Answer: “ On this day in 1682, the fifth Duke of York (1633-1701), the son of England’s Charles I, awarded William Penn (1644-1718) a deed to the three counties that now make up the state of Delaware. Penn, a Quaker leader and an advocate of religious freedom, oversaw the founding of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers and other religious minorities.
Penn successfully sought to acquire the tract — which had been transferred from Dutch to British authority — to ensure access to the Atlantic Ocean for the new colony. (In 1610, explorer Samuel Argall had named the Delaware River and Bay for the governor of Virginia, Thomas West, also known as Lord De La Warr.)”
