The U.S. Army Campaigns of the Revolutionary War
CMH Pub 71-45
GPO S/N: Not Available

The 1776–1777 campaign took place primarily in New Jersey. Politically, the state had demonstrated allegiance to the patriot cause since 1775, though one hardly could characterize the state as unified or steadfast in its support. Observers still commonly referred to the state as “the Jersies” in recognition of its former status as two separate colonies, East and West Jersey. Although the two united in 1704, politics, geography, and culture continued to divide the New York–oriented East Jersey and the Philadelphia-facing West Jersey. Even in 1776, the government alternated its meeting sites between Burlington in West Jersey and Perth Amboy in East Jersey. Jerseyans contrasted sharply with the relatively homogenous New Englanders and lacked a dominant political class like the planter elites of southern states. Residents also had enjoyed a less antagonistic relationship with Britain during the years of the imperial crisis before the war. The absence of major ports and mercantile communities minimized the effect of most British taxes, and the colony’s people had generally good relations with British military garrisons. Nevertheless, some Jerseyans opposed British policies on economic and ideological grounds, and many sympathized with the plight of Massachusetts after 1773. New Jersey joined eleven other colonies in sending representatives to the First Continental Congress in 1774 to discuss responses to the British Intolerable Acts. After the outbreak of the war in 1775, a revolutionary movement developed in the colony that sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress and elected two Provincial Congresses but did not unseat the official government. The state’s diverse population included many who remained loyal to the Crown and even more who regarded the conflict with ambiguity. Only in early 1776 did the realities of war and reports of British atrocities shift sentiments toward independence. Jersey militiamen placed Royal Governor William Franklin under house arrest in January, then arrested and imprisoned him in June. On 2 July 1776, the Provincial Congress approved a new constitution, thus separating New Jersey from British rule. Nevertheless, the document included a clause providing for the possibility of reconciliation with the Crown. Consequently, any shift in the tides of war could lead to significant changes in public support for the patriot cause.