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{{Short description|History of the US state of Delaware}}
{{more sources|date=May 2024}}
'''The history of [[Delaware]]''' as a political entity dates back to the early colonization of [[North America]] by European American settlers. It is made up of three counties established since 1638, before the time of [[William Penn]]. Each county has had its own settlement history. Their early inhabitants tended to identify more closely with their county, than Delaware as a whole. Large parts of southern and western Delaware were thought to have been{{clarify|reason=Unintentionally hilarious. Cartographic uncertainty or political ascertainment?|date=July 2015}} in [[Maryland]] until 1767. All of the state has existed in the wide economic and political circle of [[Philadelphia]].▼
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
▲'''The history of [[Delaware]]''' as a political entity dates back to the early colonization of [[North America]] by European
==Native Americans==
Before Delaware was settled by [[
==Dutch and Swedish colonies==
{{main|New Sweden|New Netherland}}
[[File:3rdLordDeLaWarr.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Delaware was named for [[Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr]], an English merchant and governor of the [[Colony of Virginia]] from 1610 to 1618.]]
[[File:Delaware Bay Vinckeboons 14.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Nautical chart of the [[Dutch empire|Dutch colony]] [[Zwaanendael Colony|Zwaanendael]] and Godyn's Bay ([[Delaware Bay]]), 1639]]
The Delaware watershed was claimed by the [[Kingdom of England|English]] based on the explorations of [[John Cabot]] in 1497, [[John Smith (explorer)|Captain John Smith]], and others
However, the Dutch thought they also had a claim
In any case, Minuit had a disagreement with the directors of the Dutch West India Company, was recalled from New Netherland, and quickly made his services available to his many friends in [[Sweden]], then a major power in European politics. They established a [[Swedish South Company]], aimed at settling the territory of [[New Sweden]], and, following much negotiation, he led a group under the flag of Sweden to the [[Delaware River]] in 1638. They established a trading post at [[Fort Christina]], now in [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]]. Minuit claimed possession of the western side of the Delaware River, saying he had found no European settlement there. Unlike the Dutch West India Company, the Swedes intended to actually bring settlers to their outpost and begin a colony.
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Minuit drowned in a hurricane on the way home that same year, but the Swedish colony continued to grow gradually. By 1644, Swedish and [[Finland|Finnish]] settlers were living along both sides of the Delaware River from Fort Christina to the [[Schuylkill River]]. [[New Sweden]]'s best known governor, [[Johan Björnsson Printz]], moved his residence to what is now [[Tinicum Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania]], where he intended to concentrate the settlements.
While the Dutch settlement at [[Zwaanendael Colony|Zwaanendael]] ("swan valley"), or present-day [[Lewes, Delaware|Lewes]], was soon destroyed in a war with
==
{{main|Delaware Colony}}
It was not long, though, before the Dutch too were forcibly removed by the [[Kingdom of England|English]], who asserted their earlier claim. In 1664, [[James II of England|James]], the Duke of York and brother of [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]], outfitted an expedition that easily ousted the Dutch from both the Delaware and [[Hudson River|Hudson]] rivers, leaving the [[Duke of York]] the proprietary authority in the entire area.
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But [[Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore]], Proprietor of [[Maryland]], claimed a competing grant to lands on the western shore of [[Delaware Bay]], including all of the present state of Delaware. In deference to the royal will of Charles II to please his brother, James, Duke of York, Calvert did not press his claim. James, the Duke of York, believed he had won the area in war and was justified in ownership. The area was administered from [[New York City|New York]] as a part of James' New York colony.
[[William Penn]] was granted "Pennsylvania", in which the grant specifically excluded New Castle or any of the lands within {{convert|12|mi}} of it. Nevertheless, Penn wanted an outlet to the sea from his new province. He persuaded James to lease him the western shore of Delaware Bay. So, in 1682, Penn arrived in New Castle with two documents: a charter for the [[Province of Pennsylvania]] and a lease for what became known as "the Lower Counties on the Delaware".
Penn had inherited James' claims and thus began nearly 100 years of litigation between Penn and Baltimore, and their heirs, in the High [[Court of Chancery]] in London. The settlement of the legal battles was started by the heirs' agreeing to the survey performed by [[Charles Mason]] and [[Jeremiah Dixon]] between 1763 and 1767. Their work resulted in the famous [[Mason–Dixon line]]. The final adjudication of the settlement was not completed until the eve of the [[American Revolution]]. The settlement was a major reason for the close political alliance between the property owners of the Lower Counties and the Royalist Proprietary government.
In William Penn's ''Frame of Government of 1682'', he established a combined assembly for his domain by providing for equal membership from each county and requiring legislation to have the assent of both the Lower Counties and the [[Pennsylvania|Upper Counties]] of [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester]], [[Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] and [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania|Bucks]]. The assembly meeting place alternated between Philadelphia and New Castle. Once Philadelphia began to grow, its leaders resented having to go to New Castle and gain agreement of the assemblymen from the sparsely populated Lower Counties. In 1704, members of the two regions mutually agreed to meet and pass laws separately from then on. The Lower Counties did continue to share a governor, but the Province of Pennsylvania never merged with the Lower Counties.
The Mason–Dixon line forms the boundary between Delaware and Maryland; this begins at the [[Transpeninsular Line]]. The border between Pennsylvania and Delaware is formed by an [[Arc (geometry)|arc]] known as the [[Twelve-Mile Circle]] laid out in the seventeenth century to clearly delineate the area within the sphere of influence of New Castle. A small dispute lingered until 1921 over an area known as the [[Wedge (border)|Wedge]], where the Mason–Dixon line and the Twelve-Mile Circle left a fragment of land claimed by both Pennsylvania and Delaware.
==American Revolution==
Delaware was one of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] which revolted against British rule in the [[American Revolution]]. After the Revolution began in 1776, the three
The [[Battle of Cooch's Bridge]] was the only major military engagement of the Revolution that took place on Delaware soil. The engagement began August 30, 1777, about {{convert|2|mi|0}} south of [[Cooch's Bridge]] (located in present-day [[Newark, Delaware|Newark]]). The Americans harried the lead forces of the [[British Army]]. However, the roughly 700 colonials were greatly outmanned and outgunned. [[George Washington|Washington's]] troops were slowly driven back.
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[[Éleuthère Irénée du Pont]] arrived in America from [[France]] in 1800 and founded the young United States' largest [[gunpowder]] factory on the banks of the [[Brandywine Creek (Christina River tributary)|Brandywine River]] just north of [[Wilmington, Delaware|Wilmington]] in 1804. His [[DuPont]] firm (now the world's fourth largest chemical company) was the U.S. military's largest supplier of gunpowder by the beginning of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], and his descendants, the [[du Pont family]], are now one of the richest and most successful families in the country.
The oldest [[African Americans|
The construction of the [[Chesapeake & Delaware Canal|Chesapeake and Delaware Canal]] between 1802 and 1829 brought significant shipping interests to Delaware, expanding the state's commercial opportunities.
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==Delaware in the Civil War==
[[Slavery in the United States|Slavery]] had been a divisive issue in Delaware for decades before the [[American Civil War]] began. Opposition to slavery in Delaware, imported from [[Quakers|Quaker]]-dominated Pennsylvania, led many slaveowners to free their slaves; half of the state's black population was free by 1810, and more than 90% were free by 1860.<ref name="udel.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.udel.edu/BlackHistory/antebellum.html|title=The Growth of Delaware's Antebellum Free African American Community|website=www.udel.edu|access-date=
During the Civil War, Delaware was a [[Slave states and free states|slave state]] that remained in the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. (Delaware voters voted not to secede on January 3, 1861.)
▲[[Slavery in the United States|Slavery]] had been a divisive issue in Delaware for decades before the [[American Civil War]] began. Opposition to slavery in Delaware, imported from [[Quakers|Quaker]]-dominated Pennsylvania, led many slaveowners to free their slaves; half of the state's black population was free by 1810, and more than 90% were free by 1860.<ref name="udel.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.udel.edu/BlackHistory/antebellum.html|title=The Growth of Delaware's Antebellum Free African American Community|website=www.udel.edu|access-date=17 June 2017}}</ref> This trend also led pro-slavery legislators to restrict free black organizations, and the constabulary in Wilmington was accused of harsh enforcement of [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|runaway slave]] laws while many Delawareans kidnapped free blacks among the large communities throughout the state and sold them to plantations further south.<ref name="udel.edu"/>
[[File:Fort delaware.jpeg|thumb|300px|''Fort Delaware'', painted circa 1870 by [[Seth Eastman
▲During the Civil War, Delaware was a [[Slave states and free states|slave state]] that remained in the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. (Delaware voters voted not to secede on January 3, 1861.) Delaware had been the first state to embrace the Union by ratifying the Constitution, and would be the last to leave it, according to Delaware's governor at the time.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} Although most Delaware citizens who fought in the Civil War served in regiments on the Union side, some did, in fact, serve in Delaware companies on the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] side in the Maryland and Virginia Regiments. Delaware was the one slave state from which the Confederate States of America could not recruit a full regiment.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}
▲[[File:Fort delaware.jpeg|thumb|Fort Delaware, circa 1870 by Seth Eastman (1808 - 1875).]] By 1862, [[Fort Delaware]], a harbor defense facility that was located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River and had been designed by chief engineer Joseph Gilbert Totten circa 1819, was pressed into service as a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, political prisoners, federal convicts, and privateer officers.<ref>Dobbs, Kelli W. and Rebecca J. Siders. Fort Delaware Architectural Research Project. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware, Center for Historic Architecture and Design, 1999.</ref><ref name="American state papers 1834">{{cite book |title=American state papers : documents, legislative and executive, of the Congress of the United States, From the First Session to the Second Session of the Eighteenth Congress, Inclusive. Commencing December 27, 1819, and ending February 28, 1825 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Gales and Seaton |year=1834 |id={{OCLC|767962786|54935102|3386664}} |isbn=9780893085148 |volume= Class V. Military Affairs Volume II |url=https://archive.org/stream/americanstatepap_f02unit#page/n7/mode/2up/search/Fort+Delaware }}{{Page needed|date=May 2018}}</ref><ref name="Hamilton Wilson 1981">{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=A. J. |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=W. Emerson |title=A Fort Delaware journal : the diary of a Yankee private, A.J. Hamilton, 1862-65 |publisher=Fort Delaware Society |location=Wilmington, DE, US |year=1981 |oclc=8805488 }}</ref> The first [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] (POWs) were confined in the fort's interior in casemates, empty powder magazines, or one of two small rooms in the sally port. The first general from the Confederate States of America to be housed at the fort was [[J. Johnston Pettigrew|Brig. Gen. J. Johnston Pettigrew]].
Prison conditions were initially "tolerable," according to research conducted by students at the [[University of Delaware]]. "In its first year of operation in 1862, the population varied from 3,434 prisoners in July to only 123 later that year due to routine prisoner exchanges between the North and the South." But by the summer of 1863, following multiple military engagements including July's [[Battle of Gettysburg]], "the fort's population had swollen to over 12,000 due to the influx of prisoners from the battles at Vicksburg and Gettysburg," a change in numbers which soon began to negatively impact the quality of life for POWs.<ref>Bryant, Tracy. "[http://www1.udel.edu/researchmagazine/issue/vol2_no2_security/escape_from_fort_delaware.html Escape from Fort Delaware: Student sheds light on Civil War Mystery]." Newark Delaware: University of Delaware, Office of Communications & Marketing, accessed May 10, 2018.</ref>
As realization dawned that more housing would be needed for the increasing number of POWs captured by Union troops, officials at the fort embarked on a construction program in 1862, building barracks for enlisted
The first Confederate prisoner to die at Fort Delaware was Captain L. P. Halloway of the [[27th Virginia Infantry]]. Captured at [[Winchester, Virginia, in the American Civil War|Winchester, Virginia]] on March 23, 1862, he died at the fort on April 9.<ref>"Local Intelligence, Matters at Fort Delaware." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', July 21, 1862, p. 8.</ref> By the end of the war, the fort had held almost 33,000 prisoners, roughly 2,500 of whom died as the conditions continued to deteriorate. Half of the deaths were reportedly due to an outbreak of [[Smallpox|variola]] (smallpox) in 1863. Other causes of death included: diarrhea (315), inflammation of the lungs (243), [[typhoid fever]] and/or [[malaria]] (215), [[scurvy]] (70), [[pneumonia]] (61), [[erysipelas]] (47), gunshot wounds (7), and drowning (5).<ref>Jamison, Jocelyn P., ''They Died at Fort Delaware 1861-1865: Confederate, Union and Civilian''. Delaware City, Delaware: Fort Delaware Society, 1997.</ref><ref>Mowday, Bruce and Dale Fetzer. ''Unlikely Allies: Fort Delaware's Prison Community in the Civil War''. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2000.</ref> In addition, 109 Union soldiers and 40 civilians also died at the fort during the war.<ref>Jamison, Jocelyn P., 1997., pp. 85–90.</ref>
Among the political prisoners held at Fort Delaware was the Rev. Issac W. K. Handy, who had commented in December 1863 that the Civil War had tarnished one of the nation's most cherished symbols, the American flag. Arrested for comments made during a dinner, he was jailed without trial and, because [[Habeas Corpus Suspension Act (1863)|habeas corpus]] had been suspended by this time during the war, he was then held at the fort for 15 months.<ref>"[http://www1.udel.edu/researchmagazine/issue/vol2_no2_security/escape_from_fort_delaware.html Prisoner with UD Ties]." Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware, Office of Communications & Marketing, accessed May 10, 2018.</ref>
==1865–1899==
After the Civil War, Democratic governments continued to dominate the South and imposed explicitly [[white supremacist]] regimes in the former slave states. The Delaware legislature declared blacks
==
In 1952, ''[[Gebhart v. Belton]]'' was decided by the [[Delaware Court of Chancery]] and affirmed by the [[Delaware Supreme Court]] in the same year. ''Gebhart'' was one of the five cases combined into ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'',
The result of the ''Gebhart'' and ''Brown'' litigation was that Delaware became fully integrated, albeit with time and much effort. The white supremacist [[Bryant Bowles]] raised $6,000 and founded the [[National Association for the Advancement of White People (1953-1955)|National Association for the Advancement of White People]] (NAAWP) to oppose the rulings. Bowles briefly attracted nationwide attention for leading a pro-segregation [[boycott]] of [[Milford High School (Delaware)|Milford High School]]. A mass meeting in [[Milford, Delaware|Milford]] in October 1954 attracted a crowd of 3,000 people.<ref name=":2">{{cite magazine|date=October 11, 1954|title=Education: Racial Flare-Up|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936456,00.html}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Webb|first=Clive|title=Rabble Rousers: the American Far Right in the Civil Rights Era|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=2010|location=Athens}}</ref> Bowles encouraged a boycott to protest the integration of schools after eleven black students were enrolled in the previously racially segregated school.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|date=October 16, 1954|title=White Supremacy Leader Arrested|work=Indianapolis Recorder|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19541016-01.1.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------}}</ref><ref name=":2"/> Only 456 out of 1562 students attended the next day, and the movement gained traction in the nearby town of [[Lincoln, Delaware|Lincoln]], where 116 of the 146 pupils in the local elementary school boycotted in solidarity.<ref name=":2"/> Mass protests continued in Milford; the school board eventually ceded to the protestors, expelling the black students.<ref name=":2"/><ref name=":4"/> Several weeks later, Bowles was arrested for "conspiring to violate the state education law by leading a boycott at Milford’s integrated high school". The [[Attorney General of Delaware|Attorney General]] later took action to revoke the NAAWP's [[corporate charter]] in September 1955.<ref name=":4"/><ref name=":3"/> However, the ensuing unrest, which included [[cross burning]]s, rallies, and pro-segregation demonstrations, contributed to [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]] in most of Southern Delaware being delayed for another ten years. School segregation in the state would not end until 1967.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.capegazette.com/node/65880 | title=In Delaware, school segregation persisted until 1967 }}</ref>
==See also==
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==Sources==
*{{cite book |title= Delaware during the Civil War |last= Hancock |first= Harold Bell. |publisher= [[Historical Society of Delaware]] |location= Wilmington, Delaware |year= 1961 |isbn=0-924117-24-9}}
*{{cite book |title= The Civil War State by State |last= Hearn |first= Chester G. |publisher= [[BlueRed Press]] |location= Totnes, Devon |year= 2011 |isbn=978-1-908247-04-9}}
*{{cite book |title= Democracy in Delaware |last= Hoffecker |first= Carol E. |publisher= Cedar Tree Books |location= Wilmington, Delaware |year= 2004 |isbn= 1-892142-23-6}}
*{{cite book |title= A History of Delaware Through its Governors |last= Martin |first= Roger A. |publisher= McClafferty Press |location= Wilmington, Delaware |year= 1984 }}
*{{cite book |title = Memoirs of the Senate |last = Martin |first = Roger A. |publisher = Roger A. Martin |location = Newark, DE |year = 1995 }}
*{{cite book |title = The Philadelawareans |last = Munroe |first = John A. |publisher = University of Delaware Press |location = Newark, Delaware |year = 2004 |isbn= 0-87413-872-8}}
*{{cite book |title= History of Delaware |last= Munroe |first= John A. |publisher= University of Delaware Press |location= Newark, Delaware |year= 1993 |isbn= 0-87413-493-5}} [https://archive.org/details/historyofdelawar0000munr
*{{cite book |title = History of Delaware 1609-1888. 2 vols. |last = Scharf |first = John Thomas |publisher = L. J. Richards & Co. |location = Philadelphia |year = 1888 }} [https://archive.org/details/historyofdelawar0000munr
*{{cite book |title= Forgotten Heroes of Delaware |last= Wilson |first= Emerson. |publisher= Deltos Publishing Company |location= Cambridge, Massachusetts |year= 1969 }}
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*[[Amandus Johnson|Johnson, Amandus]] ''The Swedes in America 1638–1900: Vol. I, The Swedes on the Delaware 1638–1664''. (1914)
*[[Amandus Johnson|Johnson, Amandus]] ''The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638–1664, Volume II'' (1927)
* Miller, Richard F. ed. ''States at War, Volume 4: A Reference Guide for Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey in the Civil War'' (2015) [https://www.amazon.com/States-War-Reference-Delaware-Maryland/dp/1611686210/ excerpt] 890pp.
*Myers, Albert Cook ed., ''Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware, 1630–1707'' (1912)
*Ward, Christopher ''Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, 1609- 1664'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930)
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[[Category:History of Delaware| ]]
[[Category:History of the United States by state or territory|Delaware]]
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