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The state flag was adopted on March 26, 1896, and in 1938 a law clarified that the right to display the flag was not limited to the governor alone. It is the only flag of the 50 state flags to have a background of buff, although frequently this is incorrectly shown as yellow. The color is based on the facings of uniforms worn by New Jersey regiments during the Revolutionary War (1775-83). Like the other original states, New Jersey had its colors assigned in a directive of October 2, 1779, by George Washington, then commander in chief of the Continental Army. The choice of buff for the facings of New Jersey and New York may have been meant to recall the former Dutch colony of New Netherlands, although this symbolic association is unproved. It is based on a presumption that the orange of the earliest Dutch flags was modified by Washington to buff as a more appropriate color for use in uniforms.
The coat of arms appears in the center of the New Jersey flag and is also found in the state seal. It was designed by the artist Pierre Eugène Du Simitière, who also designed seals for Virginia, Georgia, and Delaware. The three plows on the coat of arms stand for agriculture, which is also represented by the goddess Ceres (one of the supporters). The other supporter is Liberty. The horse's head in the crest was shown on early New Jersey coins. |
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New Jersey
Official name: State of New Jersey.
State nickname: the Garden State.
Total area: 8,215 sq mi, 21,277 sq km.
Population (2000): 8,414,350.
Population by race, origin (1997): white non-Hispanic 69.6%; white Hispanic 10.3%; black (including Hispanic) 14.5%; American Indian/Eskimo/Aleut 0.3%; Asian/Pacific Islander 5.3%.
Natural increase rate per 1,000 population (1995): 5.2 (U.S. avg. 6.0).
Gross domestic (state) product (1996): U.S.$276,400,000,000 (U.S.$34,540 per capita).
Land use (1992): federal land 3.4%; non-federal land 96.6%, of which forest 37.5%, cropland 13.8%, pasture 3.4%, rangeland 0.0%, urban and built-up areas 33.7%, other 8.2%.
Exports by state (1997): U.S.$15,167,000,000; percent of national total 2.46%.
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