History
Delaware was inhabited nearly 10,000 years ago, and a succession of various cultures occupied the area until the first European contact. At that time, the Leni-Lenape (Delaware) Indians occupied northern Delaware, while several tribes, including the Nanticoke and Assateague, inhabited southern Delaware. The Dutch in 1631 were the first Europeans to settle in what is now Delaware, but their little colony (at Lewes) was destroyed by Indians.
Delaware was inhabited nearly 10,000 years ago, and a succession of various cultures occupied the area until the first European contact. At that time, the Leni-Lenape (Delaware) Indians occupied northern Delaware, while several tribes, including the Nanticoke and Assateague, inhabited southern Delaware. The Dutch in 1631 were the first Europeans to settle in what is now Delaware, but their little colony (at Lewes) was destroyed by Indians.
Permanent settlements were made by the Swedes in 1638 (at Wilmington, under the leadership of a Dutchman, Peter Minuit) and by the Dutch in 1651 (at New Castle). The Dutch conquered the Swedes in 1655, and the English conquered the Dutch in 1664. Eighteen years later, the area was ceded by the duke of York (later King James II), its first English proprietor, to William Penn. Penn allowed Delaware an elected assembly in 1704, but the colony was still subject to him and to his deputy governor in Philadelphia; ties to the Penn family and Pennsylvania were not severed until 1776. Boundary quarrels disturbed relations with Maryland until Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon surveyed the western boundary of Delaware (and the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary) during the period 1763–68. By this time, virtually all the Indians had been driven out of the territory.
In September 1777, during the War for Independence, British soldiers marched through northern Delaware, skirmishing with some of Washington's troops at Cooch's Bridge, near Newark, and seizing Wilmington, which they occupied for a month. In later campaigns, Delaware troops with the Continental Army fought so well that they gained the nickname "Blue Hen's Chicken," after a famous breed of fighting gamecocks. On 7 December 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the federal Constitution. Although Delaware had not abolished slavery, it remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. By that time, it was the one slave state in which a clear majority of blacks (about 92%) were already free. However, white Delawareans generally resented the Reconstruction policies adopted by Congress after the Civil War, and by manipulation of registration laws denied blacks the franchise until 1890.
The key event in the state's economic history was the completion of a railroad between Philadelphia and Baltimore through Wilmington in 1838, encouraging the industrialization of northern Delaware. Wilmington grew so rapidly that by 1900 it encompassed 41% of the state's population; by mid-century the city was home to roughly half the state's population. Considerable foreign immigration contributed to this growth, largely from the British Isles (especially Ireland) and Germany in the mid-19th century and from Italy, Poland, and Russia in the early 20th century.
Flour and textile mills, shipyards, carriage factories, iron foundries, and morocco leather plants were Wilmington's leading enterprises for much of the 19th century. By the early 1900s however, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., founded near Wilmington in 1802 as a gunpowder manufacturer, made the city famous as a center for the chemical industry. Du Pont remained the state's largest employer in the 1990s.
During the same period, Delaware's agricultural income rose. Peaches and truck crops flourished in the 19th century, along with corn and wheat; poultry, sorghum, and soybeans became major sources of agricultural income in the 20th century. Sussex County, home to much of the state's farming, had become the fastest-growing county in Delaware by the mid-1990s. The beach areas of rural Sussex had attracted resort-goers and retirees. Tourism was expected to be aided by the construction of a north-south expressway that will cut travel time to the state's southern beach communities.
During the 1950s, Delaware's population grew by an unprecedented 40%. The growth was greatest around Dover, site of the East Coast's largest air base, and on the outskirts of Wilmington. Wilmington itself lost population after 1945 because of the proliferation of suburban housing developments, offices, and factories, including two automobile assembly plants and an oil refinery. Although many neighborhood schools became racially integrated during the 1950s, massive busing was instituted by court order in 1978 to achieve a racial balance in schools throughout northern Delaware.
The 1980s ushered in a period of dramatic economic improvement. According to state sources, Delaware was one of only two states to improve its financial strength during the recession that plagued the early part of the decade. In 1988, Delaware enjoyed an unemployment rate of 3.3%, the 2nd-lowest in the country. The state's revenues grew at an average of 7.7% in the early 1980s, even while it successively cut the personal income tax. Some of Delaware's prosperity came from a 1981 state law that raised usury limits and lowered taxes for large financial institutions. More than 30 banks established themselves in Delaware, including Chase Manhattan Bank and Manufacturers Hanover.
The state also succeeded in using its simplified incorporation procedures to attract both US and foreign companies, bringing in an estimated $1 million in incorporation fees from Asian companies alone in the late 1980s. By the mid-1990s, the state was the registered home of roughly half the Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of thousands of smaller corporations; however, for most, their presence in the state was strictly on paper. The state sustained a low rate of unemployment into the 1990s; in 1999 it was 3.5%, still below the national average. A year earlier the state ranked sixth in the nation for per capita income ($29,932).
While business fared well in Delaware, the state lagged behind in social welfare indicators in the mid-1990s. Delaware's rates of teenage pregnancy and infant mortality were among the highest in the country while its welfare benefits were lower than those of any other mid-Atlantic state with the exception of West Virginia. Other problems in the 1990s included housing shortages, urban sprawl, and pollution.
Ruth Ann Minner, elected Delaware's first woman governor in 2001, was once a receptionist in the governor's office before winning the position herself. In her 2003 State of the State address, she targeted issues such as pollution, industrial cleanups, and toughening campaign finance laws. In September 2003, Delaware was launching a prisoner reentry program, designed to help former inmates successfully reenter society instead of committing further crimes and returning to prison. The three-year pilot program was financed with a $2 million federal grant and was to save the state millions of dollars a year and reduce crime.
In September 1777, during the War for Independence, British soldiers marched through northern Delaware, skirmishing with some of Washington's troops at Cooch's Bridge, near Newark, and seizing Wilmington, which they occupied for a month. In later campaigns, Delaware troops with the Continental Army fought so well that they gained the nickname "Blue Hen's Chicken," after a famous breed of fighting gamecocks. On 7 December 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the federal Constitution. Although Delaware had not abolished slavery, it remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. By that time, it was the one slave state in which a clear majority of blacks (about 92%) were already free. However, white Delawareans generally resented the Reconstruction policies adopted by Congress after the Civil War, and by manipulation of registration laws denied blacks the franchise until 1890.
The key event in the state's economic history was the completion of a railroad between Philadelphia and Baltimore through Wilmington in 1838, encouraging the industrialization of northern Delaware. Wilmington grew so rapidly that by 1900 it encompassed 41% of the state's population; by mid-century the city was home to roughly half the state's population. Considerable foreign immigration contributed to this growth, largely from the British Isles (especially Ireland) and Germany in the mid-19th century and from Italy, Poland, and Russia in the early 20th century.
Flour and textile mills, shipyards, carriage factories, iron foundries, and morocco leather plants were Wilmington's leading enterprises for much of the 19th century. By the early 1900s however, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., founded near Wilmington in 1802 as a gunpowder manufacturer, made the city famous as a center for the chemical industry. Du Pont remained the state's largest employer in the 1990s.
During the same period, Delaware's agricultural income rose. Peaches and truck crops flourished in the 19th century, along with corn and wheat; poultry, sorghum, and soybeans became major sources of agricultural income in the 20th century. Sussex County, home to much of the state's farming, had become the fastest-growing county in Delaware by the mid-1990s. The beach areas of rural Sussex had attracted resort-goers and retirees. Tourism was expected to be aided by the construction of a north-south expressway that will cut travel time to the state's southern beach communities.
During the 1950s, Delaware's population grew by an unprecedented 40%. The growth was greatest around Dover, site of the East Coast's largest air base, and on the outskirts of Wilmington. Wilmington itself lost population after 1945 because of the proliferation of suburban housing developments, offices, and factories, including two automobile assembly plants and an oil refinery. Although many neighborhood schools became racially integrated during the 1950s, massive busing was instituted by court order in 1978 to achieve a racial balance in schools throughout northern Delaware.
The 1980s ushered in a period of dramatic economic improvement. According to state sources, Delaware was one of only two states to improve its financial strength during the recession that plagued the early part of the decade. In 1988, Delaware enjoyed an unemployment rate of 3.3%, the 2nd-lowest in the country. The state's revenues grew at an average of 7.7% in the early 1980s, even while it successively cut the personal income tax. Some of Delaware's prosperity came from a 1981 state law that raised usury limits and lowered taxes for large financial institutions. More than 30 banks established themselves in Delaware, including Chase Manhattan Bank and Manufacturers Hanover.
The state also succeeded in using its simplified incorporation procedures to attract both US and foreign companies, bringing in an estimated $1 million in incorporation fees from Asian companies alone in the late 1980s. By the mid-1990s, the state was the registered home of roughly half the Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of thousands of smaller corporations; however, for most, their presence in the state was strictly on paper. The state sustained a low rate of unemployment into the 1990s; in 1999 it was 3.5%, still below the national average. A year earlier the state ranked sixth in the nation for per capita income ($29,932).
While business fared well in Delaware, the state lagged behind in social welfare indicators in the mid-1990s. Delaware's rates of teenage pregnancy and infant mortality were among the highest in the country while its welfare benefits were lower than those of any other mid-Atlantic state with the exception of West Virginia. Other problems in the 1990s included housing shortages, urban sprawl, and pollution.
Ruth Ann Minner, elected Delaware's first woman governor in 2001, was once a receptionist in the governor's office before winning the position herself. In her 2003 State of the State address, she targeted issues such as pollution, industrial cleanups, and toughening campaign finance laws. In September 2003, Delaware was launching a prisoner reentry program, designed to help former inmates successfully reenter society instead of committing further crimes and returning to prison. The three-year pilot program was financed with a $2 million federal grant and was to save the state millions of dollars a year and reduce crime.
source:
Delaware Almanac 2007
and
Delaware Facts and Symbols
Delaware Almanac 2007
and
Delaware Facts and Symbols
No comments:
Post a Comment