People

Author of "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" (1767–68), one of the most influential pre-Revolutionary texts. A Delaware landowner who initially resisted independence but served the Patriot cause after the Declaration. Chaired the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation.

Delaware lawyer who served as President (Governor) of Delaware 1783–1786, overseeing the state's transition from war footing to peacetime governance. Member of the Continental Congress and instrumental in organizing Delaware's ratification of the Constitution.

Delaware statesman who rode fifty miles overnight through a thunderstorm to cast the deciding vote for independence on July 2, 1776. Served as President of Delaware 1778–1781, organizing the state's war effort from Dover despite worsening facial cancer that would kill him in 1784.

Delaware lawyer who initially voted against independence but signed the Declaration when finalized. Principal drafter of Delaware's 1776 state constitution and leading delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Present at Dover's ratification convention.

Delaware lawyer who cast one of the two pro-independence Delaware votes on July 2, 1776. Summoned Rodney to break the deadlock. Later served as President of Delaware and Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.

Irish-born physician who organized the First Delaware Regiment — the "Delaware Blues" — in 1776. Led them through Long Island and Trenton. Killed at Princeton on January 3, 1777. Washington called the Delaware regiment one of the finest in the Continental Army.

Dover-area lawyer and planter, Delaware delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and one of Delaware's first U.S. Senators. Active in Dover's ratification convention of December 1787. A devout Methodist associated with Francis Asbury's circuit-riding ministry.

Kent County militia officer who organized Delaware's irregular forces during the war and managed Loyalist activity in central Delaware. Served as a crucial link between Dover's civil government and military operations in the field.