This is the start of a column that will look at the history of all 50 States,
all 5 territories, and the Capital and the influence history has on our
current political environments. The aim of this column is to capture that
our country is not just red or blue, but rather many shades in between.
Each Lower 48 state’s current political landscape can be traced back to
its early settlement and geography and its particular involvement in the
Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, and the Civil Rights Era.
Although not one of the largest or most politically prominent states, Delaware possesses a unique set of characteristics that easily renders itself as one-of-a-kind.
Early Formation
Nestled in the mid-Atlantic is one of the most unique, yet often forgotten, states – Delaware, the first to ratify the Constitution. Colonized initially by the Swedish, and then forcibly taken by the English, Delaware’s three counties ended up partly controlled by William Penn, for whom the state of Pennsylvania was named. It was here that Delaware inherited many Pennsylvanian values, much of which were imparted by the sizable Quaker population that led Delaware to adopt views that would become staunchly Northern views, like abolition of slavery.
Civil War
The Civil War put Delaware in an interesting spot. While technically a Southern state with some active slavery, it still had intrinsically Northern values. Half the state’s black population was freed by 1810, and nearly all were freed by 1860. The famous Mason-Dixon line was drawn to separate free states and slave states, as the entire western border of Delaware with Maryland was being used as a crucial demarcation. Fort Delaware served as a control point in the Civil War, mainly as a harsh prison for Confederate soldiers.
Despite Delaware’s unique hybrid of North-South politics, the state still bucked the trends of the Reconstruction Era, voting repeatedly against the ratifications of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. These actions proved futile as other states had already ratified the amendments.
After Republican fallout in the South after the controversial 1876 Election – in which Rutherford B. Hayes (R-OH) was offered the Presidency in exchange for Northern troops to be removed from the South – Delaware, like other Southern states, returned to disenfranchising blacks and poor whites, via Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, and other forms of racial segregation.
Geography
Delaware can easily be defined by its three counties, the least of any other state.
Sussex County – The southernmost county, mostly agrarian, home to the remainder of the slave population.
Kent County – A mixture of rural and suburban areas, home to the capital Dover, the only swing county. New Castle County – The northernmost county, homed to the state’s largest city Wilmington, solidly Democratic.
Delaware’s position on the I-95 corridor allowed Wilmington to be a strong satellite city of Philadelphia, a refuge point for migrants out of the South during the Great Migration.
Post-Industrial Revolution to Civil Rights
While Delaware is still a strong Eastern agricultural state, its development has led to it being the financial capital of the country. 65% of all Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. Finance and insurance, real estate, and manufacturing are also strong contenders for the modern economy. Senator William Roth (R-DE) was a lifelong Delaware politician, for whom the lucrative Roth IRA is named.
Delaware was mostly a red state during the 20th Century, voting Democrat just seven times from 1900-1988. It flipped between the parties during the 1940s and would vote for Johnson in his 1964 landslide, prompted by the Civil Rights Act, as well as fellow Southerner Jimmy Carter in 1976.
In the 1992 watershed election, Bill Clinton (D-AR) redefined the electoral map, putting up a “blue wall” that continues to be a blockade to Republicans. Delaware and its three electoral votes have been part of that coalition ever since.
Donald Trump (R-NY) only trailed Hillary Clinton (D-NY) by just 11.5% in 2016, compared to whopping 25- and 18-point margins for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, respectively. While Joe Biden – the first and only President from Delaware – brought the state back to the left, there is a question of whether Republicans can seriously target Delaware in the long run. The financial center and Trump’s specific brand of economic populism clearly resonated with voters when the state wasn’t even on the radar. It will take more inroads with minority communities to crack Wilmington, but that might be a long way off. Delaware’s paltry three electoral votes makes campaigning there a medium-sized risk with not much reward.
