Interviewees:
-
Charles Fithian
- Delaware Archeologist, Delaware Historical Society
-
Joseph Sullivan
- Welcome Center Supervisor, Delaware Public Archives
Delaware's politicians served without salary during the Revolutionary period—compensated only for travel and expenses—while building a new state and managing an active war. Its three delegates to the Continental Congress were Caesar Rodney, George Read, and Thomas McKean. All three were also actively engaged in state governance. John Dickinson, who had argued that independence was premature, nevertheless donned a uniform when the Declaration was adopted and later served as president of Delaware in 1781 without pay. In 1782 he produced a militia training manual entirely at his own expense—five hundred copies for officers—articulating a vision of citizen-soldiers who fought not for conquest but for the protection of the innocent.
