9781422286128

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Mid-Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland

13 American colonies to seek inde- pendence. Representatives from the Three Lower Counties supported the movement to separate from England. On June 15, 1776, members of Delaware’s Colonial Assembly voted to cut all ties with England. This meant that they also separated from the proprietorship of the Penn family of Pennsylvania. The new colony of Delaware established the city of Dover as its capital. About 4,000 soldiers from Delaware fought in the American War of Independence (1775–1783). The Delaware Regiment was noted for

erned by its proprietor William Penn. He called the three counties (from north to south) New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties. In 1704 the Three Lower Counties became semiautonomous from Pennsylvania. This means the colony was allowed partial self-governance. The port town of New Castle, in the northern part of the colony, served as the new capital. There, four represen- tatives from each county served as members of the Assembly of the Lower Counties. However, any laws they made had to be approved by the Pennsylvania governor. During the 1700s disagreement over the boundary lines between the colony of Maryland, controlled by the Calvert family, and the Pennsylvania colony, governed by the Penn family, led to frequent fighting. The dispute was resolved by surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. Their sur- vey, completed in 1767, included the 83-mile (134 km) western border of today’s Delaware. Around the same time, growing dissatisfaction with British rule led the

Did You Know?

During the Revolutionary War, the Delaware troops fought so well that they were given the nickname “Blue Hen’s Chicken,” after a breed of fight- ing gamecocks known for their feroci- ty. The blue hen is the state bird of Delaware. And it is the mascot for the athletic teams of the University of Delaware, located in Newark.