Charter of Queen's College

Date: November 10, 1766 • Location: Country Lake Estates, United States

The last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen's College (later renamed Rutgers University).

New Jersey is a state located in both the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the heavily urbanized Northeast megalopolis, it is bordered to the northwest, north, and northeast by New York State; on its east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on its west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on its southwest by Delaware Bay and Delaware. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km2), New Jersey is the fifth-smallest U.S. state by land area. According to a 2025 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, it is the 11th-most populous state, with over 9.5 million residents, its highest estimated count ever. The state capital is Trenton, and the state's most populous city is Newark. New Jersey is the most densely populated U.S. state, and is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemed urban by the U.S. Census Bureau.