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Delaware

Coordinates: 39°00′N 75°30′W / 39.0°N 75.5°W / 39.0; -75.5 (State of Delaware)

Delaware (/ˈdɛləwɛər/ (listen) DEL-ə-wair)[13] is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States,[14] bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Delaware Bay, in turn named after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginia's first colonial governor.[15]

Delaware
State of Delaware
Nickname(s)
The First State; The Small Wonder;[1] Blue Hen State; The Diamond State
Motto
Anthem: "Our Delaware"
Map of the United States with Delaware highlighted
CountryUnited States
Before statehoodDelaware Colony, New Netherland, New Sweden
Admitted to the UnionDecember 7, 1787 (1st)
CapitalDover
Largest cityWilmington
Largest metro and urban areasDelaware Valley
Government
 • GovernorJohn Carney (D)
 • Lieutenant GovernorBethany Hall-Long (D)
LegislatureGeneral Assembly
 • Upper houseSenate
 • Lower houseHouse of Representatives
JudiciaryDelaware Supreme Court
U.S. senatorsTom Carper (D)
Chris Coons (D)
U.S. House delegationLisa Blunt Rochester (D) (list)
Area
 • Total1,982[2]−2,489[3][discuss] sq mi (5,130−6,450 km2)
 • Rank49th
Dimensions
 • Length96 mi (154 km)
 • Width30 mi (48 km)
Elevation
60 ft (20 m)
Highest elevation447.85 ft (136.50468 m)
Lowest elevation
(Atlantic Ocean[4])
0 ft (0 m)
Population
 (July 1, 2021)
 • Total1,003,384[7]
 • Rank45th[9]
 • Density500/sq mi (190/km2)
 • Median household income
$69,100[8]
 • Income rank
16th
DemonymDelawarean
Language
 • Official languageNone
Time zoneUTC−05:00 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)
USPS abbreviation
DE
ISO 3166 codeUS-DE
Traditional abbreviationDel.
Latitude38° 27′ N to 39° 50′ N
Longitude75° 3′ W to 75° 47′ W
Websitedelaware.gov
Interactive map showing border of Delaware (click to zoom)

Delaware occupies the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and some islands and territory within the Delaware River. It is the second-smallest and sixth-least populous state, but also the sixth-most densely populated. Delaware's largest city is Wilmington, while the state capital is Dover, the second-largest city in the state. The state is divided into three counties, having the lowest number of counties of any state;[a] from north to south, they are New Castle County, Kent County, and Sussex County. While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural, New Castle is more urbanized, being part of the Delaware Valley Metropolitan Statistical Area centered on Philadelphia. Although included in the Southern United States by the Census Bureau, Delaware's geography, culture, and history combine elements of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the country.[16]

Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Delaware was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans, including the Lenape in the north and Nanticoke in the south. It was initially colonized by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael, near the present town of Lewes, in 1631. Delaware was one of the Thirteen Colonies that took part in the American Revolution. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, and has since been known as The First State.[17] Since the turn of the 20th century, Delaware is also a de facto onshore corporate haven, in which by virtue of its corporate laws, the state is the domicile of over half of all New York Stock Exchange-listed business and over three-fifths of the Fortune 500.

Toponymy

The state was named after Delaware Bay, which in turn derived its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1577–1618), the first governor of the Colony of Virginia. The Delaware people, a name used by Europeans for Lenape people indigenous to the Delaware Valley, also derive their name from the same source.

The name de La Warr is from Sussex and of Anglo-French origin.[18][19] It came probably from a Norman lieu-dit La Guerre. This toponymic could derive from Latin ager, from the Breton gwern or from the Late Latin varectum (fallow). The toponyms Gara, Gare, Gaire (the sound [ä] often mutated in [æ]) also appear in old texts cited by Lucien Musset, where the word ga(i)ra means gore. It could also be linked with a patronymic from the Old Norse verr.

History

Native Americans

Before Delaware was settled by European colonists, the area was home to the Eastern Algonquian tribes known as the Unami Lenape, or Delaware, who lived mostly along the coast, and the Nanticoke who occupied much of the southern Delmarva Peninsula. John Smith also shows two Iroquoian tribes, the Kuskarawock and Tockwogh, living north of the Nanticoke—they may have held small portions of land in the western part of the state before migrating across the Chesapeake Bay.[20] The Kuskarawocks were most likely the Tuscarora.

The Unami Lenape in the Delaware Valley were closely related to Munsee Lenape tribes along the Hudson River. They had a settled hunting and agricultural society, and they rapidly became middlemen in an increasingly frantic fur trade with their ancient enemy, the Minqua or Susquehannock. With the loss of their lands on the Delaware River and the destruction of the Minqua by the Iroquois of the Five Nations in the 1670s, the remnants of the Lenape who wished to remain identified as such left the region and moved over the Alleghany Mountains by the mid-18th century. Generally, those who did not relocate out of the state of Delaware were baptized, became Christian and were grouped together with other persons of color in official records and in the minds of their non-Native American neighbors.[citation needed]

Colonial Delaware

The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in present-day Delaware in the middle region by establishing a trading post at Zwaanendael, near the site of Lewes in 1631.[21] Within a year all the settlers were killed in a dispute with area Native American tribes. In 1638 New Sweden, a Swedish trading post and colony, was established at Fort Christina (now in Wilmington) by Peter Minuit at the head of a group of Swedes, Finns and Dutch. The colony of New Sweden lasted 17 years. In 1651 the Dutch, reinvigorated by the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, established a fort at present-day New Castle, and in 1655 they conquered the New Sweden colony, annexing it into the Dutch New Netherland.[22][23] Only nine years later, in 1664, the Dutch were conquered by a fleet of English ships by Sir Robert Carr under the direction of James, the Duke of York. Fighting off a prior claim by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland, the Duke passed his somewhat dubious ownership on to William Penn in 1682. Penn strongly desired access to the sea for his Pennsylvania province and leased what then came to be known as the "Lower Counties on the Delaware"[22] from the Duke.

Penn established representative government and briefly combined his two possessions under one General Assembly in 1682. However, by 1704 the Province of Pennsylvania had grown so large their representatives wanted to make decisions without the assent of the Lower Counties, and the two groups of representatives began meeting on their own, one at Philadelphia, and the other at New Castle. Penn and his heirs remained proprietors of both and always appointed the same person Governor for their Province of Pennsylvania and their territory of the Lower Counties. The fact that Delaware and Pennsylvania shared the same governor was not unique. From 1703 to 1738 New York and New Jersey shared a governor.[24] Massachusetts and New Hampshire also shared a governor for some time.[25]

Dependent in early years on indentured labor, Delaware imported more slaves as the number of English immigrants decreased with better economic conditions in England. The colony became a slave society and cultivated tobacco as a cash crop, although English immigrants continued to arrive.

American Revolution

 
A two-shilling, six-pence banknote issued by Delaware in 1777

Like the other middle colonies, the Lower Counties on the Delaware initially showed little enthusiasm for a break with Britain. The citizenry had a good relationship with the Proprietary government, and generally were allowed more independence of action in their Colonial Assembly than in other colonies. Merchants at the port of Wilmington had trading ties with the British.

New Castle lawyer Thomas McKean denounced the Stamp Act in the strongest terms, and Kent County native John Dickinson became the "Penman of the Revolution." Anticipating the Declaration of Independence, Patriot leaders Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney convinced the Colonial Assembly to declare itself separated from British and Pennsylvania rule on June 15, 1776. The person best representing Delaware's majority, George Read, could not bring himself to vote for a Declaration of Independence. Only the dramatic overnight ride of Caesar Rodney gave the delegation the votes needed to cast Delaware's vote for independence.

Initially led by John Haslet, Delaware provided one of the premier regiments in the Continental Army, known as the "Delaware Blues" and nicknamed the "Blue Hen's Chicks". In August 1777 General Sir William Howe led a British army through Delaware on his way to a victory at the Battle of Brandywine and capture of the city of Philadelphia. The only real engagement on Delaware soil was the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, fought on September 3, 1777, at Cooch's Bridge in New Castle County, although there was a minor Loyalist rebellion in 1778.

Following the Battle of Brandywine, Wilmington was occupied by the British, and State President John McKinly was taken prisoner. The British remained in control of the Delaware River for much of the rest of the war, disrupting commerce and providing encouragement to an active Loyalist portion of the population, particularly in Sussex County. Because the British promised slaves of rebels freedom for fighting with them, escaped slaves flocked north to join their lines.[26]

Following the American Revolution, statesmen from Delaware were among the leading proponents of a strong central United States with equal representation for each state.

Slavery and race

Many colonial settlers came to Delaware from Maryland and Virginia, where the population had been increasing rapidly. The economies of these colonies were chiefly based on labor-intensive tobacco and increasingly dependent on African slaves because of a decline in working class immigrants from England. Most of the English colonists had arrived as indentured servants (contracted for a fixed period to pay for their passage), and in the early years the line between servant and slave was fluid.[citation needed]

Most of the free African-American families in Delaware before the Revolution had migrated from Maryland to find more affordable land. They were descendants chiefly of relationships or marriages between white servant women and enslaved, servant or free African or African-American men.[27] Under slavery law, children took the social status of their mothers, so children born to white women were free, regardless of their paternity, just as children born to enslaved women were born into slavery. As the flow of indentured laborers to the colony decreased with improving economic conditions in England, more slaves were imported for labor and the caste lines hardened.

By the end of the colonial period, the number of enslaved people in Delaware began to decline. Shifts in the agriculture economy from tobacco to mixed farming resulted in less need for slaves' labor. In addition local Methodists and Quakers encouraged slaveholders to free their slaves following the American Revolution, and many did so in a surge of individual manumissions for idealistic reasons. By 1810 three-quarters of all blacks in Delaware were free. When John Dickinson freed his slaves in 1777, he was Delaware's largest slave owner with 37 slaves. By 1860, the largest slaveholder owned 16 slaves.[28]

Although attempts to abolish slavery failed by narrow margins in the legislature, in practical terms the state had mostly ended the practice. By the 1860 census on the verge of the Civil War, 91.7% of the black population were free;[29] 1,798 were slaves, as compared to 19,829 "free colored persons".[30]

An independent black denomination was chartered in 1813 by freed slave Peter Spencer as the "Union Church of Africans". This followed the 1793 establishment in Philadelphia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church by Richard Allen, which had ties to the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1816. Spencer built a church in Wilmington for the new denomination.[31] This was renamed as the African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection, more commonly known as the A.U.M.P. Church. In 1814, Spencer called for the first annual gathering, known as the Big August Quarterly, which continues to draw members of this denomination and their descendants together in a religious and cultural festival.[32]

Delaware voted against secession on January 3, 1861, and so remained in the Union. While most Delaware citizens who fought in the war served in the regiments of the state, some served in companies on the Confederate side in Maryland and Virginia Regiments. Delaware is notable for being the only slave state from which no Confederate regiments or militia groups were assembled.[citation needed] Delaware essentially freed the few slaves who were still in bondage shortly after the Civil War[further explanation needed] but rejected the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution; the 13th Amendment was rejected on February 8, 1865, the 14th Amendment was rejected on February 8, 1867, and the 15th Amendment was rejected on March 18, 1869. Delaware officially ratified the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments on February 12, 1901.[citation needed]

Reconstruction and industrialization

After the Civil War, Democratic governments led by the state's Bourbon aristocracy continued to dominate the state and imposed an explicitly white supremacist regime in the state. The Democratic legislatures declared blacks second-class citizens in 1866 and restricted their voting rights despite the Fifteenth Amendment, ensuring continued Democratic success throughout most of the nineteenth century.[33]

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the Wilmington area grew into a manufacturing center. Investment in manufacturing in the city grew from $5.5 million in 1860 to $44 million in 1900.[34] The most notable manufacturer in the state was the chemical company DuPont, which to this day is heavily credited with making the state what it is today in many ways.[35] Because of Wilmington's growth, local politicians from the city and New Castle County pressured the state government to adopt a new constitution providing the north with more representation. However, the subsequent 1897 constitution did not proportionally represent the north and continued to give the southern counties disproportionate influence.[36]

As manufacturing expanded, businesses became major players in state affairs and funders of politicians through families such as the Du Ponts. Republican John Addicks attempted to buy a US Senate seat multiple times in a rivalry with the Du Ponts until the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.[37] The allegiance of industries with the Republican party allowed them to gain control of the state's governorship throughout most of the twentieth century. The GOP ensured blacks could vote because of their general support for Republicans and thus undid restrictions on black suffrage.[38]

Delaware benefited greatly from World War I because of the state's large gunpowder industry. DuPont, the most dominant business in the state by WWI, produced an estimated 40% of all gunpowder used by the Allies during the war. It produced nylon in the state after the war and began investments into General Motors.[39] Additionally, the company invested heavily in the expansion of public schools in the state and colleges such as the University of Delaware in the 1910s and 1920s. This included primary and secondary schools for blacks and women.[40] Delaware suffered less during the Great Depression than other states, but the depression spurred further migration from the rural south to urban areas.[41]

World War II to present

Like in World War I, the state enjoyed a big stimulus to its gunpowder and shipyard industries in World War II. New job opportunities during and after the war in the Wilmington area coaxed African Americans from the southern counties to move to the city. The proportion of blacks constituting the city's population rose from 15% in 1950 to over 50% by 1980.[42] The surge of black migrants to the north sparked white flight in which middle class whites moved from the city to suburban areas, leading to general segregation of Delaware's society. In the 1940s and 1950s, the state attempted to integrate its schools. The University of Delaware admitted its first black student in 1948, and local courts ruled that primary schools had to be integrated. Delaware's integration efforts partially inspired the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.[43]

However, integration only encouraged more white flight, and poor economic conditions for the black population led to some violence during the 1960s. Riots broke out in Wilmington in 1967 and again in 1968 in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr after which the National Guard occupied the city for nine months to prevent further violence.[44]

Since WWII, the state has been generally economically prosperous and enjoyed relatively high per capita income because of its location between major cities like Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC.[45] Its population grew rapidly, particularly in the suburbs in the north where New Castle county became an extension of the Philadelphia metropolitan area.[46] Americans, including migrants from Puerto Rico, and immigrants from Latin America flocked to the state. By 1990, only 50% of Delaware's population consisted of natives to the state.[47]

Geography

 
Map of Delaware
 
 
The Blackbird Pond on the Blackbird State Forest Meadows Tract in New Castle County, Delaware
 
A field north of Fox Den Road, along the Lenape Trail in Middle Run Valley Natural Area

Delaware is 96 miles (154 km) long and ranges from 9 miles (14 km) to 35 miles (56 km) across, totaling an area of either 1,982 square miles (5,130 km2),[48] or 2,489 square miles (6,450 km2) [49] making it the second-smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania; to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean; and to the west and south by Maryland. Small portions of Delaware are also situated on the eastern side of the Delaware River sharing land boundaries with New Jersey. The state of Delaware, together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and two counties of Virginia, form the Delmarva Peninsula, which stretches down the Mid-Atlantic Coast.

The definition of the northern boundary of the state is unusual. Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania was originally defined by an arc extending 12 miles (19.3 km) from the cupola of the courthouse in the city of New Castle.[citation needed] This boundary is often referred to as the Twelve-Mile Circle.[b] Although the Twelve-Mile Circle is often claimed to be the only territorial boundary in the U.S. that is a true arc, the Mexican boundary with Texas includes several arcs,[50] and many cities in the South (such as Plains, Georgia)[51] also have circular boundaries.

This border extends all the way east to the low-tide mark on the New Jersey shore, then continues south along the shoreline until it again reaches the 12-mile (19 km) arc in the south; then the boundary continues in a more conventional way in the middle of the main channel (thalweg) of the Delaware River.

To the west, a portion of the arc extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland. The remaining western border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the arc. The Wedge of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921, when Delaware's claim was confirmed.

Topography

Delaware is on a level plain, with the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation.[52] Its highest elevation, located at Ebright Azimuth, near Concord High School, is less than 450 feet (140 m) above sea level.[52] The northernmost part of the state is part of the Piedmont Plateau with hills and rolling surfaces.

The Atlantic Seaboard fall line approximately follows the Robert Kirkwood Highway between Newark and Wilmington; south of this road is the Atlantic Coastal Plain with flat, sandy, and, in some parts, swampy ground.[53] A ridge about 75 to 80 feet (23 to 24 m) high extends along the western boundary of the state and separates the watersheds that feed Delaware River and Bay to the east and the Chesapeake Bay to the west.

Climate

 
Delaware Köppen climate classification is humid subtropical.

Since almost all of Delaware is a part of the Atlantic coastal plain, the effects of the ocean moderate its climate. The state lies in the humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) zone. Despite its small size (roughly 100 miles (160 km) from its northernmost to southernmost points), there is significant variation in mean temperature and amount of snowfall between Sussex County and New Castle County. Moderated by the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, the southern portion of the state has a milder climate and a longer growing season than the northern portion of the state. Delaware's all-time record high of 110 °F (43 °C) was recorded at Millsboro on July 21, 1930. The all-time record low of −17 °F (−27 °C) was also recorded at Millsboro, on January 17, 1893. The hardiness zones are 6b, 7a and 7b.

Environment

The transitional climate of Delaware supports a wide variety of vegetation. In the northern third of the state are found Northeastern coastal forests and mixed oak forests typical of the northeastern United States.[54] In the southern two-thirds of the state are found Middle Atlantic coastal forests.[54] Trap Pond State Park, along with areas in other parts of Sussex County, for example, support the northernmost stands of bald cypress trees in North America.

Environmental management

Delaware provides government subsidy support for the clean-up of property "lightly contaminated" by hazardous waste, the proceeds for which come from a tax on wholesale petroleum sales.[55]

Municipalities

Wilmington is the state's most populous city (70,635) and its economic hub. It is located within commuting distance of both Philadelphia and Baltimore. Dover is the state capital and the second most populous city (38,079).

Counties

Cities

Towns

Villages

Unincorporated places

The table below lists the ten largest municipalities in the state based on the 2018 United States census estimate.[56]

 
 
Largest cities or towns in Delaware
2018 census estimates
Rank Name County Pop.
 
Wilmington
 
Dover
1 Wilmington New Castle 70,635  
Newark
 
Middletown
2 Dover Kent 38,079
3 Newark New Castle 33,673
4 Middletown New Castle 22,582
5 Smyrna New Castle/Kent 11,580
6 Milford Kent/Sussex 11,353
7 Seaford Sussex 7,861
8 Georgetown Sussex 7,427
9 Elsmere New Castle 5,981
10 New Castle New Castle 5,529

Demographics

 
Delaware population density map
Historical population
Census Pop.
179059,096
180064,2738.8%
181072,67413.1%
182072,7490.1%
183076,7485.5%
184078,0851.7%
185091,53217.2%
1860112,21622.6%
1870125,01511.4%
1880146,60817.3%
1890168,49314.9%
1900184,7359.6%
1910202,3229.5%
1920223,00310.2%
1930238,3806.9%
1940266,50511.8%
1950318,08519.4%
1960446,29240.3%
1970548,10422.8%
1980594,3388.4%
1990666,16812.1%
2000783,60017.6%
2010897,93414.6%
2020989,94810.2%
2021 (est.)1,003,3841.4%
Source: 1910–2020[57]

The United States Census Bureau determined that the population of Delaware was 989,948 on April 1, 2020,[58] an increase since the 2010 United States census at 897,934.[59][60]

Delaware's history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both the Northern and the Southern regions of the United States. Generally, the rural Southern (or "Slower Lower") regions of Delaware below the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal embody a Southern culture,[61][62] while densely-populated Northern Delaware above the canal—particularly Wilmington, a part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area—has more in common with that of the Northeast.[63] The U.S. Census Bureau designates Delaware as one of the South Atlantic States, but it is commonly associated with the Mid-Atlantic States and/or northeastern United States by other federal agencies, the media, and some residents.[64][65][66][67][68][69]

Delaware is the sixth most densely populated state, with a population density of 442.6 people per square mile, 356.4 per square mile more than the national average, and ranking 45th in population. Delaware is one of five U.S. states (Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming) that do not have a single city with a population over 100,000 as of the 2010 census.[70] The center of population of Delaware is in New Castle County, in the town of Townsend.[71]

As of 2011, 49.7% of Delaware's population younger than one year of age belonged to minority groups (i.e., did not have two parents of non-Hispanic white ancestry).[72] In 2000 approximately 19% of the population were African-American and 5% of the population is Hispanic (mostly of Puerto Rican or Mexican ancestry).[73]

Race and ethnicity

According to the 2010 United States census, the racial composition of the state was 68.9% White American (65.3% Non-Hispanic White, 3.6% White Hispanic), 21.4% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.2% Asian American, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 3.4% some other race, and 2.7% Multiracial American. Ethnically, Hispanics and Latin Americans of any race made up 8.2% of the population.[74] The 2019 American Community Survey estimated the state had a racial and ethnic makeup of 61.% non-Hispanic whites, 23.2% Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian or Alaska Native, 4.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.7% multiracial, and 9.6% Hispanic or Latin American of any race.[75]

In the Native American community, the state has a Native American group (called in their own language Lenni Lenape) which was influential in the colonial period of the United States and is today headquartered in Cheswold, Kent County, Delaware.[76] A band of the Nanticoke tribe of American Indians today resides in Sussex County and is headquartered in Millsboro, Sussex County, Delaware.[77]

Delaware racial breakdown of population
Racial composition 1990[78] 2000[79] 2010[80]
White 80.3% 74.6% 68.9%
Black 16.9% 19.2% 21.4%
Asian 1.4% 2.1% 3.2%
Native 0.3% 0.4% 0.5%
Native Hawaiian and
other Pacific Islander
Other race 1.1% 2.0% 3.4%
Two or more races 1.7% 2.7%

Birth data

Note: Births in table do not add up because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.

Live Births by Single Race/Ethnicity of Mother
Race 2013[81] 2014[82] 2015[83] 2016[84] 2017[85] 2018[86] 2019[87] 2020[88]
White: 7,204 (66.5%) 7,314 (66.7%) 7,341 (65.7%) ... ... ... ... ...
> Non-Hispanic White 5,942 (54.8%) 5,904 (53.8%) 5,959 (53.4%) 5,827 (53.0%) 5,309 (48.9%) 5,171 (48.7%) 5,024 (47.6%) 4,949 (47.6%)
Black 3,061 (28.3%) 2,988 (27.2%) 3,134 (28.1%) 2,832 (25.7%) 2,818 (26.0%) 2,773 (26.1%) 2,804 (26.5%) 2,722 (26.2%)
Asian 541 (5.0%) 644 (5.9%) 675 (6.1%) 627 (5.7%) 646 (6.0%) 634 (6.0%) 624 (5.9%) 617 (5.9%)
American Indian 25 (0.2%) 26 (0.2%) 16 (0.1%) 13 (0.1%) 23 (0.2%) 10 (0.1%) 18 (0.2%) 18 (0.2%)
Hispanic (of any race) 1,348 (12.4%) 1,541 (14.0%) 1,532 (13.7%) 1,432 (13.0%) 1,748 (16.1%) 1,710 (16.1%) 1,737 (16.4%) 1,768 (17.0%)
Total Delaware 10,831 (100%) 10,972 (100%) 11,166 (100%) 10,992 (100%) 10,855 (100%) 10,621 (100%) 10,562 (100%) 10,392 (100%)
  • Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Languages

As of 2000, 91% of Delaware residents of age 5 and older spoke only English at home; 5% spoke Spanish. French was the third-most spoken language at 0.7%, followed by Chinese at 0.5% and German at 0.5%. Legislation had been proposed in both the House and the Senate in Delaware to designate English as the official language.[89][90] Neither bill was passed in the legislature.

Sexual orientation

A 2012 Gallup poll found that Delaware's proportion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults stood at 3.4 percent of the population. This constitutes a total LGBT adult population estimate of 23,698 people. The number of same-sex couple households in 2010 stood at 2,646. This grew by 41.65% from a decade earlier.[91][not specific enough to verify] On July 1, 2013, same-sex marriage was legalized, and all civil unions would be converted into marriages.[92]

Religion

Religion in Delaware (2014)[93]
Religion Percent
Protestant
46%
None
23%
Catholic
22%
Jewish
3%
Hindu
2%
Other
2%
Mormon
1%
Muslim
1%
Orthodox Christian
1%

As of 2014, the Pew Research Center estimated Delaware is mostly Christian. Although Protestants account for almost half of the population,[93] the Roman Catholic Church is the largest single denomination in the state. The Association of Religion Data Archives reported in 2010 that the three largest denominational groups in Delaware by number of adherents are the Catholic Church at 182,532 adherents, the United Methodist Church with 53,656 members reported, and non-denominational Evangelical Protestant with 22,973 adherents reported.[94] By 2020, the Public Religion Research Institute determined 61% of the population was Christian.[95]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware oversee the parishes within their denominations. The A.U.M.P. Church, the oldest African-American denomination in the nation, was founded in Wilmington. It still has a substantial presence in the state. Reflecting new immigrant populations, an Islamic mosque has been built in the Ogletown area, and a Hindu temple in Hockessin.

Delaware is home to an Amish community which resides west of Dover in Kent County, consisting of nine church districts and about 1,650 people. The Amish first settled in Kent County in 1915. In recent years, increasing development has led to the decline in the number of Amish living in the community.[96][97][98]

A 2012 survey of religious attitudes in the United States found that 34% of Delaware residents considered themselves "moderately religious", 33% "very religious", and 33% as "non-religious".[99] At the 2014 Pew Research survey, 23% of the population were irreligious; the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute's survey determined 31% of the population were irreligious.[95]

Economy

Affluence

Average sale price for new & existing homes (in U.S. dollars)[100]
DE County March 2010 March 2011
New Castle 229,000 216,000
Sussex 323,000 296,000
Kent 186,000 178,000

According to a 2020 study by Kiplinger, Delaware had the seventeenth largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States, with a ratio of 6.98 percent, 0.7 percent from 2013 in ration but falling eight places in ranking. Delaware had 25,937 millionaires as of 2020. The median income for all Delaware households as of 2020 was $64,805.[101][102]

Agriculture

 
Picking Peaches in Delaware from an 1878 issue of Harper's Weekly

Delaware's agricultural output consists of poultry, nursery stock, soybeans, dairy products and corn.

Industries

As of October 2019, the state's unemployment rate was 3.7%.[103]

The state's largest employers are:[citation needed]

Industrial decline

Since the mid-2000s, Delaware has seen the departure of the state's automotive manufacturing industry (General Motors Wilmington Assembly and Chrysler Newark Assembly), the corporate buyout of a major bank holding company (MBNA), the departure of the state's steel industry (Evraz Claymont Steel), the bankruptcy of a fiber mill (National Vulcanized Fibre),[104] and the diminishing presence of AstraZeneca in Wilmington.[105][106]

In late 2015, DuPont announced that 1,700 employees, nearly a third of its footprint in Delaware, would be laid off in early 2016.[107] The merger of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and Dow Chemical Company into DowDuPont took place on September 1, 2017.[108][109][110][111]

Incorporation in Delaware

More than half of all U.S. publicly traded companies, and 63% of the Fortune 500, are incorporated in Delaware.[112] The state's attractiveness as a corporate haven is largely because of its business-friendly corporation law. Franchise taxes on Delaware corporations supply about a fifth of the state's revenue.[113] Although "USA (Delaware)" ranked as the world's most opaque jurisdiction on the Tax Justice Network's 2009 Financial Secrecy Index,[114] the same group's 2011 Index ranks the U.S. fifth and does not specify Delaware.[115] In Delaware, there are more than a million registered corporations,[116] meaning there are more corporations than people.

Food and drink

Title 4, chapter 7 of the Delaware Code stipulates that alcoholic liquor be sold only in specifically licensed establishments, and only between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m.[117] Until 2003, Delaware was among the several states enforcing blue laws and banned the sale of liquor on Sunday.[118]

Media

Newspapers

Two daily newspapers are based in Delaware, the Delaware State News, based in Dover and covering the two southern counties, and The News Journal covering Wilmington and northern Delaware. The state is also served by several weekly, monthly and online publications.

Television

No standalone television stations are based solely in Delaware. The northern part of the state is served by network stations in Philadelphia and the southern part by network stations in Salisbury, Maryland. Philadelphia's ABC affiliate, WPVI-TV, maintains a news bureau in downtown Wilmington. Salisbury's CBS affiliate, WBOC-TV, maintains bureaus in Dover and Milton. Three Philadelphia-market stations—PBS member WHYY-TV, Ion affiliate WPPX, and MeTV affiliate WDPN-TV—all have Wilmington as their city of license, but maintain transmitters at the market antenna farm in Roxborough, Philadelphia and do not produce any Delaware-centric programming.

Radio

There are a numerous radio stations licensed in Delaware. WDEL 1150AM, WHGE-LP 95.3 FM, WILM 1450 AM, WJBR-FM 99.5, WMPH 91.7 FM, WSTW 93.7 FM, WTMC 1380 AM and WWTX 1290AM are licensed from Wilmington. WRDX 92.9 FM is licensed from Smyrna. WDOV 1410AM, WDSD 94.7 FM and WRTX 91.7 FM are licensed from Dover.

Tourism

 
Rehoboth Beach is a popular vacation spot during the summer months.
 
Fort Delaware State Park on Pea Patch Island is a popular spot during the spring and summer. A ferry takes visitors to the fort from nearby Delaware City.

Delaware is home to First State National Historical Park, a National Park Service unit composed of historic sites across the state including the New Castle Court House, Green, and Sheriff's House, Dover Green, Beaver Valley, Fort Christina, Old Swedes' Church, John Dickinson Plantation, and the Ryves Holt House.[119] Delaware has several museums, wildlife refuges, parks, houses, lighthouses, and other historic places.

Rehoboth Beach, together with the towns of Lewes, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, South Bethany, and Fenwick Island, comprise Delaware's beach resorts. Rehoboth Beach often bills itself as "The Nation's Summer Capital" because it is a frequent summer vacation destination for Washington, D.C., residents as well as visitors from Maryland, Virginia, and in lesser numbers, Pennsylvania. Vacationers are drawn for many reasons, including the town's charm, artistic appeal, nightlife, and tax-free shopping. According to SeaGrant Delaware, the Delaware beaches generate $6.9 billion annually and over $711 million in tax revenue.[120]

Delaware is home to several festivals, fairs, and events. Some of the more notable festivals are the Riverfest held in Seaford, the World Championship Punkin Chunkin formerly held at various locations throughout the state since 1986, the Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival, the Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral to mark the end of summer, the Apple Scrapple Festival held in Bridgeville, the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington, the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival, the Sea Witch Halloween Festival and Parade in Rehoboth Beach, the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, the Nanticoke Indian Pow Wow in Oak Orchard, Firefly Music Festival, and the Return Day Parade held after every election in Georgetown.

In 2015, tourism in Delaware generated $3.1 billion, which makes up five percent of the state's GDP. Delaware saw 8.5 million visitors in 2015, with the tourism industry employing 41,730 people, making it the 4th largest private employer in the state. Major origin markets for Delaware tourists include Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, with 97% of tourists arriving to the state by car and 75% of tourists coming from a distance of 200 miles (320 km) or less.[121]

Delaware is also home to two large sporting venues. Dover Motor Speedway is a race track in Dover, and Frawley Stadium in Wilmington is the home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Minor League Baseball team.

Education

In the early 1920s, Pierre S. du Pont served as president of the state board of education. At the time, state law prohibited money raised from white taxpayers from being used to support the state's schools for black children. Appalled by the condition of the black schools, du Pont donated four million dollars to construct 86 new school buildings.[122]

Delaware was the origin of Belton v. Gebhart (1952), one of the four cases which were combined into Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court of the United States decision that led to the end of officially segregated public schools. Significantly, Belton was the only case in which the state court found for the plaintiffs, thereby ruling that segregation is unconstitutional.

Unlike many states, Delaware's educational system is centralized in a state Superintendent of Education, with local school boards retaining control over taxation and some curriculum decisions. This centralized system, combined with the small size of the state, likely contributed to Delaware becoming the first state, after completion of a three-year, $30 million program ending in 1999, to wire every K-12 classroom in the state to the Internet.[123]

As of 2011, the Delaware Department of Education had authorized the founding of 25 charter schools in the state, one of them being all-girls.[124]

All teachers in the State's public school districts are unionized.[125] As of January 2012, none of the State's charter schools are members of a teachers union.[125] One of the State's teachers' unions is Delaware State Education Association (DSEA).[125]

Colleges and universities

Transportation

 
Delaware's license plate design, introduced in 1959, is the longest-running one in U.S. history.[126]

The transportation system in Delaware is under the governance and supervision of the Delaware Department of Transportation, also known as "DelDOT".[127][128] Funding for DelDOT projects is drawn, in part, from the Delaware Transportation Trust Fund, established in 1987 to help stabilize transportation funding; the availability of the Trust led to a gradual separation of DelDOT operations from other Delaware state operations.[129] DelDOT manages programs such as a Delaware Adopt-a-Highway program, major road route snow removal, traffic control infrastructure (signs and signals), toll road management, Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, the Delaware Transit Corporation (branded as "DART First State", the state government public transportation organization), among others. In 2009, DelDOT maintained 13,507 lane-miles, totaling 89 percent of the state's public roadway system, the rest being under the supervision of individual municipalities. This far exceeds the national average (20 percent) for state department of transportation maintenance responsibility.[130]

Roads

 
Delaware Route 1 (DE 1) is a partial toll road linking Fenwick Island and Wilmington.

One major branch of the U.S. Interstate Highway System, Interstate 95 (I-95), crosses Delaware southwest-to-northeast across New Castle County. Two Auxiliary Interstate Highway routes are also located in the state. Interstate 495 (I-495) is an eastern bypass of Wilmington. Interstate 295 (I-295) is a bypass of Philadelphia which begins south of Wilmington. In addition to Interstate highways, there are six U.S. highways that serve Delaware: U.S. 9, U.S. 13, U.S. 40, U.S. 113, U.S. 202, and U.S. 301. There are also several state highways that cross the state of Delaware; a few of them include DE 1, DE 9, and DE 404. U.S. 13 and DE 1 are primary north–south highways connecting Wilmington and Pennsylvania with Maryland, with DE 1 serving as the main route between Wilmington and the Delaware beaches. DE 9 is a north–south highway connecting Dover and Wilmington via a scenic route along the Delaware Bay. U.S. 40 is a primary east–west route, connecting Maryland with New Jersey. DE 404 is another primary east–west highway connecting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland with the Delaware beaches. The state also operates three toll highways, the Delaware Turnpike, which is I-95, between Maryland and New Castle; the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, which is DE 1, between Wilmington and Dover; and the U.S. 301 toll road between the Maryland border and DE 1 in New Castle County.

A bicycle route, Delaware Bicycle Route 1, spans the north–south length of the state from the Maryland border in Fenwick Island to the Pennsylvania border north of Montchanin. It is the first of several signed bike routes planned in Delaware.[131]

Delaware has about 1,450 bridges, 95 percent of which are under the supervision of DelDOT. About 30 percent of all Delaware bridges were built before 1950, and about 60 percent of the number are included in the National Bridge Inventory. Some bridges not under DelDOT supervision includes the four bridges on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which is under the bi-state Delaware River and Bay Authority.[citation needed]

It has been noted that the tar and chip composition of secondary roads in Sussex County makes them more prone to deterioration than are the asphalt roadways in almost the rest of the state.[132] Among these roads, Sussex (county road) 236 is among the most problematic.[132]

Ferries

Three ferries operate in the state of Delaware:

Rail and bus

Delaware passenger rail

Amtrak has two stations in Delaware along the Northeast Corridor; the relatively quiet Newark Rail Station in Newark, and the busier Wilmington Rail Station in Wilmington. The Northeast Corridor is also served by SEPTA's Wilmington/Newark Line of Regional Rail, which serves Claymont, Wilmington, Churchmans Crossing, and Newark.

Two Class I railroads, Norfolk Southern and CSX, provide freight rail service in northern New Castle County. Norfolk Southern provides freight service along the Northeast Corridor and to industrial areas in Edgemoor, New Castle, and Delaware City. CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision passes through northern New Castle County parallel to the Amtrak Northeast Corridor. Multiple short-line railroads provide freight service in Delaware. The Delmarva Central Railroad operates the most trackage of the short-line railroads, running from an interchange with Norfolk Southern in Porter south through Dover, Harrington, and Seaford to Delmar, with another line running from Harrington to Frankford and branches from Ellendale to Milton and from Georgetown to Gravel Hill. The Delmarva Central Railroad connects with the Maryland and Delaware Railroad, which serves local customers in Sussex County.[133] CSX connects with the freight/heritage operation, the Wilmington and Western Railroad, based in Wilmington and the East Penn Railroad, which operates a line from Wilmington to Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

The last north–south passenger trains through the main part of Delaware was the Pennsylvania Railroad's local Wilmington-Delmar train in 1965.[134][135] This was a successor to the Del-Mar-Va Express and Cavalier, which had run from Philadelphia through the state's interior, to the end of the Delmarva Peninsula until the mid-1950s.[136][137]

The DART First State public transportation system was named "Most Outstanding Public Transportation System" in 2003 by the American Public Transportation Association. Coverage of the system is broad within northern New Castle County with close association to major highways in Kent and Sussex counties. The system includes bus, subsidized passenger rail operated by Philadelphia transit agency SEPTA, and subsidized taxi and paratransit modes. The paratransit system, consisting of a statewide door-to-door bus service for the elderly and disabled, has been described by a Delaware state report as "the most generous paratransit system in the United States".[129] As of 2012, fees for the paratransit service have not changed since 1988.[129]

Air

As of 2016, there is no scheduled air service from any Delaware airport, as has been the case in various years since 1991. Various airlines had served Wilmington Airport, the latest departure being Frontier Airlines in April 2015.[138]

Delaware is centrally situated in the Northeast megalopolis region of cities along I-95. Therefore, Delaware commercial airline passengers most frequently use Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for domestic and international transit. Residents of Sussex County will also use Wicomico Regional Airport (SBY), as it is located less than 10 miles (16 km) from the Delaware border. Atlantic City International Airport (ACY), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) are also within a 100-mile (160 km) radius of New Castle County.

Other general aviation airports in Delaware include Summit Airport near Middletown, Delaware Airpark near Cheswold, and Delaware Coastal Airport near Georgetown.

Dover Air Force Base, one of the largest in the country, is home to the 436th Airlift Wing and the 512th Airlift Wing. In addition to its other responsibilities in the Air Mobility Command, it serves as the entry point and mortuary for U.S. military personnel (and some civilians) who die overseas.

Law and government

Delaware's fourth and current constitution, adopted in 1897, provides for executive, judicial and legislative branches.[139]

Legislative branch

The Delaware General Assembly consists of a House of Representatives with 41 members and a Senate with 21 members. It sits in Dover, the state capital. Representatives are elected to two-year terms, while senators are elected to four-year terms. The Senate confirms judicial and other nominees appointed by the governor.

Delaware's U.S. Senators are Tom Carper (Democrat) and Chris Coons (Democrat). Delaware's single U.S. Representative is Lisa Blunt Rochester (Democrat).

Judicial branch

The Delaware Constitution establishes a number of courts:

Minor non-constitutional courts include the Justice of the Peace Courts and Aldermen's Courts.

Significantly, Delaware has one of the few remaining Courts of Chancery in the nation, which has jurisdiction over equity cases, the vast majority of which are corporate disputes, many relating to mergers and acquisitions. The Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court have developed a worldwide reputation for rendering concise opinions concerning corporate law which generally (but not always) grant broad discretion to corporate boards of directors and officers. In addition, the Delaware General Corporation Law, which forms the basis of the Courts' opinions, is widely regarded as giving great flexibility to corporations to manage their affairs. For these reasons, Delaware is considered to have the most business-friendly legal system in the United States; therefore a great number of companies are incorporated in Delaware, including 60% of the companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[140]

Delaware was the last U.S. state to use judicial corporal punishment, in 1952.[141]

Executive branch

The executive branch is headed by the Governor of Delaware. The present governor is John Carney (Democrat), who took office January 17, 2017. The lieutenant governor is Bethany Hall-Long. The governor presents a "State of the State" speech to a joint session of the Delaware legislature annually.[142]

Counties

Delaware is subdivided into three counties; from north to south they are New Castle, Kent and Sussex. This is the fewest among all states. Each county elects its own legislative body (known in New Castle and Sussex counties as County Council, and in Kent County as Levy Court), which deal primarily in zoning and development issues. Most functions which are handled on a county-by-county basis in other states—such as court and law enforcement—have been centralized in Delaware, leading to a significant concentration of power in the Delaware state government. The counties were historically divided into hundreds, which were used as tax reporting and voting districts until the 1960s, but now serve no administrative role, their only current official legal use being in real estate title descriptions.[143]

Politics

 
Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States and a U.S. senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009.

The Democratic Party holds a plurality of registrations in Delaware. Currently, Democrats hold all positions of authority in Delaware, as well as majorities in the state Senate and House. The Democrats have held the governorship since 1993, having won the last seven gubernatorial elections. Democrats presently hold all the nine statewide elected offices, while the Republicans last won any statewide offices in 2014, State Auditor and State Treasurer.

During the First and Second Party Systems, Delaware was a stronghold for the Federalist and Whig Parties, respectively. After a relatively brief adherence to the Democratic Solid South following the US Civil War, Delaware became a Republican-leaning state from 1896 through 1948, voting for losing Republicans Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, Herbert Hoover in 1932, and Thomas Dewey in 1948.

During the second half of the 20th century, Delaware was a bellwether state, voting for the winner of every presidential election from 1952 through 1996. Delaware's bellwether status came to an end when Delaware voted for Al Gore in 2000 by 13%. Subsequent elections have continued to demonstrate Delaware's current strong Democratic lean: John Kerry carried the First State by 8% in 2004; Barack Obama carried it by 25% and by 19% in his two elections of 2008 and 2012; and Hillary Clinton carried it by 11% as she lost the Electoral College in 2016. In 2020, Delaware native (and Barack Obama's former Vice President and running mate) Joe Biden headed the Democratic ticket; he carried his home state by just shy of 19% en route to a national 4.5% win.[144]

The dominant factor in Delaware's political shift has been the strong Democratic trend in heavily urbanized New Castle County, home to 55% of Delaware's population. New Castle County has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988, and has given Democrats over 60% of its vote in every election from 2004 on. In 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2016, the Republican presidential candidate carried both Kent and Sussex but lost by double digits each time in New Castle County, which was a large enough margin to tip the state to the Democrats. New Castle County also elects a substantial majority of the state legislature; 27 of the 41 state house districts and 14 of the 21 state senate districts are based in New Castle County.

In a 2020 study, Delaware was ranked as the 18th hardest state for citizens to vote in.[145]

Freedom of information

Each of the 50 states of the United States has passed some form of freedom of information legislation, which provides a mechanism for the general public to request information of the government.[146] In 2011 Delaware passed legislation placing a 15 business day time limit on addressing freedom-of-information requests, to either produce information or an explanation of why such information would take longer than this time to produce.[147] A bill aimed at restricting Freedom of Information Act requests, Senate Bill 155, was discussed in committee. [148]

Taxation

Tax is collected by the Delaware Division of Revenue.[149]

Delaware has six different income tax brackets, ranging from 2.2% to 5.95%. The state does not assess sales tax on consumers. The state does, however, impose a tax on the gross receipts of most businesses. Business and occupational license tax rates range from 0.096% to 1.92%, depending on the category of business activity.

Delaware does not assess a state-level tax on real or personal property. Real estate is subject to county property taxes, school district property taxes, vocational school district taxes, and, if located within an incorporated area, municipal property taxes.

Gambling provides significant revenue to the state. For instance, the casino at Delaware Park Racetrack provided more than $100 million to the state in 2010.[150]

In June 2018, Delaware became the first U.S. state to legalize sports betting following the Supreme Court ruling to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).[151]

Voter registration

Voter registration and party enrollment as of March 2022[152]
Party Number of voters Percentage
Democratic 359,824 47.62%
Republican 208,102 27.54%
Unaffiliated 169,472 22.43%
Independent Party of Delaware 9,898 1.31%
Libertarian 2,182 0.29%
Non-partisan 1,162 0.15%
Conservative 764 0.10%
Green 735 0.10%
Liberal 682 0.09%
Others 615 0.08%
American Delta Party 588 0.08%
American Independent Party 577 0.08%
Working Families Party 329 0.04%
Constitution 266 0.04%
Socialist Workers Party 131 0.02%
Blue Enigma Party 90 0.01%
Natural Law Party 78 0.01%
Reform 46 0.01%
Mandalorians of Delaware 19 0.00%
Total 755,560 100%

Culture and entertainment

Festivals

Sports

 
NASCAR racing at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover
Professional teams

As Delaware has no franchises in the major American professional sports leagues, many Delawareans follow either Philadelphia or Baltimore teams. In the WNBA, the Washington Mystics enjoy a major following due to the presence of Wilmington native and University of Delaware product Elena Delle Donne. The University of Delaware's football team has a large following throughout the state, with the Delaware State University and Wesley College teams also enjoying a smaller degree of support.

Delaware is home to Dover Motor Speedway and Bally's Dover. Dover Motor Speedway, also known as the Monster Mile, is one of only 10 tracks in the nation to have hosted 100 or more NASCAR Cup Series races. Bally's Dover is a popular harness racing facility. It is the only co-located horse- and car-racing facility in the nation, with the Bally's Dover track located inside the Dover Motor Speedway track.

Delaware is represented in rugby by the Delaware Black Foxes, a 2015 expansion club.

Delaware has been home to professional wrestling outfit Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). CZW has been affiliated with the annual Tournament of Death and ECWA with its annual Super 8 Tournament.

Delaware's official state sport is bicycling.[153]

Sister state

Delaware's sister state in Japan is Miyagi Prefecture.[154]

Delawareans

Prominent Delawareans include the du Pont family of politicians and businesspersons, and current United States president Joe Biden, whose family has resided in Delaware since his first marriage.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Unless one counts Louisiana and Alaska, which do not have counties, but parishes and boroughs respectively.
  2. ^ Because of surveying errors, the actual line is several compound arcs with centers at different points in New Castle.

References

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Bibliography

  • Kolchin, Peter (1994), American Slavery: 1619–1877, New York: Hill & Wang

External links

History

  • Delaware State Guide, Library of Congress

General

  • State of Delaware (official website)
  •   Geographic data related to Delaware at OpenStreetMap
  • Delaware Tourism homepage
  • USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Delaware
  • Delaware State Facts from USDA
  • 2000 Census of Population and Housing for Delaware, U.S. Census Bureau
  • Delaware at Ballotpedia
  • Delaware at Curlie
  • —Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Delaware state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association
First List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union
Ratified Constitution on December 7, 1787 (1st)
Succeeded by

delaware, this, article, about, state, other, uses, disambiguation, coordinates, state, ɛər, listen, wair, state, atlantic, region, united, states, bordering, maryland, south, west, pennsylvania, north, jersey, atlantic, ocean, east, state, takes, name, from, . This article is about the U S state For other uses see Delaware disambiguation Coordinates 39 00 N 75 30 W 39 0 N 75 5 W 39 0 75 5 State of Delaware Delaware ˈ d ɛ l e w ɛer listen DEL e wair 13 is a state in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States 14 bordering Maryland to its south and west Pennsylvania to its north and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east The state takes its name from the adjacent Delaware Bay in turn named after Thomas West 3rd Baron De La Warr an English nobleman and Virginia s first colonial governor 15 DelawareStateState of DelawareFlagSealNickname s The First State The Small Wonder 1 Blue Hen State The Diamond StateMotto Liberty and IndependenceAnthem Our Delaware Map of the United States with Delaware highlightedCountryUnited StatesBefore statehoodDelaware Colony New Netherland New SwedenAdmitted to the UnionDecember 7 1787 1st CapitalDoverLargest cityWilmingtonLargest metro and urban areasDelaware ValleyGovernment GovernorJohn Carney D Lieutenant GovernorBethany Hall Long D LegislatureGeneral Assembly Upper houseSenate Lower houseHouse of RepresentativesJudiciaryDelaware Supreme CourtU S senatorsTom Carper D Chris Coons D U S House delegationLisa Blunt Rochester D list Area Total1 982 2 2 489 3 discuss sq mi 5 130 6 450 km2 Rank49thDimensions Length96 mi 154 km Width30 mi 48 km Elevation60 ft 20 m Highest elevation Near theEbright Azimuth 4 5 6 447 85 ft 136 50468 m Lowest elevation Atlantic Ocean 4 0 ft 0 m Population July 1 2021 Total1 003 384 7 Rank45th 9 Density500 sq mi 190 km2 Median household income 69 100 8 Income rank16thDemonymDelawareanLanguage Official languageNoneTime zoneUTC 05 00 EST Summer DST UTC 04 00 EDT USPS abbreviationDEISO 3166 codeUS DETraditional abbreviationDel Latitude38 27 N to 39 50 NLongitude75 3 W to 75 47 WWebsitedelaware wbr govDelaware state symbolsFlag of DelawareLiving insigniaBirdDelaware Blue HenButterflyEastern tiger swallowtailWildlife animalGrey foxFishWeakfishFlowerPeach blossomInsect7 spotted ladybugTreeAmerican hollyInanimate insigniaBeverageMilkColorsColonial blue buffFoodStrawberry peach custard pieFossilBelemniteMineralSillimaniteSloganEndless Discoveries 12 Formerly It s Good Being FirstSoilGreenwichState route markerState quarterReleased in 1999Lists of United States state symbolsInteractive map showing border of Delaware click to zoom Delaware occupies the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and some islands and territory within the Delaware River It is the second smallest and sixth least populous state but also the sixth most densely populated Delaware s largest city is Wilmington while the state capital is Dover the second largest city in the state The state is divided into three counties having the lowest number of counties of any state a from north to south they are New Castle County Kent County and Sussex County While the southern two counties have historically been predominantly agricultural New Castle is more urbanized being part of the Delaware Valley Metropolitan Statistical Area centered on Philadelphia Although included in the Southern United States by the Census Bureau Delaware s geography culture and history combine elements of the Mid Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the country 16 Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century Delaware was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans including the Lenape in the north and Nanticoke in the south It was initially colonized by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael near the present town of Lewes in 1631 Delaware was one of the Thirteen Colonies that took part in the American Revolution On December 7 1787 Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States and has since been known as The First State 17 Since the turn of the 20th century Delaware is also a de facto onshore corporate haven in which by virtue of its corporate laws the state is the domicile of over half of all New York Stock Exchange listed business and over three fifths of the Fortune 500 Contents 1 Toponymy 2 History 2 1 Native Americans 2 2 Colonial Delaware 2 3 American Revolution 2 4 Slavery and race 2 5 Reconstruction and industrialization 2 6 World War II to present 3 Geography 3 1 Topography 3 2 Climate 3 3 Environment 3 4 Environmental management 4 Municipalities 4 1 Counties 4 2 Cities 4 3 Towns 4 4 Villages 4 5 Unincorporated places 5 Demographics 5 1 Race and ethnicity 5 2 Birth data 5 3 Languages 5 4 Sexual orientation 5 5 Religion 6 Economy 6 1 Affluence 6 2 Agriculture 6 3 Industries 6 3 1 Industrial decline 6 4 Incorporation in Delaware 6 5 Food and drink 7 Media 7 1 Newspapers 7 2 Television 7 3 Radio 8 Tourism 9 Education 9 1 Colleges and universities 10 Transportation 10 1 Roads 10 2 Ferries 10 3 Rail and bus 10 4 Air 11 Law and government 11 1 Legislative branch 11 2 Judicial branch 11 3 Executive branch 11 4 Counties 11 5 Politics 11 6 Freedom of information 11 7 Taxation 11 8 Voter registration 12 Culture and entertainment 12 1 Festivals 12 2 Sports 13 Sister state 14 Delawareans 15 See also 16 Notes 17 References 18 Bibliography 19 External links 19 1 History 19 2 GeneralToponymy EditThe state was named after Delaware Bay which in turn derived its name from Thomas West 3rd Baron De La Warr 1577 1618 the first governor of the Colony of Virginia The Delaware people a name used by Europeans for Lenape people indigenous to the Delaware Valley also derive their name from the same source The name de La Warr is from Sussex and of Anglo French origin 18 19 It came probably from a Norman lieu dit La Guerre This toponymic could derive from Latin ager from the Breton gwern or from the Late Latin varectum fallow The toponyms Gara Gare Gaire the sound a often mutated in ae also appear in old texts cited by Lucien Musset where the word ga i ra means gore It could also be linked with a patronymic from the Old Norse verr History EditMain article History of Delaware This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Delaware news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Native Americans Edit Before Delaware was settled by European colonists the area was home to the Eastern Algonquian tribes known as the Unami Lenape or Delaware who lived mostly along the coast and the Nanticoke who occupied much of the southern Delmarva Peninsula John Smith also shows two Iroquoian tribes the Kuskarawock and Tockwogh living north of the Nanticoke they may have held small portions of land in the western part of the state before migrating across the Chesapeake Bay 20 The Kuskarawocks were most likely the Tuscarora The Unami Lenape in the Delaware Valley were closely related to Munsee Lenape tribes along the Hudson River They had a settled hunting and agricultural society and they rapidly became middlemen in an increasingly frantic fur trade with their ancient enemy the Minqua or Susquehannock With the loss of their lands on the Delaware River and the destruction of the Minqua by the Iroquois of the Five Nations in the 1670s the remnants of the Lenape who wished to remain identified as such left the region and moved over the Alleghany Mountains by the mid 18th century Generally those who did not relocate out of the state of Delaware were baptized became Christian and were grouped together with other persons of color in official records and in the minds of their non Native American neighbors citation needed Colonial Delaware Edit Main articles New Netherland New Sweden and Delaware ColonyThe Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in present day Delaware in the middle region by establishing a trading post at Zwaanendael near the site of Lewes in 1631 21 Within a year all the settlers were killed in a dispute with area Native American tribes In 1638 New Sweden a Swedish trading post and colony was established at Fort Christina now in Wilmington by Peter Minuit at the head of a group of Swedes Finns and Dutch The colony of New Sweden lasted 17 years In 1651 the Dutch reinvigorated by the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant established a fort at present day New Castle and in 1655 they conquered the New Sweden colony annexing it into the Dutch New Netherland 22 23 Only nine years later in 1664 the Dutch were conquered by a fleet of English ships by Sir Robert Carr under the direction of James the Duke of York Fighting off a prior claim by Cecil Calvert 2nd Baron Baltimore Proprietor of Maryland the Duke passed his somewhat dubious ownership on to William Penn in 1682 Penn strongly desired access to the sea for his Pennsylvania province and leased what then came to be known as the Lower Counties on the Delaware 22 from the Duke Penn established representative government and briefly combined his two possessions under one General Assembly in 1682 However by 1704 the Province of Pennsylvania had grown so large their representatives wanted to make decisions without the assent of the Lower Counties and the two groups of representatives began meeting on their own one at Philadelphia and the other at New Castle Penn and his heirs remained proprietors of both and always appointed the same person Governor for their Province of Pennsylvania and their territory of the Lower Counties The fact that Delaware and Pennsylvania shared the same governor was not unique From 1703 to 1738 New York and New Jersey shared a governor 24 Massachusetts and New Hampshire also shared a governor for some time 25 Dependent in early years on indentured labor Delaware imported more slaves as the number of English immigrants decreased with better economic conditions in England The colony became a slave society and cultivated tobacco as a cash crop although English immigrants continued to arrive American Revolution Edit Main articles American Revolutionary War Lee Resolution United States Declaration of Independence Philadelphia campaign Articles of Confederation Ratification Treaty of Paris 1783 Constitutional Convention United States Admission to the Union and List of U S states by date of admission to the Union A two shilling six pence banknote issued by Delaware in 1777 Like the other middle colonies the Lower Counties on the Delaware initially showed little enthusiasm for a break with Britain The citizenry had a good relationship with the Proprietary government and generally were allowed more independence of action in their Colonial Assembly than in other colonies Merchants at the port of Wilmington had trading ties with the British New Castle lawyer Thomas McKean denounced the Stamp Act in the strongest terms and Kent County native John Dickinson became the Penman of the Revolution Anticipating the Declaration of Independence Patriot leaders Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney convinced the Colonial Assembly to declare itself separated from British and Pennsylvania rule on June 15 1776 The person best representing Delaware s majority George Read could not bring himself to vote for a Declaration of Independence Only the dramatic overnight ride of Caesar Rodney gave the delegation the votes needed to cast Delaware s vote for independence Initially led by John Haslet Delaware provided one of the premier regiments in the Continental Army known as the Delaware Blues and nicknamed the Blue Hen s Chicks In August 1777 General Sir William Howe led a British army through Delaware on his way to a victory at the Battle of Brandywine and capture of the city of Philadelphia The only real engagement on Delaware soil was the Battle of Cooch s Bridge fought on September 3 1777 at Cooch s Bridge in New Castle County although there was a minor Loyalist rebellion in 1778 Following the Battle of Brandywine Wilmington was occupied by the British and State President John McKinly was taken prisoner The British remained in control of the Delaware River for much of the rest of the war disrupting commerce and providing encouragement to an active Loyalist portion of the population particularly in Sussex County Because the British promised slaves of rebels freedom for fighting with them escaped slaves flocked north to join their lines 26 Following the American Revolution statesmen from Delaware were among the leading proponents of a strong central United States with equal representation for each state Slavery and race Edit Many colonial settlers came to Delaware from Maryland and Virginia where the population had been increasing rapidly The economies of these colonies were chiefly based on labor intensive tobacco and increasingly dependent on African slaves because of a decline in working class immigrants from England Most of the English colonists had arrived as indentured servants contracted for a fixed period to pay for their passage and in the early years the line between servant and slave was fluid citation needed Most of the free African American families in Delaware before the Revolution had migrated from Maryland to find more affordable land They were descendants chiefly of relationships or marriages between white servant women and enslaved servant or free African or African American men 27 Under slavery law children took the social status of their mothers so children born to white women were free regardless of their paternity just as children born to enslaved women were born into slavery As the flow of indentured laborers to the colony decreased with improving economic conditions in England more slaves were imported for labor and the caste lines hardened By the end of the colonial period the number of enslaved people in Delaware began to decline Shifts in the agriculture economy from tobacco to mixed farming resulted in less need for slaves labor In addition local Methodists and Quakers encouraged slaveholders to free their slaves following the American Revolution and many did so in a surge of individual manumissions for idealistic reasons By 1810 three quarters of all blacks in Delaware were free When John Dickinson freed his slaves in 1777 he was Delaware s largest slave owner with 37 slaves By 1860 the largest slaveholder owned 16 slaves 28 Although attempts to abolish slavery failed by narrow margins in the legislature in practical terms the state had mostly ended the practice By the 1860 census on the verge of the Civil War 91 7 of the black population were free 29 1 798 were slaves as compared to 19 829 free colored persons 30 An independent black denomination was chartered in 1813 by freed slave Peter Spencer as the Union Church of Africans This followed the 1793 establishment in Philadelphia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church by Richard Allen which had ties to the Methodist Episcopal Church until 1816 Spencer built a church in Wilmington for the new denomination 31 This was renamed as the African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church and Connection more commonly known as the A U M P Church In 1814 Spencer called for the first annual gathering known as the Big August Quarterly which continues to draw members of this denomination and their descendants together in a religious and cultural festival 32 Delaware voted against secession on January 3 1861 and so remained in the Union While most Delaware citizens who fought in the war served in the regiments of the state some served in companies on the Confederate side in Maryland and Virginia Regiments Delaware is notable for being the only slave state from which no Confederate regiments or militia groups were assembled citation needed Delaware essentially freed the few slaves who were still in bondage shortly after the Civil War further explanation needed but rejected the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution the 13th Amendment was rejected on February 8 1865 the 14th Amendment was rejected on February 8 1867 and the 15th Amendment was rejected on March 18 1869 Delaware officially ratified the 13th 14th and 15th amendments on February 12 1901 citation needed Reconstruction and industrialization Edit After the Civil War Democratic governments led by the state s Bourbon aristocracy continued to dominate the state and imposed an explicitly white supremacist regime in the state The Democratic legislatures declared blacks second class citizens in 1866 and restricted their voting rights despite the Fifteenth Amendment ensuring continued Democratic success throughout most of the nineteenth century 33 Beginning in the late nineteenth century the Wilmington area grew into a manufacturing center Investment in manufacturing in the city grew from 5 5 million in 1860 to 44 million in 1900 34 The most notable manufacturer in the state was the chemical company DuPont which to this day is heavily credited with making the state what it is today in many ways 35 Because of Wilmington s growth local politicians from the city and New Castle County pressured the state government to adopt a new constitution providing the north with more representation However the subsequent 1897 constitution did not proportionally represent the north and continued to give the southern counties disproportionate influence 36 As manufacturing expanded businesses became major players in state affairs and funders of politicians through families such as the Du Ponts Republican John Addicks attempted to buy a US Senate seat multiple times in a rivalry with the Du Ponts until the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment 37 The allegiance of industries with the Republican party allowed them to gain control of the state s governorship throughout most of the twentieth century The GOP ensured blacks could vote because of their general support for Republicans and thus undid restrictions on black suffrage 38 Delaware benefited greatly from World War I because of the state s large gunpowder industry DuPont the most dominant business in the state by WWI produced an estimated 40 of all gunpowder used by the Allies during the war It produced nylon in the state after the war and began investments into General Motors 39 Additionally the company invested heavily in the expansion of public schools in the state and colleges such as the University of Delaware in the 1910s and 1920s This included primary and secondary schools for blacks and women 40 Delaware suffered less during the Great Depression than other states but the depression spurred further migration from the rural south to urban areas 41 World War II to present Edit Like in World War I the state enjoyed a big stimulus to its gunpowder and shipyard industries in World War II New job opportunities during and after the war in the Wilmington area coaxed African Americans from the southern counties to move to the city The proportion of blacks constituting the city s population rose from 15 in 1950 to over 50 by 1980 42 The surge of black migrants to the north sparked white flight in which middle class whites moved from the city to suburban areas leading to general segregation of Delaware s society In the 1940s and 1950s the state attempted to integrate its schools The University of Delaware admitted its first black student in 1948 and local courts ruled that primary schools had to be integrated Delaware s integration efforts partially inspired the US Supreme Court s decision in Brown v Board of Education 43 However integration only encouraged more white flight and poor economic conditions for the black population led to some violence during the 1960s Riots broke out in Wilmington in 1967 and again in 1968 in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr after which the National Guard occupied the city for nine months to prevent further violence 44 Since WWII the state has been generally economically prosperous and enjoyed relatively high per capita income because of its location between major cities like Philadelphia New York and Washington DC 45 Its population grew rapidly particularly in the suburbs in the north where New Castle county became an extension of the Philadelphia metropolitan area 46 Americans including migrants from Puerto Rico and immigrants from Latin America flocked to the state By 1990 only 50 of Delaware s population consisted of natives to the state 47 Geography EditMain articles Twelve Mile Circle Wedge border Mason Dixon Line and Transpeninsular Line See also Counties section below The Twelve Mile Circle Map of Delaware Sunset in Woodbrook Delaware The Blackbird Pond on the Blackbird State Forest Meadows Tract in New Castle County Delaware A field north of Fox Den Road along the Lenape Trail in Middle Run Valley Natural Area Delaware is 96 miles 154 km long and ranges from 9 miles 14 km to 35 miles 56 km across totaling an area of either 1 982 square miles 5 130 km2 48 or 2 489 square miles 6 450 km2 49 making it the second smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania to the east by the Delaware River Delaware Bay New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean and to the west and south by Maryland Small portions of Delaware are also situated on the eastern side of the Delaware River sharing land boundaries with New Jersey The state of Delaware together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and two counties of Virginia form the Delmarva Peninsula which stretches down the Mid Atlantic Coast The definition of the northern boundary of the state is unusual Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania was originally defined by an arc extending 12 miles 19 3 km from the cupola of the courthouse in the city of New Castle citation needed This boundary is often referred to as the Twelve Mile Circle b Although the Twelve Mile Circle is often claimed to be the only territorial boundary in the U S that is a true arc the Mexican boundary with Texas includes several arcs 50 and many cities in the South such as Plains Georgia 51 also have circular boundaries This border extends all the way east to the low tide mark on the New Jersey shore then continues south along the shoreline until it again reaches the 12 mile 19 km arc in the south then the boundary continues in a more conventional way in the middle of the main channel thalweg of the Delaware River To the west a portion of the arc extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland The remaining western border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the arc The Wedge of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921 when Delaware s claim was confirmed Topography Edit Delaware is on a level plain with the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation 52 Its highest elevation located at Ebright Azimuth near Concord High School is less than 450 feet 140 m above sea level 52 The northernmost part of the state is part of the Piedmont Plateau with hills and rolling surfaces The Atlantic Seaboard fall line approximately follows the Robert Kirkwood Highway between Newark and Wilmington south of this road is the Atlantic Coastal Plain with flat sandy and in some parts swampy ground 53 A ridge about 75 to 80 feet 23 to 24 m high extends along the western boundary of the state and separates the watersheds that feed Delaware River and Bay to the east and the Chesapeake Bay to the west Climate Edit Further information Climate change in Delaware Delaware Koppen climate classification is humid subtropical Since almost all of Delaware is a part of the Atlantic coastal plain the effects of the ocean moderate its climate The state lies in the humid subtropical climate Koppen Cfa zone Despite its small size roughly 100 miles 160 km from its northernmost to southernmost points there is significant variation in mean temperature and amount of snowfall between Sussex County and New Castle County Moderated by the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay the southern portion of the state has a milder climate and a longer growing season than the northern portion of the state Delaware s all time record high of 110 F 43 C was recorded at Millsboro on July 21 1930 The all time record low of 17 F 27 C was also recorded at Millsboro on January 17 1893 The hardiness zones are 6b 7a and 7b Environment Edit The transitional climate of Delaware supports a wide variety of vegetation In the northern third of the state are found Northeastern coastal forests and mixed oak forests typical of the northeastern United States 54 In the southern two thirds of the state are found Middle Atlantic coastal forests 54 Trap Pond State Park along with areas in other parts of Sussex County for example support the northernmost stands of bald cypress trees in North America Environmental management Edit Delaware provides government subsidy support for the clean up of property lightly contaminated by hazardous waste the proceeds for which come from a tax on wholesale petroleum sales 55 Municipalities EditFurther information List of Delaware municipalities Wilmington is the state s most populous city 70 635 and its economic hub It is located within commuting distance of both Philadelphia and Baltimore Dover is the state capital and the second most populous city 38 079 Counties Edit Kent New Castle Sussex Cities Edit Delaware City Dover Harrington Lewes Middletown Milford New Castle Newark Rehoboth Beach Seaford Wilmington Towns Edit Bellefonte Bethany Beach Bethel Blades Bowers Bridgeville Camden Cheswold Clayton Dagsboro Delmar Dewey Beach Ellendale Elsmere Farmington Felton Fenwick Island Frankford Frederica Georgetown Greenwood Hartly Henlopen Acres Houston Kenton Laurel Leipsic Little Creek Magnolia Millsboro Millville Milton Newport Ocean View Odessa Selbyville Slaughter Beach Smyrna South Bethany Townsend Viola Woodside Wyoming Villages Edit Arden Ardencroft Ardentown Unincorporated places Edit Bear Brookside Christiana Clarksville Claymont Dover Base Housing Edgemoor Glasgow Greenville Gumboro Harbeson Highland Acres Hockessin Kent Acres Lincoln City Long Neck Marshallton Mount Pleasant North Star Oak Orchard Omar Pennyhill Pike Creek Rising Sun Lebanon Riverview Rodney Village Roxana Saint Georges Sandtown Stanton Wilmington Manor Woodland Woodside East Yorklyn Dover Newark Seaford WilmingtonThe table below lists the ten largest municipalities in the state based on the 2018 United States census estimate 56 Largest cities or towns in Delaware 2018 census estimatesRank Name County Pop Wilmington Dover 1 Wilmington New Castle 70 635 Newark Middletown2 Dover Kent 38 0793 Newark New Castle 33 6734 Middletown New Castle 22 5825 Smyrna New Castle Kent 11 5806 Milford Kent Sussex 11 3537 Seaford Sussex 7 8618 Georgetown Sussex 7 4279 Elsmere New Castle 5 98110 New Castle New Castle 5 529Demographics EditSee also Largest municipalities in Delaware Delaware population density map Historical populationCensus Pop 179059 096 180064 2738 8 181072 67413 1 182072 7490 1 183076 7485 5 184078 0851 7 185091 53217 2 1860112 21622 6 1870125 01511 4 1880146 60817 3 1890168 49314 9 1900184 7359 6 1910202 3229 5 1920223 00310 2 1930238 3806 9 1940266 50511 8 1950318 08519 4 1960446 29240 3 1970548 10422 8 1980594 3388 4 1990666 16812 1 2000783 60017 6 2010897 93414 6 2020989 94810 2 2021 est 1 003 3841 4 Source 1910 2020 57 The United States Census Bureau determined that the population of Delaware was 989 948 on April 1 2020 58 an increase since the 2010 United States census at 897 934 59 60 Delaware s history as a border state has led it to exhibit characteristics of both the Northern and the Southern regions of the United States Generally the rural Southern or Slower Lower regions of Delaware below the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal embody a Southern culture 61 62 while densely populated Northern Delaware above the canal particularly Wilmington a part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area has more in common with that of the Northeast 63 The U S Census Bureau designates Delaware as one of the South Atlantic States but it is commonly associated with the Mid Atlantic States and or northeastern United States by other federal agencies the media and some residents 64 65 66 67 68 69 Delaware is the sixth most densely populated state with a population density of 442 6 people per square mile 356 4 per square mile more than the national average and ranking 45th in population Delaware is one of five U S states Maine Vermont West Virginia Wyoming that do not have a single city with a population over 100 000 as of the 2010 census 70 The center of population of Delaware is in New Castle County in the town of Townsend 71 As of 2011 update 49 7 of Delaware s population younger than one year of age belonged to minority groups i e did not have two parents of non Hispanic white ancestry 72 In 2000 approximately 19 of the population were African American and 5 of the population is Hispanic mostly of Puerto Rican or Mexican ancestry 73 Race and ethnicity Edit According to the 2010 United States census the racial composition of the state was 68 9 White American 65 3 Non Hispanic White 3 6 White Hispanic 21 4 Black or African American 0 5 American Indian and Alaska Native 3 2 Asian American 0 0 Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander 3 4 some other race and 2 7 Multiracial American Ethnically Hispanics and Latin Americans of any race made up 8 2 of the population 74 The 2019 American Community Survey estimated the state had a racial and ethnic makeup of 61 non Hispanic whites 23 2 Black or African American 0 7 American Indian or Alaska Native 4 1 Asian 0 1 Pacific Islander 2 7 multiracial and 9 6 Hispanic or Latin American of any race 75 In the Native American community the state has a Native American group called in their own language Lenni Lenape which was influential in the colonial period of the United States and is today headquartered in Cheswold Kent County Delaware 76 A band of the Nanticoke tribe of American Indians today resides in Sussex County and is headquartered in Millsboro Sussex County Delaware 77 Delaware racial breakdown of population Racial composition 1990 78 2000 79 2010 80 White 80 3 74 6 68 9 Black 16 9 19 2 21 4 Asian 1 4 2 1 3 2 Native 0 3 0 4 0 5 Native Hawaiian andother Pacific Islander Other race 1 1 2 0 3 4 Two or more races 1 7 2 7 Birth data Edit Note Births in table do not add up because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race giving a higher overall number Live Births by Single Race Ethnicity of Mother Race 2013 81 2014 82 2015 83 2016 84 2017 85 2018 86 2019 87 2020 88 White 7 204 66 5 7 314 66 7 7 341 65 7 gt Non Hispanic White 5 942 54 8 5 904 53 8 5 959 53 4 5 827 53 0 5 309 48 9 5 171 48 7 5 024 47 6 4 949 47 6 Black 3 061 28 3 2 988 27 2 3 134 28 1 2 832 25 7 2 818 26 0 2 773 26 1 2 804 26 5 2 722 26 2 Asian 541 5 0 644 5 9 675 6 1 627 5 7 646 6 0 634 6 0 624 5 9 617 5 9 American Indian 25 0 2 26 0 2 16 0 1 13 0 1 23 0 2 10 0 1 18 0 2 18 0 2 Hispanic of any race 1 348 12 4 1 541 14 0 1 532 13 7 1 432 13 0 1 748 16 1 1 710 16 1 1 737 16 4 1 768 17 0 Total Delaware 10 831 100 10 972 100 11 166 100 10 992 100 10 855 100 10 621 100 10 562 100 10 392 100 Since 2016 data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected but included in one Hispanic group persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race Languages Edit As of 2000 91 of Delaware residents of age 5 and older spoke only English at home 5 spoke Spanish French was the third most spoken language at 0 7 followed by Chinese at 0 5 and German at 0 5 Legislation had been proposed in both the House and the Senate in Delaware to designate English as the official language 89 90 Neither bill was passed in the legislature Sexual orientation Edit A 2012 Gallup poll found that Delaware s proportion of lesbian gay bisexual and transgender adults stood at 3 4 percent of the population This constitutes a total LGBT adult population estimate of 23 698 people The number of same sex couple households in 2010 stood at 2 646 This grew by 41 65 from a decade earlier 91 not specific enough to verify On July 1 2013 same sex marriage was legalized and all civil unions would be converted into marriages 92 Religion Edit Religion in Delaware 2014 93 Religion PercentProtestant 46 None 23 Catholic 22 Jewish 3 Hindu 2 Other 2 Mormon 1 Muslim 1 Orthodox Christian 1 As of 2014 update the Pew Research Center estimated Delaware is mostly Christian Although Protestants account for almost half of the population 93 the Roman Catholic Church is the largest single denomination in the state The Association of Religion Data Archives reported in 2010 that the three largest denominational groups in Delaware by number of adherents are the Catholic Church at 182 532 adherents the United Methodist Church with 53 656 members reported and non denominational Evangelical Protestant with 22 973 adherents reported 94 By 2020 the Public Religion Research Institute determined 61 of the population was Christian 95 The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware oversee the parishes within their denominations The A U M P Church the oldest African American denomination in the nation was founded in Wilmington It still has a substantial presence in the state Reflecting new immigrant populations an Islamic mosque has been built in the Ogletown area and a Hindu temple in Hockessin Delaware is home to an Amish community which resides west of Dover in Kent County consisting of nine church districts and about 1 650 people The Amish first settled in Kent County in 1915 In recent years increasing development has led to the decline in the number of Amish living in the community 96 97 98 A 2012 survey of religious attitudes in the United States found that 34 of Delaware residents considered themselves moderately religious 33 very religious and 33 as non religious 99 At the 2014 Pew Research survey 23 of the population were irreligious the 2020 Public Religion Research Institute s survey determined 31 of the population were irreligious 95 Economy EditSee also Economy of Delaware and Delaware locations by per capita income For taxes see Taxation Affluence Edit Average sale price for new amp existing homes in U S dollars 100 DE County March 2010 March 2011New Castle 229 000 216 000Sussex 323 000 296 000Kent 186 000 178 000According to a 2020 study by Kiplinger Delaware had the seventeenth largest number of millionaires per capita in the United States with a ratio of 6 98 percent 0 7 percent from 2013 in ration but falling eight places in ranking Delaware had 25 937 millionaires as of 2020 The median income for all Delaware households as of 2020 was 64 805 101 102 Agriculture Edit Picking Peaches in Delaware from an 1878 issue of Harper s Weekly Delaware s agricultural output consists of poultry nursery stock soybeans dairy products and corn Industries Edit As of October 2019 update the state s unemployment rate was 3 7 103 The state s largest employers are citation needed government State of Delaware New Castle County education University of Delaware Delaware Technical Community College banking Bank of America M amp T Bank JPMorgan Chase Citigroup Deutsche Bank chemical pharmaceutical technology DuPont de Nemours Inc AstraZeneca Syngenta Agilent Technologies healthcare ChristianaCare Christiana Hospital Bayhealth Medical Center Nemours Children s Hospital Delaware farming specifically chicken farming in Sussex County Perdue Farms Mountaire Farms Allen Family Foods retail Walmart Walgreens Acme Markets Industrial decline Edit Since the mid 2000s Delaware has seen the departure of the state s automotive manufacturing industry General Motors Wilmington Assembly and Chrysler Newark Assembly the corporate buyout of a major bank holding company MBNA the departure of the state s steel industry Evraz Claymont Steel the bankruptcy of a fiber mill National Vulcanized Fibre 104 and the diminishing presence of AstraZeneca in Wilmington 105 106 In late 2015 DuPont announced that 1 700 employees nearly a third of its footprint in Delaware would be laid off in early 2016 107 The merger of E I du Pont de Nemours amp Co and Dow Chemical Company into DowDuPont took place on September 1 2017 108 109 110 111 Incorporation in Delaware Edit Main article Delaware General Corporation Law More than half of all U S publicly traded companies and 63 of the Fortune 500 are incorporated in Delaware 112 The state s attractiveness as a corporate haven is largely because of its business friendly corporation law Franchise taxes on Delaware corporations supply about a fifth of the state s revenue 113 Although USA Delaware ranked as the world s most opaque jurisdiction on the Tax Justice Network s 2009 Financial Secrecy Index 114 the same group s 2011 Index ranks the U S fifth and does not specify Delaware 115 In Delaware there are more than a million registered corporations 116 meaning there are more corporations than people Food and drink Edit Title 4 chapter 7 of the Delaware Code stipulates that alcoholic liquor be sold only in specifically licensed establishments and only between 9 00 a m and 1 00 a m 117 Until 2003 Delaware was among the several states enforcing blue laws and banned the sale of liquor on Sunday 118 Media EditNewspapers Edit Two daily newspapers are based in Delaware the Delaware State News based in Dover and covering the two southern counties and The News Journal covering Wilmington and northern Delaware The state is also served by several weekly monthly and online publications Television Edit No standalone television stations are based solely in Delaware The northern part of the state is served by network stations in Philadelphia and the southern part by network stations in Salisbury Maryland Philadelphia s ABC affiliate WPVI TV maintains a news bureau in downtown Wilmington Salisbury s CBS affiliate WBOC TV maintains bureaus in Dover and Milton Three Philadelphia market stations PBS member WHYY TV Ion affiliate WPPX and MeTV affiliate WDPN TV all have Wilmington as their city of license but maintain transmitters at the market antenna farm in Roxborough Philadelphia and do not produce any Delaware centric programming Radio Edit Main article List of radio stations in Delaware There are a numerous radio stations licensed in Delaware WDEL 1150AM WHGE LP 95 3 FM WILM 1450 AM WJBR FM 99 5 WMPH 91 7 FM WSTW 93 7 FM WTMC 1380 AM and WWTX 1290AM are licensed from Wilmington WRDX 92 9 FM is licensed from Smyrna WDOV 1410AM WDSD 94 7 FM and WRTX 91 7 FM are licensed from Dover Tourism Edit Rehoboth Beach is a popular vacation spot during the summer months Fort Delaware State Park on Pea Patch Island is a popular spot during the spring and summer A ferry takes visitors to the fort from nearby Delaware City Delaware is home to First State National Historical Park a National Park Service unit composed of historic sites across the state including the New Castle Court House Green and Sheriff s House Dover Green Beaver Valley Fort Christina Old Swedes Church John Dickinson Plantation and the Ryves Holt House 119 Delaware has several museums wildlife refuges parks houses lighthouses and other historic places Rehoboth Beach together with the towns of Lewes Dewey Beach Bethany Beach South Bethany and Fenwick Island comprise Delaware s beach resorts Rehoboth Beach often bills itself as The Nation s Summer Capital because it is a frequent summer vacation destination for Washington D C residents as well as visitors from Maryland Virginia and in lesser numbers Pennsylvania Vacationers are drawn for many reasons including the town s charm artistic appeal nightlife and tax free shopping According to SeaGrant Delaware the Delaware beaches generate 6 9 billion annually and over 711 million in tax revenue 120 Delaware is home to several festivals fairs and events Some of the more notable festivals are the Riverfest held in Seaford the World Championship Punkin Chunkin formerly held at various locations throughout the state since 1986 the Rehoboth Beach Chocolate Festival the Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral to mark the end of summer the Apple Scrapple Festival held in Bridgeville the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Wilmington the Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival the Sea Witch Halloween Festival and Parade in Rehoboth Beach the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival the Nanticoke Indian Pow Wow in Oak Orchard Firefly Music Festival and the Return Day Parade held after every election in Georgetown In 2015 tourism in Delaware generated 3 1 billion which makes up five percent of the state s GDP Delaware saw 8 5 million visitors in 2015 with the tourism industry employing 41 730 people making it the 4th largest private employer in the state Major origin markets for Delaware tourists include Philadelphia Baltimore New York City Washington D C and Harrisburg with 97 of tourists arriving to the state by car and 75 of tourists coming from a distance of 200 miles 320 km or less 121 Delaware is also home to two large sporting venues Dover Motor Speedway is a race track in Dover and Frawley Stadium in Wilmington is the home of the Wilmington Blue Rocks a Minor League Baseball team Education Edit University of Delaware in Newark In the early 1920s Pierre S du Pont served as president of the state board of education At the time state law prohibited money raised from white taxpayers from being used to support the state s schools for black children Appalled by the condition of the black schools du Pont donated four million dollars to construct 86 new school buildings 122 Delaware was the origin of Belton v Gebhart 1952 one of the four cases which were combined into Brown v Board of Education the Supreme Court of the United States decision that led to the end of officially segregated public schools Significantly Belton was the only case in which the state court found for the plaintiffs thereby ruling that segregation is unconstitutional Unlike many states Delaware s educational system is centralized in a state Superintendent of Education with local school boards retaining control over taxation and some curriculum decisions This centralized system combined with the small size of the state likely contributed to Delaware becoming the first state after completion of a three year 30 million program ending in 1999 to wire every K 12 classroom in the state to the Internet 123 As of 2011 update the Delaware Department of Education had authorized the founding of 25 charter schools in the state one of them being all girls 124 All teachers in the State s public school districts are unionized 125 As of January 2012 update none of the State s charter schools are members of a teachers union 125 One of the State s teachers unions is Delaware State Education Association DSEA 125 Colleges and universities Edit Delaware College of Art and Design Delaware State University Delaware Technical amp Community College Goldey Beacom College University of Delaware Ranked 63rd in the U S and in top 201 250 in the world Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018 Widener University School of Law Wilmington UniversityTransportation Edit Delaware s license plate design introduced in 1959 is the longest running one in U S history 126 The transportation system in Delaware is under the governance and supervision of the Delaware Department of Transportation also known as DelDOT 127 128 Funding for DelDOT projects is drawn in part from the Delaware Transportation Trust Fund established in 1987 to help stabilize transportation funding the availability of the Trust led to a gradual separation of DelDOT operations from other Delaware state operations 129 DelDOT manages programs such as a Delaware Adopt a Highway program major road route snow removal traffic control infrastructure signs and signals toll road management Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles the Delaware Transit Corporation branded as DART First State the state government public transportation organization among others In 2009 DelDOT maintained 13 507 lane miles totaling 89 percent of the state s public roadway system the rest being under the supervision of individual municipalities This far exceeds the national average 20 percent for state department of transportation maintenance responsibility 130 Roads Edit Further information Delaware State Route System Delaware Route 1 DE 1 is a partial toll road linking Fenwick Island and Wilmington One major branch of the U S Interstate Highway System Interstate 95 I 95 crosses Delaware southwest to northeast across New Castle County Two Auxiliary Interstate Highway routes are also located in the state Interstate 495 I 495 is an eastern bypass of Wilmington Interstate 295 I 295 is a bypass of Philadelphia which begins south of Wilmington In addition to Interstate highways there are six U S highways that serve Delaware U S 9 U S 13 U S 40 U S 113 U S 202 and U S 301 There are also several state highways that cross the state of Delaware a few of them include DE 1 DE 9 and DE 404 U S 13 and DE 1 are primary north south highways connecting Wilmington and Pennsylvania with Maryland with DE 1 serving as the main route between Wilmington and the Delaware beaches DE 9 is a north south highway connecting Dover and Wilmington via a scenic route along the Delaware Bay U S 40 is a primary east west route connecting Maryland with New Jersey DE 404 is another primary east west highway connecting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland with the Delaware beaches The state also operates three toll highways the Delaware Turnpike which is I 95 between Maryland and New Castle the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway which is DE 1 between Wilmington and Dover and the U S 301 toll road between the Maryland border and DE 1 in New Castle County A bicycle route Delaware Bicycle Route 1 spans the north south length of the state from the Maryland border in Fenwick Island to the Pennsylvania border north of Montchanin It is the first of several signed bike routes planned in Delaware 131 Delaware has about 1 450 bridges 95 percent of which are under the supervision of DelDOT About 30 percent of all Delaware bridges were built before 1950 and about 60 percent of the number are included in the National Bridge Inventory Some bridges not under DelDOT supervision includes the four bridges on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal which are under the jurisdiction of the U S Army Corps of Engineers and the Delaware Memorial Bridge which is under the bi state Delaware River and Bay Authority citation needed It has been noted that the tar and chip composition of secondary roads in Sussex County makes them more prone to deterioration than are the asphalt roadways in almost the rest of the state 132 Among these roads Sussex county road 236 is among the most problematic 132 Ferries Edit Cape May Lewes Ferry Three ferries operate in the state of Delaware Cape May Lewes Ferry crosses the mouth of Delaware Bay between Lewes Delaware and Cape May New Jersey Woodland Ferry a cable ferry crosses the Nanticoke River southwest of Seaford Forts Ferry Crossing connects Delaware City with Fort Delaware and Fort Mott New Jersey Rail and bus Edit vteDelaware passenger railLegend Northeast Corridorto Philadelphia New York Claymont NWK Wilmington NWK Churchmans Crossing NWK Newark NWK Northeast Corridorto Washington D C Wilmington Station Amtrak has two stations in Delaware along the Northeast Corridor the relatively quiet Newark Rail Station in Newark and the busier Wilmington Rail Station in Wilmington The Northeast Corridor is also served by SEPTA s Wilmington Newark Line of Regional Rail which serves Claymont Wilmington Churchmans Crossing and Newark Two Class I railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX provide freight rail service in northern New Castle County Norfolk Southern provides freight service along the Northeast Corridor and to industrial areas in Edgemoor New Castle and Delaware City CSX s Philadelphia Subdivision passes through northern New Castle County parallel to the Amtrak Northeast Corridor Multiple short line railroads provide freight service in Delaware The Delmarva Central Railroad operates the most trackage of the short line railroads running from an interchange with Norfolk Southern in Porter south through Dover Harrington and Seaford to Delmar with another line running from Harrington to Frankford and branches from Ellendale to Milton and from Georgetown to Gravel Hill The Delmarva Central Railroad connects with the Maryland and Delaware Railroad which serves local customers in Sussex County 133 CSX connects with the freight heritage operation the Wilmington and Western Railroad based in Wilmington and the East Penn Railroad which operates a line from Wilmington to Coatesville Pennsylvania The last north south passenger trains through the main part of Delaware was the Pennsylvania Railroad s local Wilmington Delmar train in 1965 134 135 This was a successor to the Del Mar Va Express and Cavalier which had run from Philadelphia through the state s interior to the end of the Delmarva Peninsula until the mid 1950s 136 137 The DART First State public transportation system was named Most Outstanding Public Transportation System in 2003 by the American Public Transportation Association Coverage of the system is broad within northern New Castle County with close association to major highways in Kent and Sussex counties The system includes bus subsidized passenger rail operated by Philadelphia transit agency SEPTA and subsidized taxi and paratransit modes The paratransit system consisting of a statewide door to door bus service for the elderly and disabled has been described by a Delaware state report as the most generous paratransit system in the United States 129 As of 2012 update fees for the paratransit service have not changed since 1988 129 Air Edit See also Aviation in Delaware As of 2016 update there is no scheduled air service from any Delaware airport as has been the case in various years since 1991 Various airlines had served Wilmington Airport the latest departure being Frontier Airlines in April 2015 138 Delaware is centrally situated in the Northeast megalopolis region of cities along I 95 Therefore Delaware commercial airline passengers most frequently use Philadelphia International Airport PHL Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport BWI and Washington Dulles International Airport IAD for domestic and international transit Residents of Sussex County will also use Wicomico Regional Airport SBY as it is located less than 10 miles 16 km from the Delaware border Atlantic City International Airport ACY Newark Liberty International Airport EWR and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport DCA are also within a 100 mile 160 km radius of New Castle County Other general aviation airports in Delaware include Summit Airport near Middletown Delaware Airpark near Cheswold and Delaware Coastal Airport near Georgetown Dover Air Force Base one of the largest in the country is home to the 436th Airlift Wing and the 512th Airlift Wing In addition to its other responsibilities in the Air Mobility Command it serves as the entry point and mortuary for U S military personnel and some civilians who die overseas Law and government EditDelaware s fourth and current constitution adopted in 1897 provides for executive judicial and legislative branches 139 Legislative branch Edit The Delaware General Assembly meets in the Delaware Legislative Hall in Dover The Delaware General Assembly consists of a House of Representatives with 41 members and a Senate with 21 members It sits in Dover the state capital Representatives are elected to two year terms while senators are elected to four year terms The Senate confirms judicial and other nominees appointed by the governor Delaware s U S Senators are Tom Carper Democrat and Chris Coons Democrat Delaware s single U S Representative is Lisa Blunt Rochester Democrat Judicial branch Edit The Delaware Constitution establishes a number of courts The Delaware Supreme Court is the state s highest court The Delaware Superior Court is the state s trial court of general jurisdiction The Delaware Court of Chancery deals primarily in corporate disputes The Family Court handles domestic and custody matters The Delaware Court of Common Pleas has jurisdiction over a limited class of civil and criminal matters Minor non constitutional courts include the Justice of the Peace Courts and Aldermen s Courts Significantly Delaware has one of the few remaining Courts of Chancery in the nation which has jurisdiction over equity cases the vast majority of which are corporate disputes many relating to mergers and acquisitions The Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court have developed a worldwide reputation for rendering concise opinions concerning corporate law which generally but not always grant broad discretion to corporate boards of directors and officers In addition the Delaware General Corporation Law which forms the basis of the Courts opinions is widely regarded as giving great flexibility to corporations to manage their affairs For these reasons Delaware is considered to have the most business friendly legal system in the United States therefore a great number of companies are incorporated in Delaware including 60 of the companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange 140 Delaware was the last U S state to use judicial corporal punishment in 1952 141 Executive branch Edit See also List of governors of Delaware The executive branch is headed by the Governor of Delaware The present governor is John Carney Democrat who took office January 17 2017 The lieutenant governor is Bethany Hall Long The governor presents a State of the State speech to a joint session of the Delaware legislature annually 142 Counties Edit Delaware is subdivided into three counties from north to south they are New Castle Kent and Sussex This is the fewest among all states Each county elects its own legislative body known in New Castle and Sussex counties as County Council and in Kent County as Levy Court which deal primarily in zoning and development issues Most functions which are handled on a county by county basis in other states such as court and law enforcement have been centralized in Delaware leading to a significant concentration of power in the Delaware state government The counties were historically divided into hundreds which were used as tax reporting and voting districts until the 1960s but now serve no administrative role their only current official legal use being in real estate title descriptions 143 Politics Edit Main article Politics of Delaware Joe Biden the 46th president of the United States and a U S senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009 The Democratic Party holds a plurality of registrations in Delaware Currently Democrats hold all positions of authority in Delaware as well as majorities in the state Senate and House The Democrats have held the governorship since 1993 having won the last seven gubernatorial elections Democrats presently hold all the nine statewide elected offices while the Republicans last won any statewide offices in 2014 State Auditor and State Treasurer During the First and Second Party Systems Delaware was a stronghold for the Federalist and Whig Parties respectively After a relatively brief adherence to the Democratic Solid South following the US Civil War Delaware became a Republican leaning state from 1896 through 1948 voting for losing Republicans Charles Evans Hughes in 1916 Herbert Hoover in 1932 and Thomas Dewey in 1948 During the second half of the 20th century Delaware was a bellwether state voting for the winner of every presidential election from 1952 through 1996 Delaware s bellwether status came to an end when Delaware voted for Al Gore in 2000 by 13 Subsequent elections have continued to demonstrate Delaware s current strong Democratic lean John Kerry carried the First State by 8 in 2004 Barack Obama carried it by 25 and by 19 in his two elections of 2008 and 2012 and Hillary Clinton carried it by 11 as she lost the Electoral College in 2016 In 2020 Delaware native and Barack Obama s former Vice President and running mate Joe Biden headed the Democratic ticket he carried his home state by just shy of 19 en route to a national 4 5 win 144 The dominant factor in Delaware s political shift has been the strong Democratic trend in heavily urbanized New Castle County home to 55 of Delaware s population New Castle County has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988 and has given Democrats over 60 of its vote in every election from 2004 on In 1992 2000 2004 and 2016 the Republican presidential candidate carried both Kent and Sussex but lost by double digits each time in New Castle County which was a large enough margin to tip the state to the Democrats New Castle County also elects a substantial majority of the state legislature 27 of the 41 state house districts and 14 of the 21 state senate districts are based in New Castle County In a 2020 study Delaware was ranked as the 18th hardest state for citizens to vote in 145 Freedom of information Edit See also Freedom of information in the United States State legislation Each of the 50 states of the United States has passed some form of freedom of information legislation which provides a mechanism for the general public to request information of the government 146 In 2011 Delaware passed legislation placing a 15 business day time limit on addressing freedom of information requests to either produce information or an explanation of why such information would take longer than this time to produce 147 A bill aimed at restricting Freedom of Information Act requests Senate Bill 155 was discussed in committee 148 Taxation Edit Tax is collected by the Delaware Division of Revenue 149 Delaware has six different income tax brackets ranging from 2 2 to 5 95 The state does not assess sales tax on consumers The state does however impose a tax on the gross receipts of most businesses Business and occupational license tax rates range from 0 096 to 1 92 depending on the category of business activity Delaware does not assess a state level tax on real or personal property Real estate is subject to county property taxes school district property taxes vocational school district taxes and if located within an incorporated area municipal property taxes Gambling provides significant revenue to the state For instance the casino at Delaware Park Racetrack provided more than 100 million to the state in 2010 150 In June 2018 Delaware became the first U S state to legalize sports betting following the Supreme Court ruling to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 PASPA 151 Voter registration Edit Voter registration and party enrollment as of March 2022 update 152 Party Number of voters PercentageDemocratic 359 824 47 62 Republican 208 102 27 54 Unaffiliated 169 472 22 43 Independent Party of Delaware 9 898 1 31 Libertarian 2 182 0 29 Non partisan 1 162 0 15 Conservative 764 0 10 Green 735 0 10 Liberal 682 0 09 Others 615 0 08 American Delta Party 588 0 08 American Independent Party 577 0 08 Working Families Party 329 0 04 Constitution 266 0 04 Socialist Workers Party 131 0 02 Blue Enigma Party 90 0 01 Natural Law Party 78 0 01 Reform 46 0 01 Mandalorians of Delaware 19 0 00 Total 755 560 100 Culture and entertainment EditFestivals Edit Main article Delaware festivals Sports Edit NASCAR racing at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover Professional teamsTeam Sport LeagueDelaware Black Foxes Rugby League USA Rugby LeagueDelaware Blue Coats Basketball NBA G LeagueDelaware Thunder Hockey Federal Prospects Hockey LeagueDiamond State Roller Girls Roller derby Women s Flat Track Derby AssociationWilmington Blue Rocks Baseball High A EastAs Delaware has no franchises in the major American professional sports leagues many Delawareans follow either Philadelphia or Baltimore teams In the WNBA the Washington Mystics enjoy a major following due to the presence of Wilmington native and University of Delaware product Elena Delle Donne The University of Delaware s football team has a large following throughout the state with the Delaware State University and Wesley College teams also enjoying a smaller degree of support Delaware is home to Dover Motor Speedway and Bally s Dover Dover Motor Speedway also known as the Monster Mile is one of only 10 tracks in the nation to have hosted 100 or more NASCAR Cup Series races Bally s Dover is a popular harness racing facility It is the only co located horse and car racing facility in the nation with the Bally s Dover track located inside the Dover Motor Speedway track Delaware is represented in rugby by the Delaware Black Foxes a 2015 expansion club Delaware has been home to professional wrestling outfit Combat Zone Wrestling CZW CZW has been affiliated with the annual Tournament of Death and ECWA with its annual Super 8 Tournament Delaware s official state sport is bicycling 153 Sister state EditDelaware s sister state in Japan is Miyagi Prefecture 154 Delawareans EditMain article List of people from Delaware Prominent Delawareans include the du Pont family of politicians and businesspersons and current United States president Joe Biden whose family has resided in Delaware since his first marriage See also EditIndex of Delaware related articles Outline of Delaware Delaware portal United States portalNotes Edit Unless one counts Louisiana and Alaska which do not have counties but parishes and boroughs respectively Because of surveying errors the actual line is several compound arcs with centers at different points in New Castle References Edit Nann Burke Melissa January 5 2015 Delaware a Small Wonder no more Delaware Online Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved March 10 2015 The State of Delaware State of Delaware delaware gov Archived from the original on June 19 2013 Retrieved September 27 2015 britannica com facts Delaware state a b Elevations and Distances in the United States United States Geological Survey 2001 Archived from the original on October 15 2011 Retrieved October 21 2011 Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988 Highest point in Delaware The Delaware Geological Survey Archived from the original on June 17 2022 Retrieved July 16 2022 U S Census Bureau QuickFacts Delaware Census Bureau QuickFacts July 1 2021 Retrieved July 16 2022 US Census Bureau QuickFacts United States Census Bureau Retrieved April 30 2022 State Policy Reports PDF Washington DC State Policy Research March 2021 ISSN 8750 6637 OCLC 1117839667 Archived PDF from the original on April 19 2021 Retrieved July 16 2022 via Office of the Governor of Alabama State of Delaware Community Characteristics State of Delaware My Healthy Community Retrieved July 16 2022 USGS Howard Perlman Area of each state that is water water usgs gov Archived from the original on October 10 2017 Retrieved March 5 2018 Molly Murray January 6 2015 Delaware s new tourism brand Endless Discoveries Delaware Online Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved March 10 2015 Random House Dictionary Mid Atlantic Home Mid Atlantic Information Office U S Bureau of Labor Statistics www bls gov Archived from the original on April 8 2019 Retrieved July 27 2017 Delaware Online Etymology Dictionary Archived from the original on October 12 2007 Retrieved February 24 2007 Census Regions and Divisions of the United States PDF U S Census Bureau June 17 2016 Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved November 21 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link The First to Ratify would be more accurate as the beginnings of the states themselves date back to the Declaration of Independence celebrated July 4 1776 when what was to become the State of Delaware was still the three lower counties of Pennsylvania with the governor in Philadelphia and not establishing independence from that body until September 20 1776 According to Delaware s own website Delaware became a state in 1776 just two months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence ref pdf Archived December 23 2016 at the Wayback Machine Therefore Delaware was actually the last of the thirteen colonies to establish itself as a state Additionally the Delaware State Quarter is minted with this nickname yet shows Caesar Rodney on horseback in commemoration of how he was the last delegate to show up to the Continental Congress for the historic vote for independence And with regard to the original Articles of Confederation Delaware was the 12th of the 13 states to ratify Ware DeGidio Wanda 2011 Ware DeGidio Wanda ed Ware Family History Descendants from Ancient Medieval and Modern Kings and Queens and Presidents of the United States p 10 ISBN 978 1 4010 9930 5 Ware DeGidio Wanda 2011 Ware DeGidio Wanda ed Ware Family History Descendants from Ancient Medieval and Modern Kings and Queens and Presidents of the United States p 10 ISBN 978 1 4010 9930 5 Archived copy Archived from the original on March 20 2015 Retrieved October 24 2017 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Myers Albert Cook 1912 Narratives of Early Pennsylvania West New Jersey and Delaware 1630 1707 Volume 13 C Scribner s Sons p 8 a b Munroe John A 2006 3 The Lower Counties on The Delaware History of Delaware 5th illustrated ed University of Delaware Press p 45 ISBN 978 0 87413 947 1 Scheltema Gajus Westerhuijs Heleen eds 2011 Exploring Historic Dutch New York New York Museum of the City of New York Dover ISBN 978 0 486 48637 6 Lurie Mappen M 2004 Encyclopedia of New Jersey Rutgers University Press p 327 ISBN 978 0 8135 3325 4 Mayo LS 1921 John Wentworth Governor of New Hampshire 1767 1775 Harvard University Press p 5 Schama Simon 2006 Rough Crossings Britain the Slaves and the American Revolution New York Harper Collins Heinegg Paul Free African Americans in Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Maryland and Delaware archived from the original on August 7 2010 retrieved February 15 2008 Kolchin 1994 pp 78 81 82 Kolchin 1994 pp 81 82 1860 Federal Census Historical Census Browser University of Virginia Library archived from the original on October 11 2014 retrieved November 30 2012 Dalleo Peter T June 27 1997 The Growth of Delaware s Antebellum Free African Community University of Delaware Archived from the original on September 5 2011 Retrieved June 21 2008 www augustquarterly org www augustquarterly org Retrieved February 2 2021 Munroe John 2001 History of Delaware 4th ed Newark DE University of Delaware Press pp 146 150 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware p 156 Editorial June 23 2020 The Dupont Legacy Delaware Business Times Retrieved October 14 2022 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 165 169 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 173 180 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 180 181 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 185 189 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 190 205 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 216 217 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 219 223 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 225 227 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware pp 228 230 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware p 230 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware p 242 Munroe 2001 History of Delaware p 259 Delaware The State of State of Delaware delaware gov Archived from the original on August 18 2021 Retrieved August 18 2021 britannica com facts Delaware state Archived copy PDF Archived PDF from the original on April 10 2016 Retrieved February 1 2019 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Frank Jacobs Enigma Georgia Mystery of the South s Circular Towns Archived May 23 2014 at the Wayback Machine Strange Maps April 30 2014 a b Extreme and Mean Elevations by State and Other Area PDF Statistical Abstract of the United States 2004 2005 United States Census Bureau p 216 Archived PDF from the original on March 10 2011 Retrieved March 16 2011 A Summary of the Geologic History of Delaware The Delaware Geological Survey Archived from the original on March 12 2013 Retrieved March 19 2013 a b Olson D M E Dinerstein et al 2001 Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World A New Map of Life on Earth BioScience 51 11 933 938 doi 10 1641 0006 3568 2001 051 0933 TEOTWA 2 0 CO 2 ISSN 0006 3568 Montgomery Jeff May 14 2011 Cleaning up contamination The News Journal New Castle Delaware DelawareOnline Archived from the original on May 14 2011 Retrieved May 14 2011 The first online page is archived the page containing information related here is not in the archived version US Quick Facts census gov Archived from the original on March 2 2019 Retrieved February 14 2020 Historical Population Change Data 1910 2020 Archived April 29 2021 at the Wayback Machine 2020 Census PDF census gov April 26 2021 Archived PDF from the original on April 26 2021 QuickFacts Delaware United States 2019 Population Estimates United States Census Bureau Population Division February 14 2020 Archived from the original on February 9 2019 Retrieved February 14 2020 Delaware Population 1900 2020 www macrotrends net Retrieved June 16 2021 Kent County defies slower lower nickname November 8 2017 Walter Nicholls May 26 2004 Slower Lower Delaware The Washington Post Retrieved December 11 2020 The Mid Atlantic Dialects Evolution Publishing Archived from the original on July 23 2013 Retrieved June 3 2013 Regions of the United States American Memory The Library of Congress Retrieved August 11 2009 Region 3 The Mid Atlantic States www epa gov U S Environmental Protection Agency Retrieved August 11 2009 Your Local FBI Office www fbi gov Federal Bureau of Investigation Archived from the original on August 15 2009 Retrieved August 11 2009 Routes Serving the Northeast National Railroad Passenger Corporation Archived from the original on August 15 2009 Retrieved August 11 2009 Best Regional Colleges www princetonreview com The Princeton Review Retrieved August 11 2009 Maryland and Delaware identify as Northeast About CSG csg erc org Archived from the original on June 23 2016 Retrieved June 29 2016 Home Geographic Information U S Bureau of Labor Statistics bls gov Retrieved June 29 2016 Regional Climate Centers National Centers for Environmental Information NCEI formerly known as National Climatic Data Center NCDC noaa gov Retrieved June 29 2016 Region and Area Maps scouting org Retrieved June 29 2016 Northeast Regional Office National Historic Landmarks Program nps gov Retrieved June 29 2016 Voting press release US Census archived from the original on February 4 2008 Population and Population Centers by State United States Census Bureau 2000 Archived from the original plain text on May 8 2013 Retrieved March 9 2007 Exner Rich June 3 2012 Americans under age 1 now mostly minorities but not in Ohio Statistical Snapshot The Plain Dealer Archived from the original on July 14 2016 Retrieved October 7 2014 Demographic Social and Economic Profile for Delaware PDF Archived PDF from the original on April 28 2016 Retrieved June 26 2016 U S Census website United States Census Bureau October 5 2010 Retrieved August 17 2011 2019 QuickFacts U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on January 27 2020 Bies Jessica Lenape Indian Tribe looks to reclaim historic Delaware land establish sovereignty The News Journal Retrieved May 23 2021 Duvernay Adam Nanticoke tribe converges for 40th powwow in Millsboro The News Journal Retrieved May 23 2021 Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race 1790 to 1990 and By Hispanic Origin 1970 to 1990 For The United States Regions Divisions and States Archived copy at WebCite June 22 2013 censusviewer com city ID January 7 2014 Archived from the original on January 7 2014 Center for New Media and Promotions C2PO 2010 Census Data census gov Retrieved September 27 2015 Archived copy PDF Archived PDF from the original on 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December 2 2019 Data PDF www cdc gov Archived PDF from the original on March 23 2021 Retrieved March 27 2021 Data PDF www cdc gov Archived PDF from the original on February 7 2022 Retrieved February 20 2022 SB 129 State of Delaware archived from the original on March 10 2010 retrieved May 9 2008 assigned on June 13 2007 to Senate Education Committee HB 436 State of Delaware archived from the original on March 10 2010 retrieved May 9 2008 stricken on June 15 2006 Inc Gallup February 15 2013 LGBT Percentage Highest in D C Lowest in North Dakota Gallup com Retrieved November 18 2020 Ford Zack May 7 2013 BREAKING Delaware To Become 11th State With Marriage Equality Think Progress Archived from the original on April 7 2014 a b Religious Landscape Study Pew Forum March 20 2019 Archived from the original on October 5 2017 Retrieved October 5 2017 The Association of Religion Data Archives State Membership Report www thearda com Archived from the original on November 9 2013 Retrieved November 7 2013 a b PRRI American Values Atlas ava prri org Retrieved September 17 2022 Amish Population Profile 2018 Elizabethtown College the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies August 7 2018 Archived from the original on February 5 2019 Retrieved January 29 2019 Amish Countryside Kent County amp Greater Dover Delaware Convention and Visitors Bureau Archived from the original on November 23 2016 Retrieved November 22 2016 Delaware Amish Amish America Archived from the original on October 7 2017 Retrieved October 6 2017 Catholic News Agency April 3 2012 In very religious USA Gallup sees Delaware residents as moderately so by 1 percent The Dialog Archived from the original on June 25 2012 Retrieved April 16 2012 Ruth Eric April 15 2010 Delaware housing Home prices slide in all three counties sales in NCCo Kent down from year ago The News Journal Delaware Delaware Online Archived from the original on April 3 2014 Retrieved March 31 2014 subscription required Millionaires in America 2020 All 50 States Ranked Kiplinger May 27 2020 Retrieved February 21 2021 Frank Robert January 15 2014 Top states for millionaires per capita CNBC CNBC com Archived from the original on January 22 2014 Retrieved October 28 2016 Delaware Economy at a Glance database report United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Archived from the original on March 15 2015 Retrieved March 10 2015 National Vulcanized Fibre Corp site in Yorklyn Archived from the original on August 3 2018 Retrieved December 12 2015 AstraZeneca lays off workers at Delaware headquarters Archived from the original on February 5 2016 Retrieved December 12 2015 Delaware officials concerned about AstraZeneca DuPont threats Archived from the original on February 5 2016 Retrieved December 12 2015 DuPont to cut 1 700 jobs in Delaware in January Archived from the original on December 31 2015 Retrieved December 29 2015 DuPont merger called catastrophic for Delaware Archived from the original on December 17 2015 Retrieved December 12 2015 DuPont merger A sad day for Delaware Archived from the original on January 31 2016 Retrieved December 12 2015 DuPont Dow merger catastrophic for Delaware Archived from the original on December 31 2015 Retrieved December 12 2015 Chemours will lay off 400 including some in Delaware Archived from the original on February 3 2016 Retrieved December 12 2015 Delaware Division of Corporations Government of DE Archived from the original on August 10 2011 Retrieved June 10 2012 Delaware 2007 Fiscal Notebook State General Fund Revenues by Category F Y 2002 2005 PDF Archived from the original PDF on August 16 2011 Retrieved August 17 2011 Financial Secrecy Index PDF Tax Justice Network November 1 2009 Archived from the original PDF on June 26 2015 Retrieved June 24 2015 Financial Secrecy Index PDF Tax Justice Network October 4 2011 Archived from the original PDF on April 4 2015 Retrieved June 24 2015 State of Delaware Division of Corporations Archived from the original 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Online Resources and Training UDLib SEARCH EDUCAUSE 99 Long Beach CA via Internet Archive Dobo Nichole June 12 2011 Delaware schools Checkered past goes unchecked The News Journal Archived from the original on June 23 2011 Retrieved June 13 2011 a b c Dobo Nichole 2012 Charter votes to join union The News Journal published January 19 2012 delawareonline Archived from the original on June 9 2015 Retrieved January 19 2012 Harlow Summer January 20 2008 Auto tag No 6 likely to sell for 1 million The News Journal Archived from the original on September 23 2015 State of Delaware Department of Transportation State of Delaware Archived from the original on July 1 2006 Retrieved June 30 2006 Staff Delaware Department of Transportation Public Relations 2005 Delaware Transportation Facts 2005 PDF DelDOT Division of Planning Archived from the original PDF on September 9 2008 a b c Montgomery Jeff January 29 2011 Crisis ahead on Delaware roads The News Journal delawareonline Archived from the original on June 9 2015 Retrieved January 29 2012 Delaware Transportation Facts PDF Delaware Department of Transportation 2009 Archived from the original PDF on May 11 2012 Retrieved April 16 2012 Projects Delaware Bicycle Facility Master Plan Delaware Department of Transportation Archived from the original on September 18 2010 Retrieved September 28 2010 a b Justin Williams April 17 2011 Anything Once On the road taking plenty of pot shots News Journal Wilmington Delaware DelawareOnline Retrieved April 17 2011 dead link Delmarva Central Railroad Carload Express November 8 2016 Archived from the original on May 24 2017 Retrieved March 27 2017 Pennsylvania Railroad local division timetable 1965 Freight only Pennsylvania Railroad Table 155 Official Guide of the Railways National Railway Publication Company 99 7 December 1966 Baer Christopher T 2009 Named Trains of The PRR Including Through Services PDF PRRTHS archived PDF from the original on October 14 2013 retrieved July 25 2013 All named trains were gone by the end of 1957 Pennsylvania Railroad Table 65 Official Guide of the Railways National Railway Publication Company 90 7 December 1957 See Wilmington Airport for history and details The Delaware Constitution of 1897 as amended State of Delaware Archived from the original on September 8 2016 Retrieved August 22 2016 About Agency Delaware Division of Corporations Archived from the original on February 28 2007 Retrieved July 23 2008 Pleck Elizabeth Hefkin 2004 Domestic tyranny the making of American social policy against family University of Illinois Press p 120 ISBN 978 0 252 07175 1 Archived from the original on December 31 2015 Retrieved October 16 2015 Delaware House of Representatives Minority Caucus 2010 Archived from the original on April 16 2009 Retrieved January 24 2001 The Hundreds of Delaware Department of State Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs Delaware State Archives Archived from the original on June 17 2010 Retrieved September 28 2010 Delaware Election Results The New York Times November 3 2020 J Pomante II Michael Li Quan December 15 2020 Cost of Voting in the American States 2020 Election Law Journal Rules Politics and Policy 19 4 503 509 doi 10 1089 elj 2020 0666 S2CID 225139517 Retrieved January 14 2022 State Public Record Laws FOIAdvocates Bennett Rep Peterson Sen Katz Sen January 6 2011 An Act to Amend Title 29 of the Delaware Code Relating to the Freedom of Information Act Delaware Code vol 78 online ed published April 15 2011 10 House Bill 5 archived from the original on October 2 2011 retrieved April 22 2011 Speakers at Senate meeting strongly oppose changing FOIA Delaware LIVE News June 9 2021 Division of Revenue Department of Finance State of Delaware Division of Revenue State of Delaware Barrish Chris April 23 2011 Delaware crime Wave of brazen attacks sounds alarm at casino Delaware Online Wilmington DE 1st page of online article archived via link provided Archived from the original on May 14 2011 Retrieved April 23 2011 Delaware becomes the first state to legalise sports betting June 2 2018 Archived from the original on June 22 2018 Retrieved June 22 2018 Voter Registration Totals PDF Archived PDF from the original on January 19 2022 Retrieved March 11 2022 An Act to Amend Title 29 of the Delaware Code Relating to the Designation of a State Sport Archived from the original on March 3 2016 Retrieved July 7 2016 McDowell Sen McBride Rep George March 22 2011 Mourning Those Lost in the Recent Earthquake and Related Disasters that have Befallen Japan and Expressing the Thoughts and Prayers of All Delawareans for the Citizens of Our Sister State of Miyagi Prefecture During These Difficult Times published March 23 2011 Senate Joint Resolution 3 Archived from the original on October 2 2011 Retrieved April 22 2011 Bibliography EditKolchin Peter 1994 American Slavery 1619 1877 New York Hill amp WangExternal links EditDelaware at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Travel information from Wikivoyage Resources from Wikiversity History Edit Delaware State Guide Library of CongressGeneral Edit State of Delaware official website Geographic data related to Delaware at OpenStreetMap Delaware Tourism homepage Delaware Map Data Energy amp Environmental Data for Delaware USGS real time geographic and other scientific resources of Delaware U S Census Bureau Delaware State Facts from USDA 2000 Census of Population and Housing for Delaware U S Census Bureau Delaware at Ballotpedia Delaware at Curlie Delaware State Databases Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Delaware state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library AssociationFirst List of U S states by date of admission to the UnionRatified Constitution on December 7 1787 1st Succeeded byPennsylvania Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Delaware amp oldid 1133251866, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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