When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few.

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Last week, we celebrated Ceasar Rodney’s infamous ride to Philadelphia so that he could vote for independence in July 2.  We take it for granted that Delaware was a sovereign colony in its own right before the American Revolution but that was not always true.  Delaware was originally part of Pennsylvania – at least according to William Penn.

Delaware didn’t exist as a separate colony throughout most of the 17^th century.  The area passed through many hands, the Swedes, the Dutch, the British, back to the Dutch in 1673. The Duke of York even considered it part of colony of New York.  Eventually, the Crown gave it to William Penn, the proprietor of the Pennsylvania colony.

Penn’s colony basically then was made up of two distinct entities: the Upper Counties of Bucks, Chester and Philadelphia, and the Lower Counties on the Delaware, of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. Penn wanted to unite the people of these two districts but his efforts failed.  Eventually admitting defeat, Penn allowed the lower three counties to create their legislature.  The Delaware counties held their first meeting of their independent government in 1704. But even with their separate political body, these counties still remained part the charter for the Colony of Pennsylvania and were overseen by a shared governor.

In 1763, David Rittenhouse created a survey of what would eventually become the official border between Delaware and Pennsylvania.  A 12-mile circle about the Court House in New Castle, was laid out to define the northern border of Delaware. Rittenhouse’s work was so precise and well-documented that it was incorporated without modification into Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon’s survey of the Pennsylvania–Maryland border. 

Delaware finally broke free from Pennsylvania during the American Revolution. Drawing inspiration from America’s battle to be independent from England.  Representatives from the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania gathered in New Castle on June 15, 1776, and voted to create “The Delaware State,” making themselves separate from King George III, England, and Pennsylvania. This day in Delaware history is remembered as “Separation Day” and “Delaware’s Birthday.”

Nearly two weeks later, at the meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, the representatives of the 13 colonies had their vote for independence. On July 2, 1776, two of three members of the Delaware delegation championed America’s decision to end English rule. One delegate, Caesar Rodney, rode all night from Dover to Philadelphia to break the tie between the two other Delaware representatives. Delaware made history again in 1787 when it became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

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