Government: By 1775 Delaware was governed as a Proprietary Colony. Delaware was often referred to as a breadbasket colony because it grew so many crops, especially wheat. The wheat was ground into flour in flour mills then shipped to England.

The people of Delaware wanted independence from the strong influence of Pennsylvania’s large population of Quakers. The Quakers, or Society of Friends, was a religious body that dominated Philadelphia, and the people of Delaware feared the rapid economic growth of the Pennsylvania colony.

1776

The colony of Delaware. The Dutch founded the first European settlement in Delaware at Lewes (then called Zwaanendael) in 1631. They quickly set up a trade in beaver furs with the Native Americans, who within a short time raided and destroyed the settlement after a disagreement between the two groups.

Delaware colonists built ships, traded fur, fished, did some whaling and lumbering. They farmed and grew cattle. Yet there main money raiser was their exportation of their rich tobacco growing. Penn turned to fellow Quakers to help finance the settlement of the of the new colony.

Delaware’s agricultural output consists of poultry, nursery stock, soybeans, dairy products and corn. Its industrial outputs include chemical products, processed foods, paper products, and rubber and plastic products. Delaware’s economy generally outperforms the national economy of the United States.

Delaware, first settled by Scandinavian Lutherans and Dutch Reformed, with later infusions of English Quakers and Welsh Baptists, had perhaps the most diverse beginnings of any middle colony.

The colony was not dominated by a specific religion which gave way to religious freedom for Quakers, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews and others. …

Colonial Delaware provided a variety of jobs, including agriculture, trading of fur and material goods, shipbuilding, fishing, working in grist mills and producing paper products.

The social life in Delaware’s colony is like any other colony. Men went out to do the hard labor such as, Cutting wood, Hunting, trading goods and building houses. The women did all the house work. They cleaned, made food, did the laundry, worked on the garden for planting foods etc.

Delaware’s official state name is “The First State.” The first of the thirteen original colonies to ratify the Constitution in 1787, Delaware is given the first position in congressional votes and national events, such as Presidential Inaugurations. With only three counties, Delaware has the fewest number of any state.

“William Penn is the father of representative government in Delaware. In 1681 this idealistic English Quaker became proprietor of two colonies in America: Pennsylvania and the Three Lower Counties on Delaware.

Delaware became part of the Pennsylvania colony in 1682 and was known as the “Lower Counties on the Delaware.” By 1704, Delaware largely had its own government, although it shared a governor with Pennsylvania.

After Articles, churches have a second layer of governing documents. This is usually a “constitution,” which addresses fundamental internal operations. Constitutions are still subject to the law, including the official Articles. Issues in Constitutions include a basic purpose, or ultimate authority in the church.

C Preamble Correct – The Preamble states the six purposes of government: to form a more perfect union; establish justice; insure domestic tranquility; provide for the common defense; promote the general welfare; secure the blessings of liberty now and in the future.