Editing Delaware Colony (section)

== New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties, Pennsylvania ==

The area now known as Delaware was owned by William Penn, the Quaker owner of Pennsylvania. In contemporary documents from the early [[American Revolution|Revolutionary]] period, the area is generally referred to as "The Three Lower Counties on the Delaware River" (''Lower Counties on Delaware'') or by the names of [[List of counties in Delaware|the three counties]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rodney |first1=Richard S |title=Early Relations of Delaware and Pennsylvania |url=https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |website=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania |access-date=November 16, 2019 |page=209 |date=June 1930 |archive-date=November 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116164633/https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After William Penn was granted the [[province of Pennsylvania]] by [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]] in 1681, he asked for and later received the lands of Delaware from the Duke of York.<ref name="brief"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Rodney |first1=Richard S |title=Early Relations of Delaware and Pennsylvania |url=https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |website=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania |access-date=November 16, 2019 |pages=211–214 |date=June 1930 |archive-date=November 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116164633/https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/view/28200 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Penn had a very hard time governing Delaware because the economy and geology resembled those of the Chesapeake Bay colonies more than that of Pennsylvania. The lowland areas were developed for tobacco plantations and dependent on enslaved Africans and African Americans for labor. Penn attempted to merge the governments of Pennsylvania and the lower counties of Delaware. Representatives from each area clashed strongly and, in 1701 Penn agreed to allow two assemblies to be elected and conduct their separate affairs. Delawareans would meet in New Castle, and Pennsylvanians would gather in Philadelphia.<ref name="encyclopedia"/> Delaware, like Philadelphia and more so than Maryland, continued to be a melting pot of sorts. It was home to Swedes, Finns, Dutch, and French, in addition to the English, who constituted the dominant culture.