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Free Traveling Guides » States » Delaware History of Delaware
Delaware, situated on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, has been named after Delaware Bay and River, which in turn were named in honor of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr. Prior to the arrival of the European colonists, Delaware was inhabited by the Eastern Algonquian tribes, known as the Unami Lenape, throughout the Delaware Valley and the Nanticoke along the rivers leading into the Chesapeake Bay. The first Europeans to settle in present-day Delaware were the Dutch, who established a trading post at Zwaanendael, in 1631, near the site of Lewes. In 1664, the Dutch were forcibly removed by a British expedition under the direction of James, the Duke of York. In 1682, the Duke handed over his ownership to William Penn, who later established a representative government and combined his possessions, Delaware and Pennsylvania, under a single General Assembly. The Patriot leaders, Thomas Mc Kean and Caesar Rodney, anticipated the Declaration of Independence and convinced the Colonial Assembly to declare its separation from the Pennsylvania rule and the British on June 15, 1776. Following the famous Battle of Brandywine, fought in August 1777, the British occupied Wilmington and arrested State President John McKinly. The British not only disrupted the commerce but also extended their support to an active Loyalist portion of the population, especially in the Sussex County. After the American Revolution, a U. S. Senate and U. S. House of Representatives were created and statesmen from Delaware became the leading proponents of the central US government. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to secure ratification of the U. S. Constitution. During the American Civil War, most Delaware citizens served in the state’s regiments. Several other citizens served in companies on the Confederate side in Virginia and Maryland regiments. Delaware was the only slave state that did not assemble Confederate regiments and militia groups of its own. It voted not to secede from the Union on January 3, 1861.
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