New Jersey Before The Civil War
 
  • New Jersey and Slavery

    • New Jersey and her small, developing farms had supported a slave-based agricultural society since 1664 during the colonial and post Revolutionary eras. "Enslaved Africans came into New York and New Jersey from Jamaica, Barbados, Curacao, and Antigua"  (Hodges, 10).

    The first slave community was not agricultural, however.  The first "...slave community in Monmouth was industrial rather than agricultural, being established at Lewis Morris's iron mine and forge at Tinton Falls, in Shrewsbury Township"  (Hodges, 9).  Lewis Morris and his family had a great deal of economic and political clout  and were "...ruling figures in colonial New Jersey" (Hodges, 10).  The use of slaves by the Morris family made it acceptable and "...set the tone for other Monmouth residents"  (Hodges, 10).

    During the Revolutionary War, many slaves fought on the side of the Loyalists.  Colonel Tye, a former slave, fought successfully at the Battle of Monmouth.

    After the Revolution, New Jersey slaves moved toward freedom.  In 1804,  New Jersey passed "An Act For The Gradual Abolition of Slavery.  It was a slow process in the move toward granting emancipation of blacks.  It was not until 1830 that most blacks were free in New Jersey.

    In the Presidential election of 1860, New Jersey was pro-Southern.  New Jersey supported Democrat Stephen Douglas in 1860, "...making it the only free state not awarding its electoral votes to Abraham Lincoln"  (Hodges, 189).  In 1864,"New Jersey repeated its rejection of Lincoln by voting for his Democratic opponent, George B. McClellan, in the presidential election, the only northern state to do so"  (Hodges, 192).
     Although the slaves were free in New Jersey by 1830, blacks did not have full rights of citizenship and could not vote.  Blacks participated in politics by supporting abolitionists.   In the 1830's, an antislavery society was established in Newark, New Jersey.

    New Jersey had an extensive underground railroad system set up.  "Quaker homes in Upper Freehold reportedly served as safe houses on the underground railroad"  (Hodges, 182).
    Peter Mott, an African American farmer also had a safe house in Lawnside, New Jersey.