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Delaware,
the first of the thirteen original States that ratified the federal
Constitution; takes its name from Lord
De la Warr (Delaware), who entered the bay of that name in 1610,
when he was governor of Virginia. It had
been discovered by Hudson
in 1609. In 1629 Samuel Godyn, a director of the
Dutch West India
Company, bought of the Indians a tract of land near the mouth of
the Delaware; and the next year De Vries, with twenty colonists from
Holland, settled near the site of Lewes. The colony was destroyed by
the natives three years afterwards, and the Indians had sole
possession of that district until 1638, when a colony of Swedes and
Finns landed on Cape Henlopen, and purchased the lands along the bay
and river as far north as the falls at Trenton (see
NEW SWEDEN). They built Fort Christiana
near the site of Wilmington. Their settlements were mostly planted
within the present limits of Pennsylvania.
The Swedes were conquered by the Dutch of
New Netherland in 1655, and from
that time until 1664, when New Netherland was conquered by the
English, the territory was claimed by the Dutch, and controlled by
them. Then Lord Baltimore,
proprietor of Maryland, claimed all the
territory on the west side of Delaware Bay, and even to lat. 40°;
and settlers from Maryland attempted to drive away the settlers from
the present State of Delaware. When
William Penn obtained a
grant of Pennsylvania, he was very
desirous of owning the land on Delaware Bay to the sea, and procured
from the Duke of York a release of all his title and claim to New
Castle and 12 miles around it, and to the land between that tract
and the sea; and in the presence of all the settlers he produced his
deeds (October, 1682), and formally accepted the surrender of the
territory. Lord Baltimore pressed his claim, but in 1685 the Lords
of Trade and Plantations made a decision in Penn's favor. A
compromise afterwards adjusted all conflicting claims. The tracts
which now constitute the State of Delaware, Penn called "The
Territories," or " Three Lower Counties on the Delaware." They were
governed as a part of Pennsylvania for about twenty years
afterwards, and each county had six delegates in the legislature.
Then Penn allowed them a separate legislature; but the colony was
under the governor of Pennsylvania until 1776, when the inhabitants
declared it an independent State. A constitution was adopted by a
convention of the people of the three counties - New Castle, Kent,
and Sussex --Sept. 20, 1776. A State government was organized, and
John McKinley was elected its first governor. In 1792 a second
constitution was framed and adopted. Although Delaware was a slave
State, it refused to secede at the outbreak of the Civil War ; and,
though it assumed a sort of neutrality, it furnished several
regiments of volunteers for the Union army. In all the wars Delaware
patriotically furnished its share of men and money for the public
defense. The population in 1890 was 168,493; in 1900, 184,735.

OLD
SWEDISH CHURCH, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.
When Howe entered Philadelphia (September, 1777)
the Americans still held control of the Delaware River below that
city. On Mud Island, near the confluence of the Schuylkill and
Delaware, was built Fort Mifflin. On the New Jersey shore, opposite,
at Red Bank, was Fort Mercer, a strong redoubt, well furnished with
heavy artillery. At Billingsport, on the same shore, 3 miles lower
down, were extensive but unfinished works designed to guard some
obstructions in the river there. Other formidable obstructions were
placed in the river below forts Mifflin and Mercer, in the form of
chevaux-de-frise-sunken crates of stones, with heavy spears of
iron-pointed timber, to receive and pierce the bows of vessels.
Besides these, there were floating batteries.
GOVERNORS OF
DELAWARE.
UNDER THE SWEDES.
|
Name. |
Date.
|
Peter
Minuit |
1638 to
1640 |
Peter
Hollender |
1640 "
1642 |
Johan
Printz |
1643 "
1652 |
Johan
Pappegoia |
1653 "
1654 |
Johan
C. Rising |
1654 "
1655 |
UNDER THE
DUTCH. |
Peter Stuyvesant
|
1655
to 1664 |
|
From 1664
up to 1682, under the government of New
York; and
from 1683 up to 1773, under the proprietary
government of Pennsylvania. |
Name. |
Date.
|
John
McKinley
Caesar Rodney
John Dickinson
John Cook
Nicholas Van Dyke
Thomas Collins
Joshua Clayton
Gunning Bedford
Daniel Rodgers
Richard Bassett
James Sykes
David Hall
|
1776 to 1777
1778 " 1781
1782 " 1783
1783
1784 to 1786
1786 " 1789
1789 " 1796
1796 " 1797
1797 " 1798
1798 " 1801
1801 " 1802
1802 " 1805 |
Nathaniel
Mitchell
George Truitt
Joseph Hazlett
Daniel Rodney
|
1805 " 1808
1808 " 1811
1811 " 1814
1814 " 1817 |
John
Clark
Jacob Stout
John Collins
Caleb Rodney
Joseph Hazlett
Samuel Paynter
Charles Polk
|
1817 " 1821)
1820 " 1821
1821 " 1822
1822 " 1823
1823 " 1824
1824 " 1827
1827 " 1830 |
David
Hazzard
Caleb P. Bennett
Charles Polk
Cornelius P. Comegys
William B. Cooper
Thomas Stockton
Joseph Maul
William Temple
William Thorp
William H. Ross
Peter F. Cansey
William Burton
William Cannon
Grove Saulsbury
James Ponder
John P. Cochran
John W. Hall
Charles C. Stockley
Benjamin T. Biggs
Robert J. Reynolds
Joshua H. Marvil
William T. Watson
Ebe W. Tunnell
John Hunn
|
1830 " 1833
1833 " 1836
1836 " 1837
1837 " 1840
1840 " 1844
1844 " 1846
1846
1846
1847 to 1851
1851 " 1855
1855 " 1859
1859 " 1863
1863 " 1867
1867 " 1871
1871 " 1875
1875 " 1879
1879 " 1883
1883 " 1887
1887 " 1891
1891 " 1895
1895
1895 to 1897
1897 " 1901
1901 " 1905 |
UNITED
STATES SENATORS
|
Name
Congress
|
Date. |
Richard
Bassett |
1st and
2d |
1789 to
1793 |
George
Read |
1st " 2d |
1789 "
1793 |
Henry
Latimer |
3d to 6th |
1793 "
1801 |
John
Vining |
3d " 5th |
1793 "
1798 |
Joshua
Clayton |
5th |
1798 |
William
Hill Wells |
5th to
8th |
1799 to
1805 |
Samuel
White |
7th "
11th |
1801 "
1809 |
James A.
Bayard |
8th "
12th |
1805
1813 |
Outerbridge Horsey |
11th "
16th |
1810 "
1821 |
William
Hill Wells |
13th "
14th |
1813 "
1817 |
Nicholas
Van Dyke |
15th "
19th |
1817 "
1827 |
Caesar A.
Rodney |
17th |
1821 "
1823 |
Thomas
Clayton |
18th to
19th |
1824 "
1827 |
Daniel
Rodney |
19th |
1826 |
Henry M.
Ridgely |
19th to
20th |
1827 to
1829 |
Louis
McLane |
20th "
21st |
1827 "
1829 |
John M.
Clayton |
21st "
23d |
1829 "
1835 |
Arnold
Naudain |
21st "
23d |
1830 "
1836 |
Richard
H. Bayard |
24th "
28th |
1836 "
1845 |
Thomas
Clayton |
24th "
29th |
1837 "
1847 |
John M.
Clayton |
29th "
30th |
1845 "
1849 |
|