Delaware, often called “The First State,” was the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 7, 1787. Delaware, which is the second smallest state in the country, holds significant historical importance, from its early embrace of democracy to ongoing contributions in chemical and corporate industries.
Delaware's Native American History
Paleo-Indians inhabited the area now known as Delaware at least 12,000 years ago. Thousands of years later, various Native American tribes, including the Algonquian, Lenape, Nanticoke and others, lived in settled communities, farmed and traded along the region’s waterways.
The Dutch and Swedes arrived in the early 17th century, with the Dutch founding the colony of New Sweden. The region’s name comes from the Delaware River and Delaware Bay, named after Sir Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, an English nobleman who became the first colonial governor of Virginia.
European-introduced diseases, including smallpox and measles, killed many Native Americans in the Delaware Valley, and conflict over land and with the Iroquois Confederacy forced most surviving Lenape to relocate.
Delaware's Colonial History
English Explorer Henry Hudson’s 1609 discovery of Delaware Bay led to European settlements in the area. In 1631, Dutch traders established Zwaanendael (archaic Dutch for "swan valley”) near present-day Lewes, which members of the Lenape tribe destroyed due to cultural misunderstandings. In 1638, Swedish settlers founded Fort Christina, now Wilmington, the first permanent European settlement in Delaware. New Castle, founded in 1651, was another significant settlement, serving as a major colonial port.
The Dutch and Swedes clashed over the territory, leading to the Dutch-Swedish War (1655-1657). The war ended with Dutch control, but the English seized the territory in 1664, incorporating it into the English colony of New York. William Penn gained the land in 1682, putting it under Pennsylvania governance, and in 1703, it was granted its own provincial assembly until 1776, when it became its own colony.
Delaware and the American Revolution
In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), Delaware’s delegates were divided on whether to vote for the Declaration of Independence. Famously, Caesar Rodney, elected to serve as the first president of Delaware two years later, rode 70 miles in the rain from Dover to Philadelphia to cast his vote for independence from England.
Delaware’s location along the Atlantic coast made it a strategic asset for trade and military operations during the war. The state contributed troops, including the Delaware Regiment and the “Blue Hen Chicks,” but saw only one Revolutionary War battle in 1777, at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge.
Following the British defeat, delegates to the Constitutional Convention drafted a new U.S. Constitution, and Delaware was the first state to ratify it on December 7, 1787.
Delaware and the Civil War
A border state, Delaware was a slave state in 1861, divided between its northern and the southern population, much like the nation. However, it remained in the Union during the Civil War (1861-1865). When asked to join the Confederate cause, Delaware Governor William Burton said, “As the first state to join the Union, Delaware will be the last state to leave it.”
Fort Delaware became a significant site during the war, holding Confederate prisoners, and nearly 12,000 Delawareans fought for the Union Army, while approximately 2,000 joined the Confederacy.
Wilmington’s Quaker population played a crucial role in the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people escape to freedom. However, despite the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, slavery continued in Delaware until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865. Delaware enforced Jim Crow laws into the late 1960s.
Delaware's Industrial Revolution and Economic Growth
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Delaware saw waves of immigration, particularly from Ireland, Germany and Italy, as people sought work in the state’s growing industries, which played an important role in the American Industrial Revolution.
Among the most notable was French immigrant Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, founder of the gunpowder-producing DuPont company founded near Wilmington in 1802. DuPont expanded, developing innovations such as nylon, neoprene, Teflon, Mylar, Kevlar, Lycra, Styrofoam and more, and remains in Wilmington as one of the nation’s oldest companies.
The state was key in shipbuilding, gunpowder production, and later chemical manufacturing. It is home to the first automated flour mills and the invention of the high-pressure steam engine. Agricultural output in Delaware includes poultry, dairy products, corn and soybeans.
Delaware’s industries were crucial in supplying materials during both World Wars. Post-war, the state’s economy diversified into finance and corporate services, with Wilmington becoming a hub for credit card banking and corporate headquarters.
Delaware Quick Facts
- Date of Statehood: December 7, 1787
- Capital: Dover
- Population: 989,948 (2020 U.S. Census)
- Size: 1,949 square miles
- Nickname: The First State
- Motto: Liberty and Independence
- Tree: American Holly
- Flower: Peach Blossom
- Bird: Delaware Blue Hen
Delaware Interesting Facts
- Delaware is home to twice as many chickens as people.
- The state has three counties (the fewest of any state): New Castle to the North, Kent in the center and Sussex to the South.
- Delaware does not have a state sales tax.
- The News Journal, one of the nation’s oldest newspapers, was established in 1785.
- The Delaware Bay is home to the world’s largest horseshoe crab population.
- Notable Delaware residents have included U.S. President Joe Biden, Howard Pyle, author of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Dr. Henry Heimlich of the Heimlich Maneuver, and astronomer Annie Jump Cannon.
- The official state song is “Our Delaware.”
- Delaware is the second-smallest state in the country, measuring 96 miles long and 35 miles wide.
- The nation’s first commercially produced ice cream was made in the state in 1851.
- Peach pie has been the official state dessert since 2009.
- In addition to “The First State,” Delaware is also known as the “Blue Hen State” (after a Revolutionary War regiment), “The Diamond State” (Thomas Jefferson reportedly called Delaware a “jewel”), and “Small Wonder” (owing to its small land mass but large contributions).
Sources
About Delaware, history.org
Facts & Symbols, delaware.gov
Delaware History, familysearch.org
10 Things to Know About Delaware, usnews.com
Delaware History: The State’s Role in the Civil War, delawaretoday.com
