List of colonial governors of New Jersey

The territory of the modern State of New Jersey, one of the United States of America, was first settled in the 17th century by Dutch and Swedish colonial interests. In 1664, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, English forces ousted the Dutch from control of the New Netherland colony (present-day New York and New Jersey) and the territory was settled by several different English colonies.

William Franklin, the the province's last royal governor, was marginalized in the last year of his tenure, as the province was being run de facto by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey (1775-1776). In June 1776, the Provincial Congress formally deposed Franklin and had him arrested, while proceeding to adopt a state constitution, and reorganize the province into an independent state. The newly formed State of New Jersey elected William Livingston as its first governor on 31 August 1776. New Jersey was one of the original thirteen colonies, and was the third to ratify the constitution forming the United States of America. It was admitted as a state on 18 December 1787.

This is a list of governors of the Province of New Jersey, including the period of its division into West Jersey and East Jersey, up to the American Revolution.

Before English control

The relative locations of New Netherland (magenta) and New Sweden (blue) in eastern North America.

Director of the New Netherland colony (1624–1664)

This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland (Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch) in North America. The largest settlement in New Netherland was New Amsterdam, which became the city of New York when the New Netherlanders ceded control provisionally to the English and renamed the Dutch province and city of New Amsterdam in June 1665. Only Peter Stuyvesant held the title of Director General. During the restitution to Dutch rule from August 1673 to November 1674, when New Netherland was under the jurisdiction of the City of Amsterdam, the first Dutch Governor was appointed: Anthony Colve.

Director/Director General	Incumbent
Cornelis Jacobszoon May	1624 – 1625
Willem Verhulst	1625 – 1626
Peter Minuit	1626 – 1632
Sebastiaen Jansen Krol	1632 – 1633
Wouter van Twiller	1633 – 1638
Willem Kieft	1638 – 1647
Petrus Stuyvesant	1647 – 1664

Governors of New Sweden (1638–1655)

• Peter Minuit (March 29, 1638 – June 15, 1638)
• Måns Nilsson Kling (June 15, 1638 - April 17, 1640)
• Peter Hollander Ridder (April 1640 - February 1643)
• Johan Björnsson Printz (February 1643 - October 1653)
• Johan Papegoja (October 1653 - May 1654)
• Johan Classon Risingh (May 1654 - September 15, 1655)

The New Albion Colony (1634–1649)

Sir Edmund Plowden (1590–1659)

In 1634, Charles I of England granted a charter to Sir Edmund Plowden, to establish a colony in North America to the north of Lord Baltimore's Maryland grant. The boundaries of the New Albion colony were very imprecisely and confusingly described and covering an area believed to comprise of parts of New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Maryland. Plowden's nephew, Thomas Young, explored and charted the valley of the Delaware River in the 1630s. Plowden, taking the title Lord Earl Palatinate, Governor and Captain-General of the Province of New Albion in North America took several years to raise funds and prepare using Young's account of the area to recruit settlers and "adventurers." In 1642, Plowden and several men sailed from England with aim to settle the colony in 1642. This attempt ended in an unsuccessful mutiny, and for the next seven years Plowden remained in Virginia managing the affairs of the colony, and selling rights to adventurers and speculators. He returned to England in 1649 and aimed to raise funds and interest in settling the colony as a refuge for Catholic's exiled during the English Civil War. Despite further attempts to return to his colony, Plowden was confined in a debtor's prison and died a pauper in 1659.

Under English control (1664–1776)

Governors under the Proprietors (1665–1674)

See also: Lords Proprietor (1665-1703), Proprietary colony, and Proprietary Governor

Name	Term
Philip Carteret	1665–1672
John Berry	1672–1673
Anthony Colve	1673–1674

Governors of East Jersey (1674–1702)

See also: Lords Proprietor (1665-1703)

Name	Term	Notes
Philip Carteret	1674–1682
Robert Barclay	1682–1688
Edmund Andros	1688–1689	Governed as the Dominion of New England
Andrew Hamilton	1692–1697
Jeremiah Basse	1698–1699
Andrew Hamilton	1699–1702

Governors of West Jersey (1680–1702)

See also: Lords Proprietor (1665-1703)

Name	Term
Edward Byllynge	1680–1687
Daniel Coxe	1687–1688
Edmund Andros	1688–1689
Andrew Hamilton	1692–1697
Jeremiah Basse	1697–1699
Andrew Hamilton	1699–1702

Governors under Royal Government (1702–1776)

Governors of New York and New Jersey (1702–1738)

See also: Province of New York

Name	Term	Notes
Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury	1701–1708
John Lovelace	1708–1709
Richard Ingoldesby	1709–1710	Lieutenant and Governor
Robert Hunter	1710–1720
William Burnet	1720–1728
John Montgomerie	1728–1731
Lewis Morris	1731–1732	President Of Council
William Cosby	1732–1736
John Anderson	1736	President Of Council
John Hamilton	1736–1738	President Of Council

Governors of New Jersey only (1738–1776)

See also: Proprietary House

Name	Term	Notes
Lewis Morris	1738–1746
John Hamilton	1746–1747	President Of Council
John Reading	1747	President Of Council
Jonathan Belcher	1747–1757
	1757	Lieut. Governor: Thomas Pownall
John Reading	1757–1758	President Of Council
Francis Bernard	1758–1760
Thomas Boone	1760–1761
Josiah Hardy	1761–1763
William Franklin	1763–1776

See also

• For post-independence governors, see List of Governors of New Jersey.
• Dutch colonization of the Americas
• Johan Björnsson Printz
• List of colonial governors of New York
• List of colonial governors of New Jersey
• List of mayors of New York City
• History of New York City