Background
Philip Carteret was born in 1639 in New Jersey. He was the son of an attorneygeneral of the Island of Jersey, and fourth cousin to Sir George Carteret, prominent at the Restoration Court.
Philip Carteret was born in 1639 in New Jersey. He was the son of an attorneygeneral of the Island of Jersey, and fourth cousin to Sir George Carteret, prominent at the Restoration Court.
After the gift of New Jersey by James, Duke of York, to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret in 1664, Philip Carteret was commissioned by them as governor. Sailing in the ship, Philip, with a party recruited in part in the Channel Islands, he landed in August 1665, at what is now Elizabethport. On disputed authority he is said to have given to the settlement the name of Elizabethtown in honor of the wife of Sir George. It is a tradition also that Carteret went ashore carrying a hoe to symbolize his fellowship with the planters. The youthful governor faced a task of great difficulty. Though the Dutch, already established at Bergen and elsewhere, readily accepted his authority, groups of New England settlers, who had received from Col. Nicolls at New York permission to enter the country, were not eager to submit. Accustomed to the free New England ideas of settlement and land tenure they disliked the plan of the Lords Proprietors to draw large sums from quit-rents paid in perpetuity by the colonists. On Carteret's landing he found the land already occupied by the pioneers of such a group. Though no direct collision took place between Carteret and the "Associates, " out of the conflict of claims later arose the famous "Elizabethtown Controversy" which long distracted the politics of New Jersey. Carteret instituted government under the "Concessions and Agreements" of the Proprietors, and in 1668 summoned the first session of the legislature of New Jersey. But when the first payment of quit-rent came due his authority was defied. The insurgents rather illogically chose as their leader Capt. James Carteret, son of Sir George, whom they elected "President of the Country. " Philip Carteret at length received aid from the Lords Proprietors and the rebellion collapsed. But directly afterward occurred the Dutch reconquest of New Netherland which included New Jersey. After the Treaty of Westminster, Philip Carteret became governor of East Jersey, for the original province had been divided between Sir George Carteret and the Quaker assigns of Berkeley. East Jersey included the northern and eastern portion looking to the Hudson. This province Philip Carteret administered with some success. But the right of East Jersey to collect customs was questioned by Sir Edmund Andros of New York, and after the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680 Andros endeavored to suppress the entire jurisdiction. After resisting successfully for some time, Philip Carteret was finally seized by a force from New York, was harshly treated and was put upon trial for usurping authority. Though declared innocent, he was compelled to desist from exercising power. Meanwhile, however, the diplomacy of William Penn and his associates had virtually forced the Duke of York to surrender his claims to New Jersey, and the authority of Philip Carteret in East Jersey was reestablished. In 1682, he gave up the office to Thomas Rudyard, and died soon after.
Of his personality and appearance we have no direct account. But throughout his tempestuous career as governor, he displayed firmness, tact, and stalwart fidelity to his trust.
Carteret's wife was the thrice married daughter Elizabeth of Richard Smith of Long Island.
