Spring Break - Dover, Delaware

On Thursday (March 3) we decided to do a road trip to the capital of Delaware: Dover. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive. We first went to John Dickinson's plantation: a home of one of the Founding Fathers who was one of the chief draftsmen of the Articles of Confederation and a signer of the Constitution. He played an instrumental role in the so called Great Compromise, ensuring that all the States would have equal representation in the Senate. I say "a home" because his wife preferred to live closer to her family in Philadelphia, so they had another home in Wilmington (which happened and still happens to be the biggest city in Delaware). We also learned that he was a devout Quaker, that he studied law in England, and that he did not sign the Declaration of Independence because, like James Madison, he held a more conservative approach towards England until he knew that reform was not to be (he was very patriotic, however; he even served--even as a Quaker--in the militia for a brief time to obtain Independence).

John Dickinson's home in Dover.

(They really used those colors back then for the doors and windows. We learned that they used bright colors in their homes because it showed up in the candlelight better as well as showed wealth/distinction.)

We then went to the capitol building in Dover. It was very small!

(I guess we shouldn't have been surprised. Delaware is a small state!)

Here is a picture of the older/original capitol building located in front of the capitol building used today.

Here is the courtroom that they used. The spear looking sticks on the corner of the accused box were there so that people walking by could just take a quick look inside to see the outcome of the trial. It had red on one side and white on the other. Red meant guilty, white meant innocent.

While fixing up the old capitol building, legislators met at the Golden Fleece Tavern located on the corner of the street. This is where they voted to ratify the US Constitution and the Bill of rights, making Delaware the "first state" of the US.

We of course, got a Delaware spoon while we were there!