proceeded 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.McCormick, Richard P. (1964, 1970). New Jersey from Colony to State, 1609–1789. (1st Ed – Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1964; 2nd Ed. — New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1970). See also For post-independence governors (1776–present), see List of governors of New Jersey. British colonization of the Americas Dutch colonization of the Americas Dutch Empire English colonial empire European colonization of the Americas Jersey Dutch Keith Line Lawrence Line New York-New Jersey Line War Swedish colonial empire Swedish emigration to North America Thornton Line References Notes Further reading Black, Frederick R. The Last Lords Proprietors: The West Jersey Society, 1692–1703. PhD Dissertation, Rutgers University, 1964, Rutgers University Library, Special Collections (New Brunswick, New Jersey). Brodhead, John Romeyn. The Government of Sir Edmund Andros over New England, in 1688 and 1689. (Morrisania, N.Y: Bradstreet Press, 1867). Craven, Wesley Frank. New Jersey and the English Colonization of North America. (Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1964). Cunningham, John. East of Jersey: A History of the General Board of Proprietors for the Eastern Division of New Jersey. (Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Society, 1995). McConville, Brendan. These Daring Disturbers of the Public Peace: The Struggle for Property and Power in Early New Jersey. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999). McCreary, John Roger. "Ambition, Interest and Faction: Politics in New Jersey, 1702–38." PhD dissertation, University of Nebraska, 1971. Myers, Albert Cook. Narratives of Early Pennsylvania West New Jersey and Delaware: 1630–1707. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912). Pomfret, John Edwin. The New Jersey Proprietors and Their Lands. New Jersey Historical Series, Volume 9. (Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1964). Pomfret, John Edwin. Colonial New Jersey, A History. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973). Schmidt, George P. Princeton and Rutgers: The Two Colonial Colleges of New Jersey. (Princeton, D. Van Nostrand, 1964). Tanner, Edwin Platt. The Province of New Jersey, 1664–1738''. (New York: s.n. 1908). External links West Jersey Proprietors Deposit at the New Jersey State Archives. West Jersey History Project Colonial governors New Netherland New Netherland People of New Netherland Lists of people from New Jersey