This Day In Founding Fathers History – 7 December 2012

This Day In Founding Fathers History – 7 December 2012

On this day in 1775, Dr. Benjamin Gale wrote to Silas Deane about the progress in construction of the Turtle, a submarine built by David Bushnell, the first documented submersible to be used in combat. Gale was looking to get advice from Benjamin Franklin: “…to enquire of Dr. Franklin whether he knows of any kind of phosphorus which will give light in the dark and not consume the air. He has tried a candle, but that destroys the air so fast he cannot remain under water long enough to effect the thing…I have liberty to communicate this much from him only with a view to know if Dr. Franklin knows of any kind of phosphorus that will answer his purpose; otherwise the execution must be omitted until next spring, after the frosts are past.” ₁

In 1787 on this day, Delaware was the first colony to ratify the Constitution, with a unanimous vote of 30-0, and thereby making it the first state in the union. Since 1933, this day has been celebrated in Delaware as Delaware Day. Governor C. Douglass Buck first proclaimed this day as Delaware Day after E. Paul Burkholder and the Rotary Club of Georgetown initiated a petition campaign for the day and it was passed by a House Joint Resolution in 1933. ₂

_{1 “Correspondence of Silas Deane,” Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society
2 “About Delaware Day,” delawareday.delaware.gov/aboutdelawareday.shtml}

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