New Jersey

One of the original 13 states in the Union, New Jersey was inhabited by the Lanni-Lenape tribe before the arrival of the Dutch, who established New Netherland; it was later was captured by the English in 1664. The city of Newark emerged as the major city, close to New York, and this has remained the state's largest city, although Trenton is the state capital.

In 1776, the state adopted its first constitution, which allowed any inhabitant of “full age” and worth £50 to vote—this allowed many unmarried women and widows to vote, as well as African Americans, but married women who were not able to hold property in their own right were not able to vote until the state's 1947 Constitution.

The life of most people in ...