First State National Historical Park
| First State National Historical Park | |
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New Castle Court House
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| Location | New Castle / Kent / Sussex counties, Delaware and Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Nearest city | Dover, Lewes, New Castle, and Wilmington, Delaware |
| Coordinates | 39°39′53″N 75°33′55″W / 39.66472°N 75.56528°WCoordinates: 39°39′53″N 75°33′55″W / 39.66472°N 75.56528°W |
| Created | March 25, 2013 |
| Governing body | National Park Service, State |
| Website | First State National Historical Park |
First State National Historical Park is a National Park Service unit which lies primarily in the state of Delaware but which extends partly into Pennsylvania in Chadds Ford, United States. Initially created as First State National Monument by President Barack Obama under the Antiquities Act on March 25, 2013, the park was later redesignated as First State National Historical Park by Congress.
The park covers the early colonial history of Delaware and the role Delaware played in the establishment of the nation, leading up to it being the first state to ratify the Constitution. It tells the unique story of the early settlement of the Delaware Valley by the Dutch, Swedes, Finns, and English and their relationship with Native Americans. It also seeks to preserve the cultural landscape of the Brandywine River Valley.
Russ Smith, the park's first superintendent, described its mission in part as, "I think it's... the recognition that it's not all about Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. There were 13 different traditions established in the 1600s that came together in 1776. The designation helps shine a light on that story. The way this place differs from other places is the diversity of the settlement. You had Dutch, Swedes, Finns, then the English, the Germans. The Netherlands were sort of the melting pot of Europe, you had the Germans there, the French, the Belgians, and all these people were here in the Delaware Valley in the 1600s, so you had that diversity, and you also had a tradition of tolerance. As I tell people, while Virginia was jailing Baptists and New England was burning Quakers, there was freedom of religion on the Delaware River even before William Penn arrived. There's this misconception that the English were the only ones who had any kind of representative government, and so that's where we got it. Well, the Netherlands were a Republic. The Swedes were not an absolute monarchy, so there was a tradition of self-determination as well."
The sites contained within the park are:
The New Castle Court House, which dates back to 1730, is one of the oldest courthouses in the country and played a role in a number of historic events that shaped the nation. The cupola of the Court House is the center of a 12 mile circle that forms the border between Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; the most famous attempt to survey these borders, incorporating the circle, was the Mason-Dixon line. The building was used as the meeting place for Delaware's colonial assembly, and was where the assembly voted in favor of independence from both Pennsylvania and England in 1776. The Declaration of Independence was read from the Court House's second floor balcony, and Delaware's first Constitution was drafted and adopted here. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase was impeached over his actions in the Court House during a trial in 1800. In 1848, U.S. Chief Justice Roger Taney presided over a series of trials in the Court House when prominent Quaker abolitionists and Underground Railroad conductors Thomas Garrett and John Hunn were accused of violating the Fugitive Slave Act. The Garrett trial was an inspiration to Harriet Beecher Stowe for certain scenes in Uncle Tom's Cabin.
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Wikipedia