Delaware is the second smallest state of the United States. Only Rhode Island has a smaller area. And only five states—Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming—have fewer people. Delaware lies close to many of the nation’s largest cities. The Delaware River and networks of canals, highways, and railroads carry goods from Delaware to Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
Delaware lies along the Atlantic coastline. It shares the Delmarva Peninsula with parts of Maryland and Virginia. Most of Delaware lies on a low, flat, coastal plain. Rolling hills and valleys of the Piedmont region cover the northern tip of the state.
Hundreds of thousands of companies are incorporated in Delaware. They include many of the largest U.S. firms. Delaware’s business laws favor corporations. It is easier and less expensive to incorporate in Delaware than in most other states—even for companies that do most of their business outside of Delaware. Several of the nation’s biggest chemical companies have headquarters and research laboratories in or near Wilmington, the state’s largest city. These firms include E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers and marketers. Wilmington is also one of the nation’s leading banking centers. Dover is the capital of Delaware.
Broilers (young, tender chickens) are the leading cash farm product in Delaware. Broiler raising has made Sussex County in the southern part of Delaware one of the nation’s richest farm regions.
In 1609, Henry Hudson, an English explorer sailing for the Netherlands, reached what is now Delaware. In 1610, a ship from the Virginia colony sailed into what is now called Delaware Bay. The captain named the bay De La Warr Bay for Lord De La Warr, the governor of Virginia. Delaware is known as the First State, because on Dec. 7, 1787, it became the first state to ratify (approve) the United States Constitution.
Delaware is the only state in which counties are divided into areas called hundreds. Delaware is also the only state in which the legislature can amend the state Constitution without the approval of the voters.
People
Population.
The 2020 United States census reported that Delaware had 989,948 people. The state’s population had increased about 10 percent over the 2010 census figure, 897,934. According to the 2020 census, Delaware ranks 45th in population among the 50 states.
About three-fourths of Delaware’s people live in metropolitan areas. Nearly three-fifths of the people live in the Wilmington metropolitan division, which is part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The Dover metropolitan area is entirely within the state (see Metropolitan area).
Wilmington is Delaware’s largest city, with a population of 70,898. Dover and Newark are the state’s only other cities with more than 30,000 people. Dover is the state capital. Delaware’s largest population groups include people of English, German, Irish, and Italian descent. About 20 percent of the state’s people are African Americans. Hispanic Americans make up about 10 percent of the population.
Schools.
The Dutch and Swedish colonists who settled the Delaware region in the 1600’s valued education. Most of their early schools were run by churches. The English gained control of the region in the 1660’s and built schools of their own. But many wealthy English sent their children to schools outside the colony. Poorer children were taught in church schools or by their families, friends, or traveling teachers.
Public education began in the Delaware region after the American Revolution (1775-1783). The state legislature established a public school fund in 1792 and a system of public education in 1829. But education remained under local control until the 1920’s.
Today, the State Board of Education makes policies for the public school system. The governor appoints members to the board, subject to state Senate approval. The board’s president has no definite term. The other members serve six-year terms. The Department of Education, headed by the secretary of education, supervises the public school system. The governor appoints the secretary. Children in Delaware must attend school from age 5 to 16. For the number of students and teachers in Delaware, see Education (table: U.S. students, teachers, and school expenditures).
Libraries.
The first library in the region was established in Wilmington in 1754, when Delaware was still a British colony. In 1788, after Delaware became a state, the Library Company of Wilmington was incorporated. It still exists as the Wilmington Public Library.
Today public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries, and special libraries exist throughout the state. The University of Delaware Library houses the highly regarded Unidel History of Chemistry and Unidel History of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture collections. The Delaware Historical Society in Wilmington has an excellent collection of materials on Delaware history.
Museums.
The Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, near Wilmington, has an excellent collection of American decorative arts from the period 1640 to 1860. The Hagley Museum and Library, also near Wilmington, focuses on industrial life of the 1800’s. Exhibits in the museums operated by the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs illustrate the state’s history and culture. The Delaware Public Archives in Dover features historical documents.
The Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington specializes in English paintings of the 1800’s. The Corbit-Sharp House and the Wilson-Warner House in Odessa display American antiques. The Dutch House, built in New Castle in the 1600’s, offers a glimpse into the lives of early Dutch colonists. Other important museums include the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village in Dover and, in Wilmington, the Rockwood Museum, the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science, and the Delaware Contemporary.
Visitor’s guide
Delaware’s many freshwater lakes and ponds, its ocean beaches, and its rivers and streams provide excellent fishing, swimming, and boating. A variety of cultural and historical attractions also bring large numbers of visitors to the state.
One of Delaware’s most popular annual events is the Delaware State Fair. This event is held in Harrington near the end of July.
Land and climate
Land regions.
Delaware has two main land regions. These regions are (1) the Atlantic Coastal Plain and (2) the Piedmont.
The Atlantic Coastal Plain
stretches along the east coast of the United States from New Jersey to southern Florida. The coastal plain covers all of Delaware but the northern tip. This region is a low, flat plain that seldom rises over 80 feet (24 meters) above sea level. Some sections of the coastal plain have good farmland. A 30,000-acre (12,000-hectare) swamp lies along Delaware’s southern boundary.
The Piedmont
extends from New Jersey to Alabama. This region crosses the northern edge of Delaware and is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) wide at its widest point in the state. Rolling hills and fertile valleys cover the Piedmont. The highest point in Delaware, 448 feet (137 meters), is in this region near the northern border of the state.
Coastline
of Delaware measures 381 miles (613 kilometers), including bays, creeks, rivers, and sounds. The state’s Atlantic coastline is 28 miles (45 kilometers) long from Maryland to the mouth of Delaware Bay. A long sand reef forms most of the Atlantic coastline. This dune-covered strip of land is a popular vacation region. An inlet divides the reef near its center, leading into Rehoboth and Indian River bays.
Rivers, bays, and lakes.
The broad Delaware River is the state’s largest and most important river. It links the Atlantic Ocean with the northern part of Delaware and with parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The mouth of the Christina River forms the port of Wilmington. Brandywine Creek is the chief tributary of the Christina River. Other streams that flow into the Delaware River include Appoquinimink Creek and the Smyrna River.
Many streams in southeastern Delaware empty into Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The most important ones include the Broadkill, Indian, Mispillion, Murderkill, and St. Jones rivers. Most of Delaware’s streams flow eastward from a long, low ridge near the western boundary. But most of the rivers in southwestern Delaware flow southward and westward across Maryland and into Chesapeake Bay. The Nanticoke is the most important of these rivers.
Ocean ships sail across Delaware Bay to reach the Delaware River. Rehoboth and Indian River bays lie within the great sand reef in southeastern Delaware. Many of the state’s more than 50 small lakes and ponds have good beaches and provide excellent freshwater fishing.
Plant and animal life.
Forests cover about a third of Delaware. The state’s most common trees include beech, black tupelo, hickory, holly, loblolly pine, oak, shortleaf pine, and sweet gum. Such smaller trees as magnolia, sassafras, wild cherry, and willow are also common in the state. Baldcypress and redcedar trees thrive in the southern swamps.
Many kinds of wildflowers grow in the state. Water lilies and floating hearts dot the ponds and lakes. Pink and white hibiscus flourish in the sea marshes. Magnolias and pink lady’s-slippers bloom in the swamps. In some places, blueberries and cranberries form almost impassable thickets.
Deer, mink, otter, rabbits, and red and gray foxes live in Delaware’s fields and forests. Muskrats are found in the marshes and swamps. Common birds of Delaware include blue herons, cardinals, ducks, hawks, orioles, ruby-throated hummingbirds, sandpipers, snowy egrets, and wrens.
Fishing enthusiasts find bass, carp, catfish, eels, trout, and white perch in the state’s lakes, ponds, and streams. Coastal waters have clams, crabs, menhaden, oysters, sea trout, shad, and striped bass. Some diamondback terrapins live along the coast. Snapping turtles are found in the swamps.
Climate.
Delaware has a humid climate with hot summers and generally mild winters. On hot summer days, Atlantic breezes cool the beaches. In the winter, warmer temperatures along the ocean modify the effect of colder air masses from inland areas. Temperatures away from the coast vary across the state by about 4 °F (2 °C) in summer and 2 °F (1 °C) in winter. Temperatures in the state average 76 °F (24 °C) in July and 35 °F (2 °C) in January. Millsboro had both the highest and lowest temperatures ever recorded in Delaware. On July 21, 1930, the temperature there reached 110 °F (43 °C). On Jan. 17, 1893, the temperature there fell to –17 °F (–27 °C). 
The state averages about 45 inches (114 centimeters) of precipitation (rain, melted snow, and other forms of moisture) a year. Snowfall varies from an annual average of about 18 inches (46 centimeters) in the north to 14 inches (36 centimeters) in the south. The coast receives about 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow a year.
Economy
Delaware’s economy relies more on financial services than most states. Service industries, led by the finance, insurance, and real estate sector, rank as the state’s most important economic activity. The production of chemicals is the leading manufacturing activity.
A state law permits businesses to incorporate in Delaware even if they have nothing but a mailing address in the state. Companies find it easy and inexpensive to incorporate in Delaware. For this reason, many of the largest companies in the United States incorporate in Delaware, even though they may do almost all their business outside the state.
Natural resources
of Delaware include fertile soil and mineral deposits.
Soil.
Most of the state is covered by soils that are generally fertile but somewhat sandy. Some of the rocky hills of the Piedmont in northern Delaware are covered by patches of gravel and coarse, red sand and silt. A mixture of clay and loam soils covers the region just south of the Piedmont.
Minerals.
Delaware has deposits of clays, sand and gravel, and stone. Also found in the state is Brandywine blue granite, a building material once commonly used for decorative purposes. It is also known as blue rock.
Service industries,
taken together, account for about 90 percent of both Delaware’s employment and its gross domestic product—the total value of all goods and services produced in the state in a year. The state’s service industries are concentrated in the Wilmington area.
Finance, insurance, and real estate account for about half of the gross domestic product. Banking has grown rapidly since 1980. In 1981, Delaware’s government created a number of incentives for banks operating in the state. As a result, many large banks moved some of their operations to Delaware. These operations are primarily concerned with the processing of credit card accounts. The Wilmington area is an important national financial center, and several large insurance companies and investment firms are also based there.
State government offices are primarily in Dover, the state capital, and in Wilmington. The federal government operates Dover Air Force Base. Wilmington is the state’s leading health care center and the home to many hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments. Southern Delaware has many resorts along its coastline.
Manufacturing.
Chemicals have long been Delaware’s chief manufactured product. Wilmington is home to the headquarters of DuPont. DuPont has a number of plants in Delaware. Its research center, near Wilmington, is one of the largest in the world. Other important chemical companies also have factories, offices, and research laboratories in Delaware. Pharmaceuticals (medicinal drugs) are one of Delaware’s most important chemical products. 
Food processing is also important to Delaware. Poultry processing is the state’s leading food processing activity. Sussex County has several poultry plants. A large plant in Dover makes gelatin, pudding, and other prepared desserts.
Fabricated metal products are primarily produced in the Wilmington area. Delaware’s other manufactures include laboratory instruments, medical equipment, and plastic products.
Agriculture.
Farmland covers about two-fifths of Delaware’s land area. Livestock products account for about three-fourths of the state’s farm income. Broilers (young, tender chickens) are the state’s most valuable farm product by far. Delaware ranks as an important state for the production of broilers. Over half of the broilers come from Sussex County. Farms in Kent and Sussex counties raise most of the state’s beef and dairy cattle and hogs.
Crops provide about a fourth of Delaware’s farm income. Corn, greenhouse and nursery products, soybeans, and wheat are the state’s leading crops. Sussex County is the leading producer of both corn and soybeans. The state’s farmers also grow barley and hay. The state’s leading vegetable crops include cucumbers, lima beans, potatoes, sweet corn, and tomatoes. Watermelons are the state’s leading fruit crop.
Mining.
Delaware ranks last among the states in the value of mineral production. Crushed stone, magnesium, and sand and gravel provide nearly all mining income. A plant near Lewes processes seawater to obtain magnesium. All of the state’s counties produce sand and gravel.
Fishing industry.
Crabs are Delaware’s most valuable fishing catch. Workers in the industry also bring in bass, clams, eels, finfish, oysters, perch, and whelk.
Electric power and utilities.
Natural gas-burning plants generate most of Delaware’s electric power. Plants that burn coal provide much of the rest.
Transportation.
The Delaware River and its tributaries formed the first transportation system in the Delaware region. The state’s first railroad, the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, was completed in 1831. Delaware’s modern highway system began in 1911, when Thomas Coleman du Pont built a paved highway between Wilmington and the Maryland border.
Wilmington is Delaware’s chief port for international shipping. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal crosses northern Delaware. The Lewes and Rehoboth Canal connects Lewes with Rehoboth Bay.
Delaware has an extensive system of roads and highways. The Delaware Memorial Bridge connects northern Delaware with New Jersey. The Delaware Turnpike John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway links northern Delaware and northeastern Maryland. State Route 1, completed in 2003, is a toll highway that provides a direct link between Dover and Interstate 95 in northern Delaware. The Cape May-Lewes Ferry crosses Delaware Bay and connects southern Delaware with New Jersey.
Communication.
The Delaware Gazette was the first successful newspaper published in the Delaware region. Jacob A. Killen began publishing it in Wilmington in 1785. Today, Dover’s Delaware State News and The News Journal of Wilmington are the state’s dailies.
Government
Constitution
of Delaware dates from 1897. Earlier constitutions were adopted in 1776, 1792, and 1831. An amendment (change) to the Constitution may be proposed by the state legislature or by a constitutional convention. Legislative amendments must be approved by two-thirds of the members of both houses of the legislature. They must then be approved in a similar manner after the next legislature is elected. Delaware is the only state in which legislative amendments do not need approval by the voters. Before a constitutional convention can meet, it must be approved by two-thirds of both houses of two successive legislatures. Then it must be approved by a majority of the people who vote on it.
Executive.
Delaware’s governor serves a four-year term and may be reelected only once. These terms may be served in succession. The lieutenant governor, the attorney general, and the insurance commissioner are each elected to four-year terms. The state treasurer and the auditor of accounts are also elected to four-year terms. The governor appoints a number of major state officials, including the secretary of state, members of an executive department cabinet, judges, members of the State Board of Education, and the secretary of education.
Legislature
is called the General Assembly. It consists of a 21-member Senate and a 41-member House of Representatives. State senators are elected to four-year terms, and representatives to two-year terms. Regular legislative sessions begin on the second Tuesday in January each year. Regular sessions may not extend beyond June 30. The governor or the presiding officers of both houses may call for special sessions. Special sessions have no time limit. 
In 1897, when Delaware’s current Constitution was adopted, the state was shifting toward an industrial economy. It tried to protect farmers by giving them greater representation than city areas in the legislature. In 1964, Delaware changed its legislative districts to give better representation to the state’s city areas. But in 1967, a federal court ruled that the change did not give enough representation to city areas. Delaware redrew its legislative districts in 1968. The state also redrew the districts in later years, following federal censuses.
Courts.
All Delaware judges are appointed by the governor, with the approval of the state Senate. The highest court is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four justices. The governor selects the chief justice.
The Superior Court, the state’s court of general jurisdiction, meets in all three counties of the state. Delaware’s Court of Chancery has played a major role in developing the state’s corporation laws. Other Delaware courts include family courts and common pleas courts in each county and justice-of-the-peace courts. Justices of the peace serve four-year terms. They may be reappointed to six-year terms. All other judges serve 12-year terms.
Local government.
Delaware has only three counties—Kent, New Castle, and Sussex. The county of New Castle is governed by a 13-member council headed by an elected president. New Castle also has an elected county executive. Sussex County has a five-member council, with one councilman serving as president. An elected county commission called the Levy Court governs Kent County. The Levy Court is made up of seven members. All members of the county governing bodies serve four-year terms. Other elected county officials in Delaware include a comptroller, sheriff, and recorder of deeds. Delaware is the only state in which counties are divided into hundreds. A hundred has no government of its own, but it serves as a basis for property and zoning location.
A state law permits Delaware municipalities of 1,000 or more people to have home rule (self-government) to the extent that they may amend their own charters. Most Delaware cities and towns have either a mayor-council or a council-manager form of government.
Revenue.
Taxation provides about two-fifths of Delaware’s general revenue. Much of the rest comes from the federal government. Top sources of revenue produced within the state include a personal income tax, fees for corporation licenses, abandoned property (assets such as bank accounts and stock certificates that belong to people who cannot be found), lottery games, and taxes on business income. Delaware has no general sales tax.
Politics.
Republicans held the state’s governorship during most of the first half of the 1900’s. The office passed back and forth between Republicans and Democrats in the latter half of the century. During the 1990’s, however, the state became more reliably Democratic.
For much of the 1900’s, Delaware was considered a political bellwether—that is, a leading indicator of political trends. From 1952 to 1996, it voted for every presidential winner. Since 2000, however, the state has voted Democratic more often than the rest of the nation (see Electoral College).
History
Early days.
Two tribes of Indigenous (native) Algonquian people lived in the Delaware region when European explorers first arrived. The Lenape tribe, which became known as the Delaware, lived along the banks of the Delaware River. The Nanticoke lived along the Nanticoke River in the southwestern part of the region. By the mid-1700’s, white settlers had forced most Indigenous people out of the region.
Exploration and early settlement.
Henry Hudson, an English explorer, was probably the first European person to visit the Delaware region. He sailed into present-day Delaware Bay in 1609. Hudson was trying to find a trade route to the Far East for the Dutch East India Company. Seeing that the bay led to a river, Hudson left the region and sailed northward. In 1610, Captain Samuel Argall of the Virginia colony sailed into the bay, seeking shelter from a storm. Argall named the bay De La Warr Bay, for Lord De La Warr, the governor of Virginia. The Dutch attempted to establish the first settlement in the region at Zwaanendael (present-day Lewes) in 1631. But trouble developed between the Dutch settlers and the Indigenous inhabitants. Within a year, Indigenous warriors killed the settlers and burned their fort.
Swedish settlers came to the Delaware region in 1638. They founded the colony of New Sweden, the first permanent colony in the region. Their first settlement was Fort Christina, located at present-day Wilmington. New settlers came to New Sweden from Sweden and Finland, and they expanded the colony northward. 
The Dutch government believed that New Sweden was in Dutch territory. In 1651, Peter Stuyvesant, governor of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, established Fort Casimir at present-day New Castle. The Swedish colonists captured Fort Casimir in 1654. But the following year, the Dutch captured all New Sweden and made it part of New Netherland.
English rule.
In 1664, England captured all New Netherland, including the Delaware region. The English ruled the Delaware settlements as part of the colony of New York. The Dutch recaptured the region in 1673 but returned it peacefully to the English the following year.
In 1681, the English king granted William Penn a charter giving him the right to establish the colony of Pennsylvania. Penn wanted to provide his colony with access to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1682, the Duke of York gave the Delaware region to Penn as a territory of his colony. That same year, Penn established representative government for both the colony and the territory. Both the Pennsylvania and Delaware regions had the same number of delegates in Pennsylvania’s legislature.
The Delaware region became known as the Three Lower Counties because it was down the Delaware River from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania continued to grow in the late 1600’s and added new counties. Colonists in the Three Lower Counties began to fear that they would soon have a minority voice in the government. In 1701, delegates from the Three Lower Counties refused to meet with those from Pennsylvania. They asked Penn to give them a separate legislature, and Penn consented. The first separate legislature of the Three Lower Counties met in 1704. Pennsylvania governors continued to govern the Three Lower Counties until the Revolutionary War in America.
The Revolutionary War in America.
The United Kingdom imposed unpopular taxes on the American Colonies during the 1760’s. Colonists in the Three Lower Counties resented these taxes. They sent delegates to Philadelphia to attend the First Continental Congress in 1774.
The American Revolution began in 1775. On July 2, 1776, the Three Lower Counties joined other American Colonies in voting for independence at the Second Continental Congress. Later that year, the region became the Delaware State, and its people adopted their first constitution. In 1777, John McKinly won election as Delaware’s first president (governor). New Castle served as the capital.
Delaware soldiers fought throughout the Revolutionary War. Only one small battle took place on Delaware soil. In August 1777, British troops landed in Maryland and marched across Delaware toward Philadelphia. American troops met the British at Coochs Bridge near Newark on Sept. 3, 1777. The outnumbered Americans retreated, and the British went on to Pennsylvania. There they defeated General George Washington’s forces in the Battle of Brandywine, just north of the Delaware border, on September 11. On September 12, the British occupied Wilmington. Delaware moved its capital from New Castle because of the closeness of British troops. The legislature met at several sites before making Dover the capital. The British stayed for about a month in Wilmington, where they treated their wounded. Then they moved on.
Statehood.
On Feb. 22, 1779, Delaware signed the Articles of Confederation (the forerunner to the U.S. Constitution). But leaders from Delaware and other colonies were dissatisfied with the Articles of Confederation. They urged the adoption of a stronger body of rules. John Dickinson and George Read of Delaware helped draft a constitution. On Dec. 7, 1787, Delaware voted unanimously to ratify (approve) the United States Constitution. It was the first state to do so. In 1792, Delaware adopted a new state constitution and changed its name from the Delaware State to the State of Delaware.
During and after the American Revolution, the Wilmington area became the center of the nation’s flour-milling industry. In 1802, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, a French immigrant, established a powder mill on Brandywine Creek near Wilmington. This mill was the beginning of Delaware’s great chemical industry.
During the War of 1812 (1812-1815), British ships stopped carrying goods to the United States. As a result, new industries sprang up in Delaware and in other states to provide needed goods. British ships bombarded Lewes in 1813, but they caused little damage.
The American Civil War and industrial expansion.
Delaware was a slave state, but it also was one of the original 13 states of the Union. Because of Delaware’s location between the North and the Deep South, Delawareans had strong ties with both the Union and the Confederate states. The state fought on the Union side during the American Civil War (1861-1865). But many Delawareans felt that the Confederate States should have been allowed to secede (withdraw) peacefully from the Union.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing enslaved people in all areas of the Confederate States still in rebellion. But the Emancipation Proclamation did not affect slave states that had remained loyal to the Union. The few enslaved people left in Delaware were not freed until 1865. That year, Amendment 13 to the U.S. Constitution abolished all slavery in the United States.
Delaware’s farms and industries prospered during and after the Civil War. The growth of railroads in the 1850’s helped farmers move their crops to market. As a result, the value of farmland in southern Delaware increased. During the late 1800’s, Wilmington grew rapidly as an industrial city. Thousands of people worked in the city’s shipyards, iron foundries, machine shops, and manufacturing plants. Delaware’s present constitution was adopted in 1897.
The early 1900’s
brought improvements in education, public welfare, and roadbuilding in Delaware. By 1920, the legislature had established an industrial accident board, a state board of charities, and a state highway department. The legislature also set up a state income tax, and a pension system to help mothers of needy children. In the 1920’s, Pierre S. du Pont gave several million dollars to build new schools and to aid public education in the state. Du Pont also served as state tax commissioner.
The Great Depression of the 1930’s put thousands of Delawareans out of work. Richard C. McMullen was elected governor in 1936. He was the state’s first Democratic governor since 1901. In 1941, the state legislature changed its Sunday blue laws, placing fewer restrictions on Sunday activities (see Blue laws).
The mid-1900’s.
During World War II (1939-1945), many Delaware factories, mills, and shipyards produced materials for the armed services. The state’s economy grew rapidly in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The Delaware Memorial Bridge across the Delaware River opened in 1951, connecting Delaware with New Jersey. New industries came into Delaware, including operations of such giant corporations as Chrysler, General Foods, and General Motors. Many other companies expanded their facilities, and the DuPont Company became Delaware’s largest employer. DuPont remained the state’s largest employer until the late 1900’s.
Delaware’s population increased about 40 percent during the 1950’s and rose another 20 percent in the 1960’s. This growth took place chiefly in cities and suburbs. However, the state constitution, adopted in 1897, favored representation of rural areas in the state legislature. By the 1960’s, a minority of the voters was electing a majority of the legislators. Delaware’s legislative districts were redrawn in 1964 and 1968 in an attempt to give the voters equal representation.
Like many other states, Delaware faced racial problems in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Civil rights groups challenged the state’s system of separate schools for white and Black children. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that compulsory segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. By the mid-1960’s, all of Delaware’s public school districts were desegregated. In 1963, the state legislature passed a bill banning segregation in public eating and drinking places. In 1969, the legislature approved a bill ending discrimination in the rental or sale of housing in Delaware.
A new state agency, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, was set up in 1969 to promote conservation and to control air and water pollution in Delaware. In 1971, the Delaware legislature passed the Coastal Zone Act. This legislation banned construction of industrial plants along the Delaware coastline.
The late 1900’s.
In 1980, the state adopted a constitutional limit that restricted government spending to 95 percent of the government’s expected revenue. The government’s unspent revenue helped improve the state’s financial base.
In 1981, the General Assembly passed the Financial Center Development Act, which removed some restrictions on banks operating in the state. The legislation eliminated limits on the amount of interest a bank can charge its customers. As a result, many large banks moved some of their operations to the state, including the processing of credit card accounts. These operations created new jobs and sources of revenue for Delaware.
The early 2000’s.
Ruth Ann Minner served two terms as Delaware’s governor, from 2001 to 2009. She was the first woman to be elected to the office. Joe Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware, served as vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Biden won election as president in 2020.
