新泽西州小档案：
人口：约800万
面积：约20295平方公里，排名第46位
州府：特兰顿Trenton
新泽西州，本州州名取自英吉利海峡中之一小岛名称。
欧人未来之时，本州曾住着一些德拉瓦印地安人。欧人到来之后，本州属于荷兰殖民地之一部。1664年又属于英国。独立之时为13州之一。1777年华盛顿在本州普林斯顿Princeton大战，击败英人，因而取得独立。1783年，普林斯顿曾作为极短时期之美国首都。此地在州府特蓝顿之北，相距很近。本州于1787年12月18日成为美国第3州。本州有些地区，风光幽美。因此，它的别名为“花园之州”Garden State。以紫罗兰为州花。本州箴言：“自由与繁荣”Liberty and Prosperity。
州府是特兰顿Trenton，人口11万。附近的普林斯顿有普林斯顿大学Princeton University，1746年建立。罗特格斯大学University of Rutgers是州立大学，1766年创立，位于新伯伦瑞克。靠近海岸的大西洋城Atlantic City为旅游胜地。
本州特征有二：第一，美国人口密度最大之州。平均每平方公里约370人（每方里约1千人）。第二，美国地面运输线分布最密之州。本州北有纽约及波士顿，南有费城、巴尔的摩及首都华盛顿，运输非常频繁。这是车辆通过最多的州。铁路与公路密布，隧道与桥梁极多。
本州可分三区：（A）西北部是山地区，属于阿帕拉契山地之一部。山脉为东北西南向，山中多森林，风景极美。（B）中部较低，是低丘浅谷区。由纽华克Newark向西南行，到特兰顿Trenton是公路、铁路运输最忙的区域。这个区域并不优美，因为它接近纽约市，大工厂林立。例如：泽西市Jersey City、纽华克、依丽沙白Elizabeth、及彼得逊Paterson。纽华克有大飞机场。泽西市与伊丽莎白都有海港码头。政治方面，这些市区是属于新泽西州，经济主面，它们却是纽约市的一部分。（C）南部地区势低平，是平原区。土地肥沃，农产非常丰富。主要作物为番茄、蔓橘、芦笋、菠菜、牛奶、肉鸡及玉蜀黍。有许多在炼油厂，总炼油量每日超过50万桶。
Intronduction简介
Native Americans from the Delaware tribe lived in New Jersey when Europeans explorers first arrived．They built villages along the Delaware River，spending most of their time hunting and planting corn，beans，and other crops for food．
Giovanni da Verrazano was the first to explore the coast of New Jersey in 1524for France．In 1609，Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River（美国New York 州东部的河流）and claimed New Jersey and New York for the Dutch．Although Hudson was British，he worked for the Netherlands，so he claimed the land for the Dutch．It was called New Netherlands．Many other Dutch explorers followed．In 1614，Cornelius May discovered the Delaware River．
By 1630，Dutch settlement of New Jersey began along the western bank of the Hudson，with one on the Delaware at Fort Nassau；but these settlements were insignificant（无关紧要的，无意义的），and the history of the colony properly begins with the occupation of the territory by the English．Due to Indian attacks，the first permanent town，Bergen，wasn’t established until 1660．Swedish fur traders began settling（沉淀物）southern New Jersey in 1638，but were quickly forced out of the area by the Dutch．
New Jersey’s early colonial history was involved with that of New York（New Netherlands），of which it was a part．In 1664the Dutch lost New Netherlands when the British took control of the land and added it to their colonies．New Jersey was organized as an English colony under Gov．Philip Carteret．Many settlers arrived as land was sold inexpensively（便宜地，不贵重地）with the promise of political and religious freedom．In 1674，a Quaker colony arrived．In 1676the colony was divided between Carteret（who was in charge of the east side）and a company of English Quakers who had obtained the rights belonging to John，Lord Berkeley（who was in charge of the west side）into West and East Jersey．The land was officially named New Jersey after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel．Carteret had been governor of the Isle of Jersey．
Two wholly separate governments were now set up，and they were as different as white from black．The stern New England Puritans（清教徒）had settled in East Jersey in sufficient numbers to give coloring to the laws，and in these laws（enacted by the first assembly before the division）we find enumerated（列举）thirteen crimes for which the penalty was death．In West Jersey the government was exceedingly（非常地，极度地）mild．A code of laws with the name of Penn at the top gave all power to the people，and made no mention of capital punishment．This was the first example of Quaker legislation in America．
When James II became king of England he demanded the charters of the Jerseys on writes of quo warranto，leaving the ownership of the soil to the people，and united East and West Jersey to New York and New England under the government of Andros．At the fall of the king and the expulsion of Andros the Jerseys were left in a state of anarchy（无政府状态，政治混乱），and so it continued for more than ten years．The heirs of Carteret and the Quakers laid claim to the colony；and New York made a similar claim．After a long season of confusion（混乱，混淆）it was decided to surrender（交出）the whole colony to the Crown，and in 1702New Jersey became a royal province administered by the royal governor of New York initiated by Queen Anne．Finally，in 1738，New Jersey was separated from New York under its own royal governor，Lewis Morris．
During the 1760s，colonists began protesting high taxation and trade restrictions by England．In 1774，colonists from New Jersey burned a supply of tea from a British ship in what became known as the Greenwich Tea Burning．As the Revolutionary War began in 1775，New Jersey’s loyalties were split（分离）．About onethird of the people living here supported the rebels，onethird supported England，and onethird remained neutral（中立的）．
New Jersey was an important state during the Revolutionary War（美国之革命战争）because of its location near the center of the thirteen colonies and between New York City and Philadelphia．Because of this，more battles were fought in New Jersey than in any other state．The Americans and British fought 100battles，both large and small，here．Several important battles were fought in New Jersey，most importantly the battles of Trenton in 1776，which many consider to be the turning point of the Revolution．Immediately after winning Trenton，General George Washington won the battle of Princeton in 1777．Having lost two battles in a matter of hours，the British fled New Jersey for New York．Washington and his troops spent the rest of the winter in Morristown（莫里森镇美国新泽西州北部一城镇，位于纽华克的西北部偏西部，在1776年—1777年和1779年的冬季，大陆军曾扎营于此。）．Including the battle of Monmouth in 1778．
In 1776，New Jersey claimed independence from Great Britain．Two years later it adopted the Articles of Confederation．Finally，on Dec．18，1787，New Jersey became the 3rd state of the Union as it ratified the U．S．Constitution and the first state to sign the Bill of Rights．Trenton became the capital in 1790．