Delaware

Pontiac’s Uprising: The American Indian War for Independence

January 7, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In April 1763, the American Indian War for Independence (1763-1766) — also called Pontiac’s Rebellion or Pontiac’s Uprising for the Ottawa Nation leader who organized a coalition against European colonial powers — started with the siege of Fort Detroit.

In July 1764, an English colonial force that included 500 Native fighters departed from Oswego for operations against Pontiac’s forces to the west. Attacks by Native forces spread east and south as a result of continued European colonists’ trespassing and settlement on Native lands. [Read more…] about Pontiac’s Uprising: The American Indian War for Independence

Non-Violent Resistance During the American Revolution

October 15, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park has announced the winner of their inaugural James Kirby Martin Book Prize, Jane E. Calvert’s Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson (Oxford Univ. Press, 2024). The Prize is given in honor of Martin, an 18th century historian and museum supporter who died unexpectedly this year. Martin’s posthumously published final book, also on the American Revolution, has also just been released.

Quaker pacifist John Dickinson (1732-1808) of Pennsylvania and Delaware, one of the wealthiest men in the colonies, was an important early leader of the resistance to British rule before the outbreak of the American revolution and among the first to advocate civil disobedience as a form of protest. [Read more…] about Non-Violent Resistance During the American Revolution

New Amstel: A City Colony’s Rise and Fall

April 4, 2025 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Walloon-born Peter Minuit was the third Director of New Netherland from 1626 until his dismissal for reasons that remain unclear in 1632. Five years later he founded, on behalf of the Swedish government, a settlement on the lower South River (now the Delaware River) which he named New Sweden.

This rivalry between the Dutch and the Swedish for control of the local fur trade came to a climax when Peter Stuyvesant became Director-General of New Netherland in 1647. [Read more…] about New Amstel: A City Colony’s Rise and Fall

Black History, Birthright Citizenship & Civil Rights

March 17, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Very few protections existed under state laws for free Black people during the era of enslavement and their actions were strictly regulated.

In New York free Black citizens faced legal limitations on voting rights, property ownership, and social interactions, some for nearly a century after the abolition of slavery. [Read more…] about Black History, Birthright Citizenship & Civil Rights

Politics, Printers, Bibles & Founding Fathers

May 1, 2024 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

In 1631 Charles I summoned his Royal printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas to court after it was discovered that their reprint of the King James Bible contained a typographical mistake by leaving out the word “not” from the seventh commandment. In between exhortations that “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal,” readers are instructed that “thou shalt commit adultery.” [Read more…] about Politics, Printers, Bibles & Founding Fathers

The Historic 1836 Snowstorm: ‘Beyond Anything In Our Time’

January 7, 2024 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

The following story about the historic snowstorm of 1836 was originally published in the New York Herald, January 11, 1836. “The Big Snow of 1836” on January 8–10th produced 30 to 40 inches of snowfall in interior New York, northern Pennsylvania, and western New England with the city of New York receiving two feet of snow, drifting to seven feet in some areas. This story was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer researcher George A. Thompson and additionally edited and annotated by John Warren. [Read more…] about The Historic 1836 Snowstorm: ‘Beyond Anything In Our Time’

Prisoners of Congress: Philadelphia’s Quakers in Exile, 1777-1778

December 17, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In 1777, Congress labeled Quakers who would not take up arms in support of the War of Independence as “the most Dangerous Enemies America knows” and ordered Pennsylvania and Delaware to apprehend them.

In response, Keystone State officials sent twenty men ― seventeen of whom were Quakers ― into exile, banishing them to Virginia, where they were held for a year. [Read more…] about Prisoners of Congress: Philadelphia’s Quakers in Exile, 1777-1778

The American Revolution in the Middle Colonies, 1775–1776

December 13, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In United for Independence: The American Revolution in the Middle Colonies, 1775–1776 (Westholme Publishing, 2023), historian Michael Cecere (Westholme Publishing, 2025) examines how the inhabitants of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland reacted to the outbreak of the American Revolution in Massachusetts.

Leaders in these middle colonies, influenced by strong Loyalist sentiment within their borders and, in some cases, among themselves, fiercely debated whether to support the war in New England. [Read more…] about The American Revolution in the Middle Colonies, 1775–1776

An Early History of Delaware

June 19, 2019 by Dr. Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Delaware may be the second smallest state in the United States, but it has a BIG, rich history that can tell us much about the history of early America.

In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, David Young, the Executive Director of the Delaware Historical Society, joins us to explore the early American history of Delaware from its Native American inhabitants through its emergence as the first state in the United States. [Read more…] about An Early History of Delaware

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