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Delaware never abolished slavery and in order of admission to the Union was the first of the 15 slave states but did not secede from the Union during the American Civil War. There were 1,798 enslaved people living in Delaware at the time of the 1860 U.S. census.
Human chattel slavery was introduced into Delaware by European Christians. The first enslaved people to serve European Christians were indigenous. However, the native population was unable to supply slaves in sufficient numbers to meet the rising needs of the growing European population.
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In the decade before the Revolution, between 20 percent and 25 percent of the colony's population was enslaved. That figure is much higher than any Northern colony, but lower than any in the South.
- Overview
- Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction
- Influence of the du Pont family
- Development of the contemporary state
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, Delawareans became increasingly divided over the issue of slavery. Induced by both economic and religious motives, many slave owners freed their bondsmen during those years, but a few stubbornly refused. Delaware was a crossroads where abolitionists maintained a thriving line of the Underground Railroad to assist escapees, while other Delawareans engaged in the equally illegal capture of free blacks to be shipped southward into slavery. Thus, in 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War, the number of slaves in Delaware had been reduced to about 1,800, while the number of the state’s free blacks had grown to some 20,000.
Although Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s policy of refusing to recognize secession did not find favour with a majority of Delawareans, the state never seriously considered joining the Confederacy. Many Delawareans favoured the Union cause, although men from the state served in the armies of both sides. Fort Delaware, built on a small island in the Delaware River to protect Wilmington and Philadelphia in the 1850s, became one of the Union’s major prisoner-of-war camps.
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, Delawareans became increasingly divided over the issue of slavery. Induced by both economic and religious motives, many slave owners freed their bondsmen during those years, but a few stubbornly refused. Delaware was a crossroads where abolitionists maintained a thriving line of the Underground Railroad to assist escapees, while other Delawareans engaged in the equally illegal capture of free blacks to be shipped southward into slavery. Thus, in 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War, the number of slaves in Delaware had been reduced to about 1,800, while the number of the state’s free blacks had grown to some 20,000.
Although Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s policy of refusing to recognize secession did not find favour with a majority of Delawareans, the state never seriously considered joining the Confederacy. Many Delawareans favoured the Union cause, although men from the state served in the armies of both sides. Fort Delaware, built on a small island in the Delaware River to protect Wilmington and Philadelphia in the 1850s, became one of the Union’s major prisoner-of-war camps.
In the early 20th century the du Pont family and their gunpowder company dominated Delaware’s development. The DuPont Company, the country’s largest producer of explosives, earned enormous profits through its sales to both the United States and its allies during World War I. Several du Ponts used their wealth to benefit the state. T. Coleman du Pon...
During the second half of the 20th century, Delaware changed significantly. Population flowed from Wilmington to its suburbs. Resort and retirement communities developed along the Atlantic coast in the southeast portion of the state. Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court integrated the state’s public schools and established a more equitable distribution of seats in the state legislature. Delaware became a leader in environmentalism when it adopted its Coastal Zone Act in 1971 to prevent heavy industrialization along the coast. Credit-card banking replaced the chemical industry as the leading private employer in the state.
Politically, the state is a bellwether in presidential elections. In elections for offices at the state level, Delawareans tend to vote for candidates on the basis of their qualifications as individuals rather than as representatives of their respective parties. Nationally prominent Delawareans in politics have included Senators William V. Roth, a Republican known for the Roth IRA, and Joseph Biden, a leading Democrat. In 2001 Delaware elected its first female governor, Ruth Ann Minner.
Mar 6, 2016 · This much historians know for sure: A slave named Antony Swart was brought from the Caribbean to New Sweden along the Delaware River in 1639. He would become known as Black Anthony and go on...
Jun 19, 2020 · But because Delaware was a border state between the North and South, Lincoln’s order did not apply to slaves in the First State. The last complete census in 1860 found 1,900 people living in slavery in Delaware.
Despite being the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787, Delaware refused to sign the 13th Amendment to formally abolish slavery until the 20th century. In First and Last: Delaware’s Fraught History with Slavery and Abolition, explore the state’s complex history with slavery and abolition.
