By Andrew WestDOVER — How many of you have always been under the assumption that Delaware became the “First State” because of its size?
It was Dec. 7, 1787, when Delaware delegates, meeting at Battell’s Tavern on The Green in Dover, ratified the U.S. Constitution.
“No, the reason was not our size,” lectured Delaware Supreme Court Justice James M. Tunnell Jr. in 1952.
“It was because the representatives of the people of the state of Delaware knew what they wanted and were not too afraid to say so.”
It may have been easy to get to Dover from all points, but it wasn’t always easy to get Delawareans to agree. About 45,000 people lived in the state at the time.
Writer and historian John Sweeney’s commentary in the “Weekend Edition” covers the reasons nicely.
Mr. Sweeney drew upon a 1925 Delaware Day speech given by Richard S. Rodney, an associate justice of Delaware’s Supreme Court at the time.
Justice Tunnell cited Justice Rodney’s words, too.
“As Judge Rodney pointed out on this occasion five years ago, Rhode Island, the only smaller state, was the very last to ratify the Constitution, not even doing so until May 29, 1790; and, even then, the Rhode Island Convention was 34 ayes and 32 nays.”
The speech was on the front page of the Delaware State News on Dec. 7, 1952.
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Here are more words from Justice Tunnell:
“From Dec. 3 to Dec. 7, 1787, delegates from all parts of the state met at Dover in formal convention. While what was said there is lost to us, what was done is known throughout the world.
“Upon mature consideration by unanimous action, these 30 duly elected representatives drew us into a union from which neither they nor we could thereafter withdraw.
“They departed from all tradition in such matters by voluntarily delivering up a substantial portion of this state’s sovereignty. By surrendering a part of their freedom, they sought, in the end, to gain more.
“We celebrate what they did for the solemn importance of the act itself.”
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In 1947, Justice Rodney — who had become a U.S. District Court judge — was the Delaware Day speaker at the Richardson Hotel in Dover.
He offered a plea that day that Delawareans maintain the tradition.
“As Delaware was the first state to ratify the present Constitution, may she always be the first to withstand and to oppose all insidious attempts to change the fabric of our system,” he said.
The wisdom of Delaware’s delegates was in seeing the strength of representation.
John Dickinson was singled out for proposing that all states have equal representation in the House of Representatives and Senate.
“Our forefathers or those whose places we now fill, by inspired vision or keenest foresight, quickly perceived the advantages offered and made Delaware the first state in the union.”
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For Delawareans with interest in our state’s background, the lack of records of what took place in Dover in 1787 is a hole in history. We would enjoy now — and appreciate — what each of them had to say.
Maybe the strongest speech came from George Read, a noted advocate for a strong national government.
We wonder what Mr. Dickinson had to say. His words — and perhaps his bold idea — may have had the greatest weight.
It was in September that year when he proposed that each state have equal representation. The notion was that more populous states would seek greater power.
Our history lessons share that Mr. Dickinson told James Madison, “Delaware would sooner submit to a foreign rule than be deprived in both branches of an equality of suffrage and thereby be thrown under the domination of the larger states.”
The compromise was that each state would have two senators and a number of representatives relative to its population.
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In 1933, legislators and Gov. C. Douglass Buck agreed to officially establish Dec. 7 as Delaware Day.
Then-Delaware educator and state Sen. E. Paul Burkholder, with the help of the Georgetown Rotary, gathered more than 6,000 signatures on petitions to recognize the holiday.
Scouring our digital archives, it was interesting to learn that Delaware Day was a pretty big deal for many years. As was the case with Justice Tunnell’s speech, members of civic groups, including the Rotary and Kiwanis, would gather for dinner programs.
Sen. Burkholder, in 1948, spoke to a big gathering of fellow Rotarians and Kiwanis members at Dover High School.
“Delaware has played her part in the march for freedom,” he said, “and will continue to do so as long as she is true to her heritage.”
