9781422286128

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Mid-Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland

Caesar Rodney (1728–1784) is best known for making an overnight ride of 70 miles (110 km) from Dover to the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, where he cast the deciding vote on July 2 that authorized the Declaration of Independence.

gled to establish a working govern- ment. Throughout the summer of 1787 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia worked to develop an acceptable framework. That September they signed the new U.S. Constitution, which required rat- ification by 9 of the 13 states. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution. The 1800s saw the growth of agri- culture in Delaware, with tobacco as an important crop. Rivers and streams powered numerous mills —buildings with machines that grind grains to make flour. Mills also were used in the manu- facture of gunpowder. In 1802 E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company was founded when É leuthère Irénée duPont de Nemours built gunpowder mills along the Brandywine River near

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and uni- formed. Their short blue jackets,

lined with red, white waistcoat, and buckskin breeches later became the standard uniform for all the Continental troops. The only Revolutionary War battle on Delaware soil was the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, fought on September 3, 1777, near today’s city of Newark. The newly created flag of the United States is said to have first flown in bat- tle during the clash, which the British won. After the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, the British occupied the city of Wilmington for several months. After achieving independence from England in 1783, the colonies strug-