Dover and Kent County were deeply divided over the issue of slavery, and the city was a "stop" on the Underground Railroad because of its proximity to slave-holding Maryland and free Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Dover a okres Kent byly rozděleny kvůli otázce otroctví a byly zastávkou na Underground Railroad, kvůli své poloze uprostřed cesty mezi otrokářským Marylandem a svobodnou Pensylvánií a New Jersey.