> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lowell G. McManus [mailto:mcmanus71496@...]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 4:02 PM
> To: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Re: river condo authority joins denj
> follies
>
>
>
> Kevin Flynn asked:
>
> > What was the Duke of York's purpose, when conveying the
> Three Lower Counties
> > (Delaware) to Penn, in insisting that Penn's Pennsylvania
> not come within a
> > 12-mile radius of New Castle? I never quite understood the
> purpose since
> > Penn was to exercise authority over both. Were the
> inhabitants of what was
> > to become Delaware dela-wary (haha) of being ruled by Quakers?
>
> In 1651, Peter Stuyvesant established Fort Casimir (now New
> Castle) for the
> Dutch West India Company. In 1664, the Duke of York received
> the lands lost by
> the Dutch, lying now in New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
> In 1681, Charles II
> granted Pennsylvania to William Penn, describing it such that
> "twelve miles
> distance Northwards of New Castle Towne" would remain in the
> possession of the
> Duke. In 1682, Penn, needing an outlet to the sea via the
> Delaware River,
> bargained with the Duke for the land now comprising Delaware,
> which became the
> "Lower Counties" of Pennsylvania. The Delaware people,
> however, were indeed
> wary of Quaker rule, felt overshadowed by Philadelphia, and
> felt under-protected
> from both pirates and Lord Baltimore. In 1701, Penn granted
> a charter for a
> separate government for the Lower Counties, and its assembly
> first met in 1704
> to make its laws. The "Government of the counties of New
> Castle, Kent, and
> Sussex, upon Delaware" still reported to the Pennsylvania
> governor, but not to
> the Pennsylvania assembly. Only in 1776 did Delaware cut the
> cord when its
> people adopted a revolutionary constitution for "Delaware State."
>
> Lowell G. McManus
> Leesville, Louisiana, USA
Hmmmm. If the Duke established that Penn's boundary was to be "twelve miles
distance Northwards of New Castle Towne," then what is the basis for
broadening that DEPA line around in an arc to affect NJ at all? The Duke
didn't also say "12 miles southward as well," did he? I do recall reading
something once from the DE archives that extended DE sovereignty to the left
bank or Jersey shoreline, but don't remember the logical basis for it.