoly are named after the streets of Atlantic City.

The state vegetable of New Jersey is the tomato, making it unique among the states in that its state vegetable is actually a fruit.

Transportation

The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the best-known and most-trafficked roadways in the USA. This toll road carries interstate traffic between Delaware and New York. Commonly referred to as simply "the Turnpike," it is also known for its numerous rest-areas named after prominent New Jerseyans as varied as inventor Thomas Edison; United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; U.S. Presidents Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, ; writers James Fenimore Cooper, Joyce Kilmer, and Walt Whitman; patriot Molly Pitcher; Red Cross advocate Clara Barton, and football coach Vince Lombardi.

The Garden State Parkway, or just "the Parkway," carries more in-state traffic, and runs from the town of Montvale along New Jersey's northern border with New York to the southernmost tip of the state at Cape May. It is true that some New Jersey residents who live near the Parkway or the Turnpike (a majority of the state population) locate their hometowns according to their respective highway exits, though very few New Jerseyans living anywhere else in the state will do so. It also acts as the trunk that connects the New York metropolitan area to Atlantic City.

Other expressways in New Jersey include the Atlantic City Expressway, Palisades Interstate Parkway, Interstate 76, Interstate 78, and Interstate 80.

The New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) operates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. NJ Transit is a state-run corporation that began with the consolidation of several private bus companies in North Jersey. In the early 1980s, it acquired the commuter train operations of CONRAIL that connect towns in northern and central New Jersey to New York City. In 1989, NJ Transit began service between Atlantic City and Lindenwold, extending it to Philadelphia in the 1990s.

New Jersey has interstate compacts with all three neighboring states. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Delaware River Port Authority (with Pennsylvania), and the Delaware River and Bay Authority (with Delaware) operate most of the major transportation routes into and out of New Jersey. Tolls for the bridges are charged in one direction - it's free to get into New Jersey, but you have to pay to get out. The Scudders Falls bridge on I-95 near Trenton is still free as of this writing.

Newark Liberty International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who runs the other two major airports in the New York City region: John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, it is one of the main airports serving the New York City area. Continental Airlines is Newark's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal at Newark which they use as a hub. United Airlines and FedEx operate cargo hubs. The airport has its own ralroad station on New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor Line which is also served by Amtrak.

See also: List of New Jersey State Highways

 United States