Delaware

The state’s Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs describes Native tribes such as the Lenape and the Nanticoke as having lived in the Delaware Bay region for well over 10,000 years.⁠[1]

After European colonization, smallpox epidemics killed many Native people; some hid their identity, and many people wrongly believed that the local tribes had left or been driven out. Native cultural and religious practices remained illegal until Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978, and during segregation Native Americans attended separate churches and schools.⁠[1]

In 1631 the Dutch founded Zwaanendael at present-day Lewes, a settlement that Native Americans destroyed shortly afterward. In 1638 Swedes established New Sweden’s permanent settlement at Fort Christina, now Wilmington; in 1655 the Dutch from New Amsterdam defeated the Swedes. The English seized the colony from the Dutch in 1664, the Dutch briefly reconquered it in 1673, and in 1682 the Duke of York ceded Delaware to William Penn.⁠[2]

In 1704 Delaware received its own assembly. Quaker merchants established Wilmington in 1739, and in 1743 Francis Alison founded a school that became the basis of the University of Delaware.⁠[2]

On June 15, 1776, known as Separation Day, representatives of New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties, meeting at the New Castle Court House, Delaware’s first capitol, cut ties with the British crown and with PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaPennsylvania (officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States; its capital is Harrisburg, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are its two great metropolitan areas. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, the second state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 13,002,700.Open the full entry. Delaware’s first constitution was approved in New Castle on September 20, 1776.⁠[3]

On July 1–2, 1776, Caesar Rodney rode to Philadelphia to break a tie in the Delaware delegation’s vote on independence.⁠[2]

In 1777 the capital moved to Dover, which was more defensible than New Castle. The Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, fought that September one week before the Battle of Brandywine, was the only Revolutionary War battle on Delaware soil, and on September 6, 1777, George Washington and other officers met at the Hale-Byrnes House in Stanton to plan the defense of Wilmington.⁠[3][4]

From 1777 to 1791 the Golden Fleece Tavern in Dover served as the state capitol; the Old State House was the capitol from 1791 to 1933, and Legislative Hall has served as the capitol since 1933.⁠[3]

John Dickinson freed the enslaved people on his plantation conditionally in 1777 and unconditionally nine years later.⁠[3]

In the first half of the 19th century Delawareans became increasingly divided over slavery, and many owners freed enslaved people for economic and religious reasons. By 1860 about 1,800 enslaved people remained in Delaware, while the free Black population had grown to about 20,000.⁠[5]

After the Constitutional Convention agreed on the Constitution on September 17, 1787, the Delaware legislature ordered a special election on November 26, 1787, to choose ten delegates from each county. Meeting in convention the following week, the thirty delegates quickly and unanimously approved the Constitution and signed it on a Friday in Dover; the convention clerk engrossed the approval on a large parchment, and a duplicate with the delegates’ signatures was sent to the national government.⁠[6]

On March 21, 1789, Richard Bassett, one of Delaware’s first two U.S. senators, took his seat; George Read took his seat on April 13, 1789.⁠[7]

In 1802 E. I. du Pont established a black powder factory on the Brandywine Creek. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was completed in 1826; in 1838 a railroad connected Wilmington with Baltimore and Philadelphia, and by 1856 the Delaware Railroad had reached Seaford. Between 1840 and 1900 Wilmington grew from about 5,500 to about 77,000 residents.⁠[2]

Delaware began supporting public education in 1829, but its schools were open to whites only. During Reconstruction (1865–1877) schools for Black students were established with private philanthropy and federal funds, and in 1875 the state accepted responsibility for maintaining Black schools, funded by Black taxpayers.⁠[5]

During the Civil War Delaware never seriously considered joining the Confederacy and many Delawareans favored the Union, although men from the state served on both sides. Fort Delaware, built in the 1850s, became a major Union prisoner-of-war camp.⁠[5]

The present Delaware Constitution of 1897 was adopted in convention on June 4, 1897, and has been amended many times since; the current text includes amendments through July 1, 2025. In 1997 the General Assembly passed a resolution commending the committee that planned the constitution’s centennial celebration.⁠[8][9]

In the early 1900s the du Pont family and its gunpowder company dominated Delaware’s development, and DuPont earned large profits from sales to the United States and its allies during World War I. The Du Pont Highway, linking southern Delaware with Wilmington, was completed in 1923; in the 1920s Pierre S. du Pont paid for new schools throughout the state, and in 1930 Alfred I. du Pont built a state welfare home.⁠[5]

On November 7, 1916, Josiah O. Wolcott became Delaware’s first U.S. senator directly elected under the Seventeenth Amendment.⁠[7]

On April 8, 1946, the U.S. Senate passed a bill authorizing the toll bridge now known as the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and the president signed it on July 13, 1946.⁠[7]

Segregation remained the norm in Delaware’s schools until the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in BrownBrown UniversityBrown University is a private nonprofit research university in Providence, Rhode Island, and a member of the Ivy League. Chartered by Rhode Island's colonial legislature in 1764, it is known for its undergraduate Open Curriculum, which has no common required core. Christina H. Paxson, president since July 2012, announced on August 3, 2026, that the 2026–27 academic year would be her last in office. As of October 1, 2026, the search for Brown's 20th president remained underway.Open the full entry v. Board of Education.⁠[5]

In the mid-1960s the separate Lenape schools closed as part of Delaware’s desegregation.⁠[10]

In the second half of the 20th century population shifted from Wilmington to its suburbs, and resort and retirement communities grew along the Atlantic coast. In 1971 Delaware adopted the Coastal Zone Act to prevent heavy industrialization of the coast.⁠[5]

In 2001 Ruth Ann Minner became Delaware’s first woman governor.⁠[5]

On January 6, 2003, Joseph R. Biden Jr. surpassed William V. Roth Jr. as Delaware’s longest-serving U.S. senator; he was inaugurated president of the United States on January 20, 2021.⁠[7]

On August 3, 2016, Governor Jack Markell signed legislation officially recognizing the Lenape community in Cheswold as a sovereign Indigenous nation. The tribe, centered in and around Cheswold in northern Kent County, was formed by elders of the Cheswold Lenape community in the early 1990s. The Nanticoke Indian Association is also state-recognized, while the federally recognized Delaware Tribe of Indians and Delaware Nation are based in OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma is a U.S. state whose capital is Oklahoma City. It was admitted to the Union on November 16, 1907, as the 46th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 3,959,353.Open the full entry.⁠[10][1]

Under the apportionment based on the 2020 census, Delaware has 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, unchanged from 2010, representing 990,837 persons. The state has 3 electoral votes in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.⁠[11][12]

On January 3, 2025, Lisa Blunt Rochester took office as the first woman and first African American to represent Delaware in the U.S. Senate.⁠[7]

As of November 2026 the governor is Matt Meyer, the 76th governor of Delaware, who was sworn in on January 21, 2025; the lieutenant governor is Kyle Evans Gay.⁠[13][14]

The legislature, the Delaware General Assembly, consists of a House of Representatives of 41 members serving two-year terms and a Senate of 21 members serving four-year terms. The Delaware Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and four associate justices, appointed by the governor with Senate confirmation for 12-year terms.⁠[15]

In the Census Bureau’s State Area Measurements, Delaware has a total area of 2,489 square miles (6,446 square kilometers), of which 1,949 square miles (5,047 square kilometers) is land and 540 square miles (1,399 square kilometers) is water, including 91 square miles of inland water, 355 square miles of coastal water and 94 square miles of territorial water.⁠[16]

State information ranks Delaware 49th in the nation in area. The state is 96 miles long and 9 to 35 miles wide and is divided into New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties; it borders the Atlantic Ocean, Delaware Bay, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the eastern United States on the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with the Hudson River forming its northeastern boundary and the Delaware River its western boundary; its capital is Trenton and its largest city is Newark. One of the original 13 colonies, it became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 18, 1787, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 9,288,994.Open the full entry, Pennsylvania and MarylandMarylandMaryland is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States, deeply indented by Chesapeake Bay and bordered by Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, the District of Columbia and West Virginia; its capital is Annapolis and its largest city is Baltimore. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on April 28, 1788, as the seventh state to do so, and had a population of 6,177,224 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry. The highest point is Ebright Azimuth, near Ebright Road in New Castle County, at 447.85 feet (136.50 meters) above sea level, and the lowest point is sea level along the coast. The Delaware River is a mainstay of the state’s commerce and transportation.⁠[4]

Average monthly temperatures range from 75.8°F to 32.0°F, with an average summer temperature of 74.3°F; about 57% of days are sunny, annual precipitation is about 45 inches and the growing season lasts 170 to 200 days. Atlantic coastal areas are about 10°F warmer in winter and 10°F cooler in summer.⁠[4]

The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimate puts Delaware’s population at 1,059,952 on July 1, 2025, up 7.1% from the April 1, 2020, estimates base of 989,950. Between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, Delaware’s population grew 0.9%, the 6th-fastest rate among the states. Population density in 2020 was 508.0 persons per square mile, with a land area of 1,948.55 square miles.⁠[17][18]

Of the July 1, 2025, estimated population, 5.1% were under 5, 19.8% under 18 and 22.8% aged 65 and over, and 52.0% were female. By race, 65.0% were White alone, 24.0% Black alone, 5.0% Asian alone, 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native alone and 4.8% of two or more races; 11.9% were Hispanic or Latino and 56.6% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino.⁠[17]

In 2020–2024, 10.7% of residents were foreign-born and 15.1% of those aged 5 and over spoke a language other than English at home; among those aged 25 and over, 91.7% were high school graduates and 35.8% held a bachelor’s degree or higher. Median household income was $84,954 and per capita income $45,375 (in 2024 dollars), and 9.6% of persons lived in poverty.⁠[17]

Delaware’s 2024 nominal GDP was $103,253 million in preliminary U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data, and its real GDP grew 2.1%, ranking 37th among the states.⁠[19]

Credit-card banking has replaced the chemical industry as Delaware’s leading private employer.⁠[5]

The 2009 edition of the state’s facts lists broilers, soybeans, corn and milk as the main agricultural products, crabs and clams as fishery products, chemicals, food, paper, rubber and plastics, primary metals and printed materials as manufactures, and sand, gravel and magnesium compounds as mineral products.⁠[15]

The City of Wilmington describes itself as Delaware’s economic engine, the corporate home of more than half of Fortune 500 companies, supporting more than 40,000 workers.⁠[20]

The name “Delaware” was applied to the bay in 1610.⁠[2]

Delaware’s official nickname, “The First State,” refers to its being the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution; it was made official on May 23, 2002, at the request of a first-grade class at Mt. Pleasant Elementary School, and is set out in § 318 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code. Other nicknames include “The Diamond State” (by legend, Thomas Jefferson called Delaware a “jewel” among states because of its strategic location on the Eastern Seaboard), the “Blue Hen State” (after the fighting Blue Hen cocks carried by Revolutionary War soldiers) and “Small Wonder.”⁠[15][21]

The state motto, “Liberty and Independence,” derives from the Order of Cincinnati and was approved in 1847. The Great Seal, first adopted on January 17, 1777, bears the state coat of arms, the words “Great Seal of the State of Delaware” and the dates 1704 (establishment of the General Assembly), 1776 (declaration of independence) and 1787 (Delaware becoming the first state). The state colors are colonial blue and buff.⁠[15]

The state flag was adopted on July 24, 1913, and is now set out in § 306 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code: a colonial blue background surrounding a buff diamond containing the state coat of arms, with “December 7, 1787” inscribed beneath the diamond.⁠[15][21]

The state flower is the peach blossom (adopted May 9, 1895), the state bird the Blue Hen chicken (April 14, 1939), the state tree the American holly (May 1, 1939), the state bug the ladybug (April 25, 1974), the state marine animal the horseshoe crab (June 25, 2002) and the state dessert peach pie (July 30, 2009). The state song is “Our Delaware,” with words by George B. Hynson and Donn Devine and music by Will M. S. Brown.⁠[15]

State of Delaware: Official website: https://delaware.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[14]

Office of the Governor, State of Delaware: Official website: https://governor.delaware.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[22]

Delaware General Assembly: Official website: https://legis.delaware.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[9]