[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 127, 113th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
PROCLAMATION 8944--MAR. 25, 2013

Proclamation 8944 of March 25, 2013

Establishment of the First State National Monument
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Sites within the State of Delaware encompass nationally significant
objects related to the settlement of the Delaware region by the Swedes,
Finns, Dutch, and English, the role that Delaware played in the
establishment of the Nation, and the preservation of the cultural
landscape of the Brandywine Valley. A national monument that includes
certain property in New Castle, Dover, and the Brandywine Valley,
Delaware


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(with contiguous acreage in the Township of Chadd's Ford,
Pennsylvania) will allow the National Park Service and its partners to
protect and manage these objects of historic interest and interpret for
the public the resources and values associated with them.
In 1638, Peter Minuit led Swedish and Finnish colonists to present-day
Wilmington, established New Sweden, and built Fort Christina. Holy
Trinity (Old Swedes) Church nearby includes a burial ground used since
the Swedes landed in this area in 1638. In 1651, Peter Stuyvesant led
Dutch settlers from New Amsterdam in present-day New York to a site
approximately 7 miles south of Fort Christina. There, in present-day New
Castle, the Dutch built Fort Casimir and named the place ``New Amstel.''
The Dutch fort at New Amstel occupied a better position than the Swedish
Fort Christina for controlling commerce. Conflicts between the Swedish
and Dutch colonists resulted in changing occupations of Fort Casimir,
with the Dutch regaining control in 1655.
In 1664, the English arrived in New Amstel, seized the city for the King
of England, and renamed it ``New Castle.'' The English also wrested
control of all of New Netherland, incorporating it into the colony of
New York under the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II.
In 1681, King Charles II deeded Pennsylvania to William Penn. To protect
the land around New Castle that he had previously granted to the Duke of
York, the King set the boundary 12 miles from New Castle in an arc
extending radially from a point subsequently marked by the cupola of the
New Castle Court House built in 1732. To gain access to the Atlantic
Ocean for his new Quaker Colony, however, William Penn persuaded the
Duke of York to give him the three ``Lower Counties of Pennsylvania''
that eventually became Delaware. The ``12-mile arc'' that separated
these lower counties from the rest of Pennsylvania, and eventually
became the State boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware, runs
through the present-day Woodlawn property in the Brandywine Valley
(Woodlawn).
William Penn landed in New Castle in 1682, and took possession of the
city. In 1704, Penn allowed the General Assembly of the Three Lower
Counties to meet in New Castle separately from the Assembly in
Philadelphia, portending the development of the State of Delaware. New
Castle remained the colonial capital of Delaware until 1777, and the New
Castle Court House served as the meeting place of the Delaware Assembly.
During the 1700s, colonial Delaware actively participated in both the
first and second Continental Congresses, and engaged in the debates over
British actions and the question of independence. The Delaware Assembly
met on June 15, 1776, in the New Castle Court House, where it voted to
separate from England and from Pennsylvania, creating the ``Delaware
State.'' The Court House served as the capitol until 1777, when
government functions moved to Dover as a precaution against attack from
British warships in the Delaware River.
The Court House and the New Castle Historic District, including the
Green, the Sheriff's House, and numerous additional resources from the
time of earliest settlement through the Federal era, are National
Historic Landmarks. The Green has served as a center of activity since
the Dutch laid it out as the Public Square. The Sheriff's House,
abutting the Court House on the Green, is architecturally significant
and is all that remains of the State's first prison system. The New
Castle Court


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House later provided the setting for a dramatic chapter in
the history of the Underground Railroad: the criminal trial, presided
over by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, of prominent Quaker abolitionist
Thomas Garrett and his colleague John Hunn for assisting runaway slaves
escaping from Maryland to Pennsylvania. In the trial Garrett defiantly
asserted that he would continue to assist runaway slaves, as he did
working with Harriet Tubman and other heroes of the Underground
Railroad.
The Constitution of the United States was completed in Philadelphia on
September 17, 1787, and then sent to the Congress of the Confederation
for transmittal to the State legislatures. At the Golden Fleece Tavern
on the Dover Green, a Delaware convention ratified the Constitution on
December 7, 1787, earning Delaware the accolade of ``the First State.''
Though the Tavern no longer exists, Dover Green is the central area of
the Dover Green Historic District that signifies this event and many
others, including the mustering of a Continental Regiment during the
American Revolution and the reading of the Declaration of Independence
in 1776.
The boundary arc establishing the three ``Lower Counties of
Pennsylvania'' that became the State of Delaware runs, in part, through
Woodlawn, northwest of Wilmington. Woodlawn is situated on land in the
Brandywine Valley acquired by William Penn in 1682. Penn commissioned a
survey of this land that marked the 12-mile boundary arc through his
property with tree blazes, which were replaced in 1892 with stone
markers, two of which still stand. In 1699, Penn sold 2,000 acres of
this property to the Pennsylvania Land Company, which in turn sold the
land predominantly to Quakers, who had begun settling the area before
1690. In time, the Brandywine and Delaware valleys were more densely
settled with Quakers than any other rural area in the United States. At
least eight structures from the 18th century are known to be located at
Woodlawn. Because Woodlawn has been relatively undisturbed, it still
exhibits colonial and Quaker settlement patterns that have vanished
elsewhere.
The preservation of Woodlawn is the result of the little-known but
historically significant story of Quaker industrialist William Poole
Bancroft's prescient planning efforts for the region. Beginning in 1906,
Bancroft began to purchase property in the Brandywine Valley, 5 miles
outside Wilmington city limits, to hold in reserve for the health and
well-being of the public. Heir to the Bancroft textile mills on the
Brandywine River, Bancroft eventually amassed over 1,300 acres, of which
Woodlawn comprises approximately 1,100 acres that remain essentially the
same as when he purchased them: farm fields and forest predominate,
dotted with old farmsteads, bridges, and a few roads and trails.
Bancroft provided this rural landscape as part of an altruistic planning
effort that also included affordable housing in the City of Wilmington
and a system of parks and parkways, on which Frederick Law Olmsted
consulted, that linked the neighborhoods to the green spaces. Bancroft
established the Woodlawn Trustees to preserve much of the rural
landscape as public park land where city residents could enjoy
recreation and bucolic surroundings.
WHEREAS section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C.
431) (the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the President, in his
discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks,
historic and pre-


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historic structures, and other objects of historic
interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the
Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to reserve
as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases
shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care
and management of the objects to be protected;
WHEREAS, for the purpose of establishing a national monument, the State
of Delaware has donated to the United States certain lands and interests
in lands in New Castle, Delaware (including the Sheriff's House in fee,
and an easement for the protection of and access to the New Castle Court
House and the Green); the City of Dover has donated to the United States
an easement for the protection of and access to the Dover Green; and the
Conservation Fund, with the support of the Mt. Cuba Center and the
cooperation of the Rockford Woodlawn Fund has donated the Woodlawn
property to the United States in fee;
WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the objects
of historic interest associated with the early settlement of Delaware,
the role of Delaware as the first State to ratify the Constitution, and
the establishment and conservation of Woodlawn;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Antiquities
Act, hereby proclaim, set apart, and reserve as the First State National
Monument (monument), the objects identified above and all lands and
interests in lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United
States within the boundaries described on the accompanying maps, which
are attached to and form a part of this proclamation, for the purpose of
protecting those objects. These reserved Federal lands and interests in
lands encompass approximately 1,108 acres, together with appurtenant
easements for all necessary purposes, which is the smallest area
compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be
protected.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of the
monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry,
location, selection, sale, leasing, or other disposition under the
public land laws, including withdrawal from location, entry, and patent
under the mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to
mineral and geothermal leasing.
The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights.
Lands and interests in lands within the monument boundaries not owned or
controlled by the United States shall be reserved as part of the
monument upon acquisition of ownership or control by the United States.
The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage the monument
through the National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal
authorities, consistent with the purposes and provisions of this
proclamation. Further, to the extent authorized by law, the Secretary
shall promulgate any additional regulations needed for the proper care
and management of the monument.
The Secretary shall prepare a management plan for the monument, with
full public involvement, within 3 years of the date of this
proclamation. The management plan shall ensure that the monument
fulfills the following purposes for the benefit of present and future
genera-

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tions: (1) to preserve and protect the objects of historic
interest identified above; (2) to interpret the story of early Swedish,
Finnish, Dutch, and English settlement in the region, and Delaware's
role in the establishment of the Nation, including as the first State to
ratify the Constitution; and (3) to preserve Woodlawn consistent with
William Poole Bancroft's vision of a rural landscape accessible to the
public for their health and well-being. The management plan shall set
forth, among other provisions, the desired relationship of the monument
to other related resources, programs, and organizations in the region,
including Old Swedes Church, Fort Christina, Stonum, Lombardy Hall,
Brandywine Creek State Park, Hagley Museum and Library, Nemours Mansion
and Gardens, Winterthur Museum and Country Estate, Brandywine River
Museum, Longwood Gardens, John Dickinson Plantation, and First State
Heritage Park.
The National Park Service shall consult with State and local agencies
and other appropriate organizations in planning for interpretation and
visitor services at the monument. The National Park Service is directed
to use applicable authorities to seek to enter into agreements
addressing common interests and promoting management efficiencies,
including provision of visitor services, interpretation and education,
and preservation of resources and values.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing
withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall
be the dominant reservation.
Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate,
injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate
or settle upon any of the lands thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth day of
March, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
seventh.
BARACK OBAMA




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