Delaware as a separate colony (1704)
In 1704, the Lower Counties of Delaware established a separate legislative assembly, marking a decisive turning point in the region's political development and setting it on a course toward eventual independence from Pennsylvania. This moment represented the culmination of years of tension between the Delaware settlements and their governing authorities in Philadelphia, and it fundamentally reshaped the political landscape of the mid-Atlantic colonies. The creation of a distinct governing body for Delaware did not immediately sever ties with Pennsylvania — the two regions would continue to share a royal governor for decades — but it established the institutional foundation upon which a fully independent Delaware would later be built. The history of Delaware as a political entity stretches back to the earliest decades of European colonization in North America, but it was the assembly of 1704 that gave the Lower Counties their first genuine measure of self-governance.[1]
Background: Delaware Under Pennsylvania Governance
To understand the significance of 1704, it is necessary to examine the circumstances that preceded it. The territory that would become Delaware had passed through the hands of several European powers before coming under English control. Dutch traders and settlers had established a presence along the Delaware River in the early seventeenth century, and Swedish colonists followed with their own settlements, creating what became known as New Sweden. English forces eventually displaced these earlier colonial ventures, and the region was subsequently absorbed into the broader framework of English colonial administration.
When William Penn received his charter for Pennsylvania in 1681, the lands along the western shore of the Delaware Bay — often referred to as the Lower Counties — were attached to his proprietorship. Penn valued these territories in part because they offered access to the sea and a navigable route for trade and communication. The Lower Counties, which encompassed the areas that would eventually form the three counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, were thus brought under the same governing framework as the larger Pennsylvania colony to the north.[2]
This arrangement was not without friction from the outset. The inhabitants of the Lower Counties had distinct interests, different demographic compositions, and a sense of regional identity that set them apart from the Quaker-dominated communities of Pennsylvania proper. The Lower Counties included a mixture of English, Dutch, Swedish, and Finnish settlers whose religious and cultural backgrounds differed considerably from the Friends who exerted such strong influence in Philadelphia and the surrounding Pennsylvania counties. These differences in population and outlook contributed to ongoing tensions over representation, taxation, and governance.
Tensions Leading to Separation
Under Penn's governance, the Lower Counties were initially represented in a joint assembly alongside Pennsylvania representatives. However, this arrangement proved contentious. The Delaware settlers frequently felt that their interests were subordinated to those of the more populous Pennsylvania counties, and disputes over the allocation of political representation were a recurring source of conflict. The Lower Counties sought greater autonomy and pushed back against governance structures they perceived as favoring Pennsylvania's established communities.[3]
Penn himself was aware of these tensions. He spent relatively little time in his American territories and governed them largely through appointed deputies and councils. During his absence, the frictions between the Lower Counties and Pennsylvania were difficult to manage, and local leaders in Delaware increasingly articulated a desire for separate legislative institutions. The question was not merely one of convenience but of political identity: the residents of the Lower Counties regarded themselves as a distinct community with governance needs that a shared assembly could not adequately address.
Additionally, Pennsylvania's Quaker-majority assembly approached questions of defense, taxation, and local administration in ways that sometimes clashed with the priorities of Lower County residents. The Lower Counties, situated closer to potential maritime threats and home to settlers with different religious convictions, had different views on issues such as military preparedness and the relationship between civic duty and religious belief. These divergences made the case for separate governance increasingly compelling.
The Assembly of 1704
The resolution of these long-standing tensions came in 1704, when the Lower Counties of Delaware were permitted to establish their own legislative assembly, separate from that of Pennsylvania.[4] This development was a direct product of the accumulated pressures described above, and it represented a formal acknowledgment that the two regions required distinct governmental institutions.
The new assembly gave Delaware's colonists the ability to legislate on local matters without having to secure the cooperation or agreement of Pennsylvania's representatives. While the Lower Counties and Pennsylvania continued to share the same royal governor — an arrangement that persisted well into the eighteenth century — the creation of a separate assembly meant that Delaware's legislators could address the specific concerns of their constituents without being outvoted or overshadowed by the larger Pennsylvania contingent.
This was a meaningful shift in the practical operation of colonial governance. The assembly served as the primary legislative body for the Lower Counties, and its establishment meant that Delaware had, in functional terms, begun operating as a distinct political unit. The three counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex each sent representatives to this new body, and together they formed a legislature that was accountable to Delaware's residents rather than to a broader colonial constituency that did not share their particular interests and circumstances.[5]
Governance Structure After 1704
The separation of Delaware's assembly from Pennsylvania's did not create a fully independent colony in the modern sense. The Lower Counties remained formally linked to Pennsylvania through the shared governorship, and Delaware did not have its own distinct royal charter. The proprietor of Pennsylvania effectively retained a degree of authority over Delaware's executive functions even as the legislative branch operated independently.
This hybrid arrangement had practical implications for how Delaware was governed. The governor appointed to oversee Pennsylvania also exercised executive authority over Delaware, which meant that the two colonies were not entirely separate in their administration. However, the existence of a distinct assembly ensured that Delaware's legislators had meaningful control over local lawmaking, revenue measures, and many of the day-to-day matters that most directly affected colonial life.
The three counties that comprised Delaware each played a role in the new assembly, and the representatives who gathered in that body were drawn from the communities of farmers, merchants, and tradespeople who made up the colonial Delaware population. The assembly provided a venue for these representatives to articulate local concerns, pass measures addressing local conditions, and develop the habits and institutions of self-governance that would prove essential in later decades.[6]
Significance in Delaware's Political History
The establishment of a separate assembly in 1704 occupies a foundational place in the political history of Delaware. The history of Delaware as a political entity dates back to the early colonization of North America by European settlers, and the events of 1704 represent among the most structurally significant moments in that long arc of development. By acquiring its own legislature, Delaware began the process of building the institutional identity that would eventually make full independence both conceivable and achievable.
When the American Revolution created the conditions for the colonies to break from British rule, Delaware was able to draw on more than seven decades of experience with a separate legislative assembly. The colony's representatives had spent those years developing the procedures, the political culture, and the sense of collective identity that enabled Delaware to function as an independent polity. The assembly of 1704, in this sense, was not merely a colonial administrative arrangement but a formative institution that shaped the character of Delaware's political life.[7]
Delaware would eventually become the first state to ratify the United States Constitution in 1787, an act that earned it the informal designation "The First State." The capacity of Delaware's political leadership to act swiftly and decisively in that moment owed something to the deep roots of self-governance that stretched back to the assembly established in 1704.
Legacy
The legacy of the 1704 assembly is visible in several dimensions of Delaware's subsequent history. Most directly, it established the precedent that Delaware's legislative affairs would be managed by Delaware's own representatives rather than subsumed within a larger colonial framework. This precedent proved durable: once established, the principle of a separate Delaware assembly was never seriously challenged or reversed, and it remained the foundation of local governance until the Revolution transformed the colonies into independent states.
Beyond the purely institutional dimension, the assembly of 1704 contributed to the development of a coherent Delaware political identity. The residents of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex counties came to see themselves as participants in a shared political enterprise, one whose boundaries corresponded to the geographic and cultural contours of the Lower Counties rather than to the broader Pennsylvania colony. This sense of a distinct political community was essential to Delaware's eventual decision to seek independence as a separate state rather than remaining attached to Pennsylvania.[8]
The year 1704 thus stands as a landmark in Delaware's political development — the moment when the Lower Counties moved from being a subordinate appendage of Pennsylvania to being a self-governing community with its own legislative voice. The assembly that began meeting in that year was modest in scope compared to the institutions that would follow, but its creation was a necessary step in the longer journey toward statehood and full political independence.