Why was there no Delaware Colony?

When peering at the various boundaries throughout the US, there is one that stands out for an odd reason: the Pennsylvania - Delaware boundary. It's almost circular.

How did such a thing come about? When looking at this arc, its center is not at Wilmington, which is the capital of Delaware. It is New Castle, which is located 12 miles from this border. This arc has also been called "The Twelve Mile Circle".  When William Penn received a charter for his new Province of Pennsylvania on February 28. 1681, his new province was:

"bounded on the East by Delaware River, from twelve miles distance Northwards of New Castle Towne unto the three and fortieth degree of Northerne Latitude... The said Lands to extend westwards five degrees in longitude, to bee computed from the said Easterne Bounds".

This boundary by New Castle was described as:
"a Circle drawne at twelve miles distance from New Castle Northward and Westward unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of Northern Latitude"

There was confusion if the the circle was supposed to have a diameter, radius, or circumference of 12 miles around New Castle. In the end, a radius of 12 miles was used. In fact, this extends all around New Castle including the border of New Jersey. In fact, there are parts of land attached to the NJ side of the Delaware River that are technically in Delaware because it falls within 12 miles of New Castle. Most websites and blogs stop there. But where did this 12 mile distance come from?

The area was originally colonized by the Dutch and the Swedes. One of the main forts in the area was in New Castle. Eventually, the British would win control over this region (and the Hudson River valley). Charles II granted all the land west of the Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay to his brother, the Duke of York, in 1664. The region of present day Delaware was outside this. Since, the Duke was given the Dutch claims along the Hudson River, the Duke assumed control over all other Dutch areas on the west bank of the Delaware Bay.  

But if you look further back, this area was given to Lord Baltimore in his Charter of Maryland in 1632. The northern boundary of this new colony was at the 40th degree latitude. The land included all parts west of the Delaware Bay up to the mouth of the Potomac River and up to the headwaters of the Potomac. As shown on the right, this would include present day Delaware. Lord Baltimore tried to claim that his grant included the region that the Dutch had settled. Lead by Augustine Herman, the Dutch countered that Baltimore's claim includes land that had not been settled which was not the case for the west bank of a Delaware Bay. Hence, that region should be excluded. In the end, the two parties decided to divide the peninsula in half but such a line was not marked until Mason and Dixon surveyed it in the 1760s. So there is no mention of 12 miles in this part of the story. 

When William Penn attempted to form a colony in the area, his grant of 1681 mentions the southern boundary to be at the 40th degree latitude. In those days, there was a variation of interpretation for this. Some drew a boundary line at the start of the 40th degree. Others would surveyed a line at the end of the 40th degree. This amount of variability could leave Philadelphia in Maryland or Baltimore City in Pennsylvania. The agents for the Duke of York thought the 40th degree was about 20-30 miles north of New Castle (so outside of this newly acquired region). William Penn and the head of the Privy Council (Lord Chief-Justice North) thought it was about 12 miles north of New Castle. So this is the origin of this particular distance. The supposed southern border of Pennsylvania would approach the west bank of the Delaware and get as close as 12 miles from New Castle. The best outcome would be the 40th degree latitude would meet at the top of this circle. In the end, the 40th degree was too far north and further negotiations would lead to the present day boundaries. 

But there is one more tidbit. In 1682, Penn would received a deed from the Duke of YOrk to "rent out" the "Lower Counties on the Delaware" to provide more access to the Delaware Bay. There was still a dispute between the Duke of York and Lord Calvert (of Maryland) as to who actually controlled this previous Swedish colony. Regardless, the Duke deeded it to Penn on August 24 (or 28), 1682. This claim by Penn was solidified by King James's compromise in Nov 1685 to divide the peninsula in half above the Cape Henlopen line of latitude which placed those Lower counties under the rule of the King (to Duke to Penn).

Eventually, those living in this region would want to have their own government that was not linked to Philadelphia.  This was somewhat granted in 1701 where there would still be a single governor but the local representatives would function independently from Philadelphia. After the Declaration of Independence was signed, these three counties quickly organized into an independent state with the creation of its own constitution in September 1776. Eventually, it would be the first state to ratify the new US Constitution in 1787. So, first state in this new Federal union wasn't even an official British colony.

Changing when the Seasons Start...

1st Question: When do the seasons began?
2nd Question: Are there different ways to define seasons?
3rd Question: How about a more psychologically appealing seasons?

There are four main dates in the calendar that relate to the environment we live in: the December and June solstices, and the March and September equinoxes. Seasons have been defined by certain periods of time in a year. Seasons usually indicate changes in amount of daylight and the weather. But there are regions of the world where the daylight does not change much during the year but the weather can: e.g. monsoon season or rainy season. But we'll stick with the typical temperate zone seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Popular media will use those dates to indicate when a season "starts" as in winter starts on December 21 or 22 in the northern hemisphere. But seasons can be defined in different ways.

An astronomical POV could be used where it is the position of the sun in the sky that determines the seasons. In this case, solstices and equinoxes would be the middle of the seasons. For example, the June solstice is the day the sunrises the earliest and should be in the middle of northern hemisphere summer (not the start). Therefore, astronomical seasons start in between a solstice and equinox. Some call these dates cross-quarter days, or days halfway between a solstice and equinox. In the northern hemisphere, this would be on Feb 1 or 2, May 1, Aug 1-2, and Oct 31-Nov 1. This is similar to using the amount of sunlight received (insolation) to determine various quarters of the year.

Another way to look at when the seasons start is based upon the weather (or temperature). When using average temperatures for a particular hemisphere, the starts of the seasons are March 1, June 1, September 1, and December 1. In general, the temperature changes typical for those seasons have not started at these dates (possibly due to so called thermal lag).

So where does that leave us?

	Spring	Summer	Fall	Winter
Astronomic	February 1,2	May 1	August 1,2	October 31,November 1
Meteorologic	March 1	June 1	September 1	November 1
Popular Media	March 20,21	June 20,21	September 22,23	December 21,22

Can we improve upon these definitions?

Why not take the sunlight approach but disregard the need to have seasons with similar number of days. Using Chicago as an example, below is a graph of the sunrise and sunset times:

The amount of daylight varies from 9:08 to 15:14 throughout the year. We can divide the amount of possible daylight per day into 4 equal durations:

• 9:08 to 10:39:30
• 10:39:30 to 12:11
• 12:11 to 13:42:30
• 13:42:30 to 15:14

There will be 2   periods of the year where each of these durations would occur. Therefore, we could define winter as the 2 sections with the least daylight while summer would be the 2 sections with the most daylight. Spring and Fall would occur in between. If we do that, what do the seasons look like?

So spring is from February 16 to April 22. Summer goes until August 18. Fall ends at October 24. Winter continues through February 16. 

• Spring: February 16 to April 22
• Summer: April 23 to August 18
• Fall: August 19 to October 24
• Winter: October 25 to February 15

The solstices and equinoxes are in the middle of their respective seasons. But the length of each season is different: Summer and winter are about 16 1/2 weeks each. Spring and fall are about 9 1/2 weeks each. 

But there is another way to define a season: using the sunset (or sunrise). Excluding daylight savings, sunset varies from 16:19 to 19:30. Like the hours of daylight, you can divide that up into quarters and assign seasons based upon what range of sunset times occur.  

Using that idea, spring would start on February 2. Summer starts on April 24. Fall starts on August 20. And winter begins on October 16. 

• Spring: February 2 to April 23
• Summer: April 24 to August 19
• Fall: August 20 to October 15
• Winter: October 16 to February 1

But if you add daylight savings and assume the latest sunset is at 20:30, things are little more interesting. Spring would start on February 9. Summer begins on April 11. Fall starts on August 30. And winter begins on November 4. So where does that leave us?

	Spring	Summer	Fall	Winter
Astronomic	February 1,2	May 1	August 1,2	October 31,November 1
Meteorologic	March 1	June 1	September 1	November 1
Popular Media	March 20,21	June 20,21	September 22,23	December 21,22
Daylight Duration	February 16	April 22,23	August 18	October 24,25
Sunset	February 2	April 24	August 20	October 16
Sunset w/ Daylight Savings	February 9,10	April 11	August 30	November 4

Anyway, that's just me. So what do we use? The best combination of seasons would be the one with long summers, not as long winters, and spring happening earlier. And using the sunset times with daylight savings fits those requirements: Spring starts 6 weeks early. Summer is 20 weeks long. Winter starts earlier but only lasts 14 weeks. Maybe this should be called the socioeconomic seasons? Just a thought.