Delaware: The Breadbasket Colony

Delaware, also known as the “breadbasket colony” for its mass production of wheat, was founded in 1636 by Peter Minuit and the New Sweden Company. Named after the Delaware River, whose roots derived from Sir Thomas West, Virginia Company’s first governor, the colony of Delaware was originally named New Sweden as an unsuccessful attempt by the Swedes to found a brand new colony in the New World. From the very start of its colonization, New Sweden was lacking manpower in a mere 10 years, but slowly developed into an agricultural hotspot. A multitude of natural resources such as timber, furs, coal, and iron ore, which were usually exported back to England for a trade, were plentiful in the colony and an important aspect of the Delaware economy.

Unlike the other two popular systems of government during the time, the Charter Colonies in which charters were granted to the colonists instead of the proprietors, and the Royal colonies which were directly ruled under English monarchy, the Proprietary Colonies stood somewhere in between. The Proprietary Colonies were originally founded in order to repay certain debts and favors and give leadership to those who were most trustworthy. Other Proprietary Colonies include colonial New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Carolinas. Proprietors, the governors of the lands, were given immense powers in order to create profitable enterprises in their given land. Some of these powers include the establishment of churches, towns, ports, and other public buildings, the creation of courts and laws, the ability to collect yearly land fees from those who had settled and purchased land in the colony, and much

The settlers of Delaware immediately turned to Native American slaves in order to secure their stability with such a low population, though this strife was proven to be inefficient after the realization that disease and westward migration had already deserted the many regions of native tribes. The first black slave brought to the colony was named Anthony, who had been brought from the West Indies in 1639. However, African American slavery was not too widespread in Delaware until the Dutch overtook the land and immediately began shipping slaves over the Atlantic to graze Delaware. Only a decade before the revolution, 20 - 25% of the entire population of Delaware was enslaved after the rigorous tobacco and corn economy expanded. However, the use of slaves quickly became ineffective after the American Revolution disrupted the economy and a state law banned the sale of slaves to other specific colonies. Soon, the boom of cash crops such as wheat, which was non-strenuous and required significantly less slave labor, was brought to the table. Delaware was renowned to have the largest free black population by the mid