CH. XIII.] DELAWARE. 115
CHAPTER XIII.
DELAWARE.
§. AFTER Penn had become proprietary of Pennsylvania, he purchased of the Duke of York, in 1682, all his right and interest in the territory, afterwards called the Three Lower Counties of Delaware, extending from the south boundary of the Province, and situated on the western side of the river and bay of Delaware to Cape Henlopen, beyond or south of Lewistown; and the three counties took the names of NewCastle, Kent, and Sussex.1 At this time they were inhabited principally by Dutch and Swedes; and seem to have constituted an appendage to the government of New-York.2
§ 127. In the same year, with the consent of the
people, an act of union with the province of Pennsylvania was
passed, and an act of settlement of the frame of government in a
general assembly, composed of deputies from the counties of
Delaware and Pennsylvania.3 By this act the three
counties were, under the name of the territories, annexed to the
province; and were to be represented in the General Assembly,
governed by the same laws, and to enjoy the same privileges as
the inhabitants of Pennsylvania.4 Difficulties
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1. 1 Proud. Penn. 201, 202; 1 Chalm. Annals,
643; 2 Doug. Summ. 297, &c.
2. 1 Chalm. Annals, 631, 632, 633, 634, 643; I Holmes's Annals,
295, 404; I Pitk. Hist. 21, 26, 27; 2 Doug Summ. 2 .
3. 1 Proud. Penn. 206; 1 Holmes's Annals, 404; I Chalm. Annals,
645, 646. 4 1 Chalm. Annals, 646; 1 Dall. Penn. Laws, App. 24,
26; 2 Colden's Five Nations, App.
116 HISTORY OF THE COLONIES. [BOOK I.
soon afterwards arose between the deputies of the Province and
those of the Territories; and after various subordinate
arrangements, a final separation took place between them, with
the consent of the proprietary, in 1703. From that period down to
the American Revolution, the territories were governed by a
separate legislature of their own, pursuant to the liberty
reserved to them by a clause in the original charter or frame of
government.1 ___________________________________
1. 1 Proud. Penn. 358, 454; 1 Holmes's Annals,
404, note; 2 Doug. Summ. 297, 298.