Separate Paths: Lenapes and Colonists in West New Jersey (CERES: Rutgers Studies in History)

New Jersey holds a unique place in the American story. One of the thirteen colonies in British North Amer i ca and the original states of the United States, New Jersey plays a central yet underappreciated place in Amer i ca's economic, po liti cal, and social development. New Jersey's axial position as the nation's fi nancial, intellectual, and po liti cal corridor has become something of a signature, evident in quips about the Turnpike and punchlines that end with its many exits. Yet New Jersey is more than a crossroad or an interstitial "elsewhere. " Far from being ancillary to the nation, New Jersey is an axis around which Amer i ca's story has turned, and within its borders gather a rich collection of ideas, innovations, people, and politics. Th e region's historical development makes it a microcosm of the challenges and possibilities of the nation, and it also refl ects the complexities of the modern, cosmopolitan world. Yet far too litt le of the lit er a ture recognizes New Jersey's signifi cance to the national story, and despite promising scholarship done at the local level, New Jersey history oft en remains hidden in plain sight. Ceres books represent new, rigorously peer-reviewed scholarship on New Jersey and the surrounding region. Named for the Roman goddess of prosperity portrayed on the New Jersey State Seal, Ceres provides a platform for cultivating and disseminating the next generation of scholarship. It features the work of both established historians and a new generation of scholars across disciplines. Ceres aims to be fi eld shaping, providing a home for the newest and best empirical, archival, and theoretical work on the region's past. We are also dedicated to fostering diverse and inclusive scholarship and hope to feature works addressing issues of social justice and activism. "Separate Paths: Lenapes and Colonists in West New Jersey is the first cross-cultural study of European colonization in the region south of the Falls of the Delaware River (now Trenton). Lenape men and women welcomed their allies, the Swedes and Finns, to escape more rigid English regimes on the west bank of the Delaware, offering land to establish farms, share resources, and trade. In the 1670s, Quaker men and women challenged this model with strategies to acquire all Lenape territory for their own use and to sell as real estate to new immigrants. Though the Lenapes remained sovereign and 'old settlers' retained their Swedish Lutheran religion and ethnic autonomy, the West Jersey proprietors had considerable success in excluding Lenapes from their land. The Friends believed God favored their endeavor with epidemics of smallpox and other European diseases that destroyed Lenape families and communities. Affluent Quakers also introduced enslavement of imported Africans and Natives-and the violence that sustained it-to a colony they had promoted with the liberal West New Jersey Concessions of 1676-77. Thus, they defied their prior experience of religious persecution and their principles of peaceful resolution of conflict, equality of everyone before God, and the golden rule to treat others as you wish to be treated. Despite mutual commitment to peace by Lenapes, old settlers, and Friends, Quaker colonization had similar results to military conquests of Natives by English in Virginia and New England, and Dutch in the Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey. Still, in alliance with old settlers, Lenape communities survived in areas outside the focus of English colonization, in the Pine Barrens, upper reaches of streams, and Atlantic shore"-- Provided by publisher CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION 1 DEFENDING THE LENAPE HOMELAND 2 SEEKING PEACE IN COHANZICK COUNTRY 3 PROMISING LIBERTY AND PROPERTY The West New Jersey Concessions 4 QUAKER COLONIZATION WITHOUT VIOLENCE OR REMORSE 5 WOMEN, ETHNICITY, AND FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN LENAPEHOKING 6 FORCED SEPARATION Enslaved Blacks in the Quaker Colony 7 A DIFFERENT PATH Defining Swedish and Finnish Ethnicity CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS NOTES MANUSCRIPTS AND SUGGESTED READINGS INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR Defending the Lenape homeland -- Seeking peace in Cohanzick County -- Protecting liberty and property : the West New Jersey concessions -- Quaker colonization without violence or remorse -- Women, ethnicity, and freedom in southern Lenapehoking -- Forced separation : enslaved blacks in the Quaker colony -- A different path : defining Swedish and Finnish ethnicity.