History of Pennsylvania

The history of Pennsylvania stems back thousands of years when the first

While each of the Thirteen Colonies contributed to the American Revolution, Pennsylvania and especially Philadelphia were a center for the early planning and ultimately the formation of rebellion against King George III and the British empire, which was then the most powerful political and military empire in the world.

Philadelphia served as the nation's capital for much of the 18th century. During the 19th century, Pennsylvania grew its northwestern, northeastern, and southwestern borders, and Pittsburgh emerged as of the nation's largest and most prominent cities for a period of time. The state played an important role in the Union's victory in the American Civil War. Following the Civil War, Pennsylvania grew into a Republican stronghold politically and a major manufacturing and transportation center.

During the 20th century, after the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s, Pennsylvania moved towards the service and financial industries economically and became a swing state politically.

Native American migration and settlement

Native American migration and settlement

Pennsylvania's history of human habitation extends to thousands of years before the foundation of the

Sources for Pennsylvania's prehistory come from a mix of oral history and archaeology, which pushes the known record back another 500 years or so. Before the Iroquois pushed out from the St. Lawrence River region, Pennsylvania appears to have been populated primarily by Algonquians^{[5][page needed]} and Siouans. We know from archaeology that the Monongahela had a far more vast territory at the time^{[6][page needed]} and the Iroquois Book of Rites shows that there were Siouans along Lake Erie's southern shores as well. The Iroquois collectively called them the Alligewi (better written Adegowe^[7]), or Mound Builders. It is said that this is where the term Allegheny comes from (Adegoweni). Two groups of migrating Iroquoians moved through the region—an Iroquois related group who spread west along the Great Lakes and a Tuscarora related group who followed the coast straight south. The Eries were the next to split off from the Iroquois and may have once held northwestern Pennsylvania. An offshoot of them crossed the Ohio and fought back the ancient Monongahela, but later merged with the Susquahannocks to form a single, expanded territory.^{[8][page needed]} (Europeans later said that they used the terms White Minqua and Black Minqua to differentiate their ancestries from one another.) A whole other Iroquoian tribe, the Petun, are believed to be Huron related and entered the region after, wedging in between the Eries and Iroquois.

By the time that

A tribe known as the Trokwae were said to have settled by he westernmost Susquehannocks along the Ohio River.^[14] They may be the same as the Tockwogh, a small Iroquoian tribe from the Delmarva Peninsula (In many surviving Iroquoian languages, 'r' is silent.). They, however, did not survive the Beaver Wars. During that time, the highly influential Mohawks seceded from the Iroquois Confederacy and the remaining four tribes—Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida—began attacking into Ohio, destroying the Petun and other tribes, then the Erie. Later, after their war with the Susquehannocks ended in the 1670s, they pushed straight south from New York and began attacking other tribes of Virginia.^[15] In the end, the French pushed the Iroquois back to the Ohio-PA border, where they were finally convinced to sign a peace treaty in 1701. They sold off much of their remaining, extended lands to the English, but kept a large section along the Susquahanna River for themselves, they allowed refugees of other tribes to settle in towns, such as Shamokin, Lenape, Tutelo, Saponi, Piscataway, and Nanticoke.^[16][17] Around the onset of the French-Indian War, the English Ambassador to the Iroquois, William Johnson, was able to repair relations between the Iroquois and Mohawk and the nation re-unified. In the 1750s, the refugee tribes were relocated to New York, where they were roughly reorganized along cultural lines into three new Tutelo, Delaware and Nanticoke tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy.^[18]

Walking Purchase

In the 1680s, conflicts with the sons of William Penn resulted in the Walking Purchase and after the English conquered the colony of New Netherland, the majority of the Lenape were relocated to northeastern Ohio, immediately prior to that very region being conquered by the French.^[19]

Other tribes would pass through, such as the first

Long-term European

Following the voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier, the French established a permanent colony in New France in the 17th century to exploit the North American fur trade. During the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the French expanded New France across present day Eastern Canada into the Great Lakes region, and colonized the areas around the Mississippi River as well. New France expanded into western Pennsylvania by the 18th century, as the French built Fort Duquesne to defend the Ohio River valley. With the end of the Swedish and Dutch colonies, the French were the last rivals to the British for control of the region that would become Pennsylvania. France was often allied with Spain, the only other remaining European power with holdings in continental North America. Beginning in 1688 with King William's War (part of the Nine Years' War), France and England engaged in a series of wars for dominance over Northern America. The wars continued until the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, when France lost New France.

Province of Pennsylvania

To give his new province access to the ocean, Penn had leased the proprietary rights of the King Charles II's brother, James, Duke of York, to the "three lower counties" (now the state of Delaware) on the Delaware River. In Penn's Frame of Government of 1682, Penn established a combined assembly by providing for equal membership from each county and requiring legislation to have the assent of both the Lower Counties and the Upper Counties. The meeting place for the assembly alternated between Philadelphia and New Castle. In 1704, after disagreements between the upper and lower counties, the lower counties began meeting in a separate assembly. Province of Pennsylvania and Delaware continued to share the same royal governor until the American Revolutionary War, when both Pennsylvania and Delaware became states.^[25]

Penn died in 1718, and was succeeded as proprietor of the colony by his sons. While Penn had won the respect of the Lenape for his honest dealing, Penn's sons and agents were less sensitive to Native American concerns.^[21] The 1737 Walking Purchase expanded the colony, but caused a decline in relations with the Lenape.^[21] Pennsylvania continued to expand and settle in the areas to the West until the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade all settlers from settling on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. Meanwhile, Philadelphia became an important port and trading center. The University of Pennsylvania was founded during this period, and Benjamin Franklin established various other organizations such as the American Philosophical Society, the Union Fire Company, and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. By the start of the American Revolution, Philadelphia was the largest city in British North America.^[26]

The western portions of Pennsylvania were among disputed territory between the colonial British and French during the

During the French and Indian War, Pennsylvania settlers experienced raids from Indian allies of the French. The settlers' pleas for military relief were stymied by a power struggle in Philadelphia between Governor Robert Morris and the Pennsylvania Assembly. Morris wanted to send military forces to the frontier, but the Assembly, whose leadership included Benjamin Franklin, refused to grant the funds unless Morris agreed to the taxation of the proprietary lands, the vast tracts still owned by the Penn family and others. The dispute was finally settled, and military relief sent, when the owners of the proprietary lands sent 5,000 pounds to the colonial government, on condition that it was considered a free gift and not a down payment on taxes.^[27]

Shortly after the end of the

By the mid-18th century Pennsylvania was basically a middle-class colony with limited deference to the small upper-class. A writer in the Pennsylvania Journal in 1756 summed it up:

The People of this Province are generally of the middling Sort, and at present pretty much upon a Level. They are chiefly industrious Farmers, Artificers or Men in Trade; they enjoy and are fond of Freedom, and the meanest among them thinks he has a right to Civility from the greatest.^[29]

American Revolution

Pennsylvania's residents generally supported the protests common to all Thirteen Colonies after the Proclamation of 1763 and the Stamp Act were passed, and Pennsylvania sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 Philadelphia hosted the first and second Continental Congress.

Gathered in the present-day Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress founded the Continental Army, appointed George Washington as its commander, and, on July 4, 1776, unanimously adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which both formalized and escalated the American Revolutionary War.

Pennsylvania was the site of several battles and military activities during the Revolutionary War, including George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, the Battle of Brandywine, and the Battle of Germantown. During the Philadelphia campaign, the rebel army of George Washington spent the winter of 1777–78 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In 1781, the Articles of Confederation were written and adopted in York, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia continued to serve as the capital of the fledgling nation until the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783. Notable Pennsylvanians who supported the Revolution include John Dickinson, Robert Morris, Anthony Wayne, Samuel Van Leer, James Wilson, and Thomas Mifflin. However, Pennsylvania was also home to numerous Loyalists, including Joseph Galloway, William Allen, and the Doan Outlaws.^[30]

After elections in May 1776 returned old guard Assemblymen to office, the Second Continental Congress encouraged Pennsylvania to call delegates together to discuss a new form of governance. Delegates met in June in Philadelphia, where the signing of the Declaration of Independence soon overtook assemblymen's efforts to control the delegates and the outcome of their discussions. On July 8, 1776, attendees elected delegates to write a state constitution. A committee was formed with Benjamin Franklin as chair and George Bryan and James Cannon as prominent members. The new constitution on September 28, 1776, called for new elections.^[31]

Elections in 1776 turned the old assemblymen out of power. But the new constitution lacked a governor or upper legislative house to provide checks against popular movements. It also required test oaths, which kept the opposition from taking office. The constitution called for a unicameral legislature or Assembly. Executive authority rested in a Supreme Executive Council whose members were to be appointed by the assembly. In elections during 1776, radicals gained control of the Assembly. By early 1777, they selected an executive council, and Thomas Wharton Jr. was named as the president of the council. This constitution was never formally adopted, so government functioned on an ad hoc basis until the new constitution was written fourteen years later.

Fall of Philadelphia

After the

In 1780, Pennsylvania passed a law that provided for the gradual abolition of slavery, making Pennsylvania the first state to pass an act to abolish slavery, although Vermont had also previously abolished slavery.^[32] Children born after that date to slave mothers were considered legally free, but they were bound in indentured servitude to the master of their mother until the age of 28. The last slave was recorded in the state in 1847.

Six years after the adoption of the

After the passage of the Residence Act, Philadelphia again served as the capital of the nation from 1790 to 1800 prior to the development of Washington, D.C. as the nation's new capital.

Pennsylvania ratified a new state constitution in 1790, which replaced the state's executive council with a governor and a bicameral legislature.

Westward expansion

Pennsylvania's borders took definitive shape in the decades before and after the Revolutionary War. The

After the U.S. government granted land to Revolutionary War soldiers for military service, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a general land act on April 3, 1792. It authorized the sale and distribution of the large remaining tracts of land east and west of the Allegheny River in hopes of sparking development of the vast territory. The process was an uneven affair, prompting much speculation but little settlement. Most veteran soldiers sold their shares sight unseen under market value, and many investors were ultimately ruined. The East Allegheny district consisted of lands in Potter, McKean, Cameron, Elk, and Jefferson counties, at the time worthless tracts. West Allegheny district was made up of lands in Erie, Crawford, Warren, and Venango counties, relatively good investments at the time.

Three major land companies participated in the land speculation that followed.

The

Pennsylvania, one of the largest states in the country, always had the

Several Pennsylvanians fought in the War of 1812, including Jacob Brown, John Barry, and Stephen Decatur. Decatur, who served in both Barbary Wars and the Quasi-War, was one of America's first post-Revolution war heroes. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry earned the title "Hero of Lake Erie" after building a fleet at Erie, Pennsylvania and defeating the British at the Battle of Lake Erie. Pennsylvanians such as David Conner fought in the Mexican–American War, and Pennsylvania raised two regiments for the war. Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot earned national prominence for the Wilmot Proviso, which would have banned slavery in territory acquired from Mexico.^[36]

Philadelphia continued to be one of the

Settlers continued to cross the

Pennsylvania had established itself as the largest food producer in the country by the 1720s, and Pennsylvania agriculture experienced a "golden age" from 1790 to 1840. In 1820, agriculture provided 90 percent of the employment in Pennsylvania. Farm equipment manufacturers sprang up across the state as inventors across the world pioneered new equipment and techniques, and Pennsylvanians such as Frederick Watts were a part of this scientific approach to farming. Pennsylvania farmers lost some of their political power as other industries emerged in the state, but even in the 2000s agriculture remains one of Pennsylvania's major industries.^[41]

In 1834, Governor George Wolf signed the Free Schools Act, which created a system of state-regulated school districts. The state created the Department of Education to oversee these schools. In 1857, the Normal School Act laid the foundation for the creation of normal schools to train teachers.^[42]

Several Pennsylvania politicians gained national renown. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania served as the nation's first Speaker of the House of Representatives. Albert Gallatin served as the Secretary of the Treasury from 1801 to 1814. Democrat James Buchanan, the first and only President of the United States from Pennsylvania, took office in 1857 and served until 1861.

Prior to and during the

The nascent Republican Party's first convention took place at Musical Fund Hall on Locust Street in Philadelphia. In the 1860 elections, the Republican Party won the state's presidential vote and the governor's office.

Civil War

After the failure of the

Following the

Education continued to be a major issue in the state, and the state constitution of 1874 guaranteed an annual appropriation for education.[44] School attendance became compulsory in 1895, and by 1903, school districts were required to either have their own high schools or pay for their residents to attend another high school.^[44] Two of Pennsylvania's largest public schools were founded in the mid-to-late 19th century. The Pennsylvania State University was founded in 1855, and in 1863 the school became Pennsylvania's land-grant university under the terms of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts. Temple University in Philadelphia was founded in 1884 by Russell Conwell, originally as a night school for working-class citizens.

Other colleges and universities, including

During World War II, over one million Pennsylvanians served in the United States Armed Forces, and more Medals of Honor were awarded to Pennsylvanians than to individuals from any other state.^[44]

Late 20th century

The Republican lock on Pennsylvania was broken in the era after World War II, and Pennsylvania became a somewhat less powerful state in terms of electoral votes and number of House seats. Pennsylvania adopted its fifth and current constitution in 1968; the new constitution established a unified judicial system and allows governors and the other statewide elected officials to serve two consecutive terms.^[58]

Between 1954 and 2012, each party consistently won two straight

As of 2014[update], Pennsylvania is generally considered to be an important

The state experience significant economic decline with the demise of the state's steel industry and other heavy industries, which began in the late 20th century and intensified in the 1980s. With job losses came heavy population losses, especially in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. With the end of mining and the downturn of manufacturing, the state has turned to service industries. Pittsburgh's concentration of universities has enabled it to be a leader in technology and healthcare. Philadelphia has a concentration of university expertise. Healthcare, retail, transportation, and tourism are some of the state's growing industries of the postindustrial era. Like much of the rest of the nation, most residential population growth has occurred in suburban rather than urban areas, although both of the state's major cities have had significant revitalization of their downtown areas.^[60]

After 1990, as information-based industries became more important in the economy, state and local governments put more resources into the old, well-established public library system. Some localities, however, used new state funding to cut local taxes.^[61] New ethnic groups, especially Hispanics, began entering the state to fill low skill jobs in agriculture and service industries. For example, in Chester County, Mexican migrants brought their Spanish language and cuisine when they were hired as agricultural laborers.^[62] Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans built a large community in the state's third-largest city, Allentown, becoming forty percent of the city's population by 2000.^[63]

21st century

On September 11, 2001, during the terrorist attacks on the United States, the small town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania received worldwide attention after United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township, 1.75 miles (2.82 km) north of the town, killing all 40 civilians and four al-Qaeda hijackers on board. The hijackers had intended to fly the plane to Washington, D.C. and crash it into either the Capitol or the White House.

After learning from family members via airphone of the earlier attacks on the World Trade Center, the passengers on board revolted against the hijackers and fought for control of the plane, causing it to crash. It was the only one of the four aircraft hijacked that day that never reached its intended target and the heroism of the passengers has been commemorated.^[64]

Urban centers

Philadelphia is the nation's sixth-largest city after

References

Further reading

Surveys

• Miller, Randall M. and William A. Pencak, eds. Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth (2002) detailed scholarly history
• Beers, Paul B. Pennsylvania Politics Today and Yesterday (1980)*
• Klein, Philip S and Ari Hoogenboom. A History of Pennsylvania (1973).
• Weigley, Russell. Philadelphia: A 300-Year History (1982)

Pre 1900

• Alexander, John K. Render them Submissive: Responses to Poverty in Philadelphia, 1760–1800 (1980)
• Baldwin, Leland D. Pittsburgh: the Story of a City, 1750–1865 (1937).
• Barr, Daniel P. A Colony Sprung from Hell: Pittsburgh and the Struggle for Authority on the Western Pennsylvania Frontier, 1744–1794 (Kent State University Press, 2014); 334 pp.
• Buck, Solon J., Clarence McWilliams and Elizabeth Hawthorn Buck. The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania (1939), social history
• Dunaway, Wayland F. The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania (1944)
• Gallman, J. Matthew. Mastering Wartime: A Social History of Philadelphia during the Civil War (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2000).
• Higgins, James E. The Health of the Commonwealth: A Brief History of Medicine, Public Health, and Disease in Pennsylvania (2020) online review

• Houpt, David W. To Organize the Sovereign People: Political Mobilization in Revolutionary Pennsylvania (U of Virginia Press, 2023) online book review
• Higginbotham, Sanford W. The Keystone in the Democratic Arch: Pennsylvania Politics, 1800–1816 (1952)
• Illick Joseph E. Colonial Pennsylvania: A History (1976)
• Ireland, Owen S. Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics: Ratifying the Constitution in Pennsylvania (1995)
• Kehl, James A. Boss Rule in the Gilded Age: Matt Quay of Pennsylvania
• Klees, Fredric. The Pennsylvania Dutch (1950)
• Klein, Philip Shriver. Pennsylvania Politics, 1817–1832: A Game without Rules (1940)
• McCullough, David. The Johnstown Flood (1968)
• Mueller, Henry R. The Whig Party in Pennsylvania (1922)
• Nash, Gary B. Forging freedom: The formation of Philadelphia's black community, 1720–1840 (Harvard University Press, 1988).
• Shade, William G. "'Corrupt and Contented': Where Have All the Politicians Gone? A Survey of Recent Books on Pennsylvania Political History, 1787–1877." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (2008): 433–451. in JSTOR; historiography
• Smith, Billy Gordon. The "Lower Sort": Philadelphia's Laboring People, 1750–1800 (Cornell University Press, 1994).
• Snyder, Charles McCool. The Jacksonian Heritage: Pennsylvania Politics, 1833–1848 (1958)
• Tinkcom, Harry Marlin. The Republicans and Federalists in Pennsylvania, 1790–1801: A Study in National Stimulus and Local Response (1950)
• Warner, Sam Bass. The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of its Growth (1968)
• Wood, Ralph. et al. The Pennsylvania Germans (1942)
• Wulf, Karin
  . Not All Wives: Women of Colonial Philadelphia. Cornell University Press, 2000

Since 1900

• Bodnar, John; Immigration and Industrialization: Ethnicity in an American Mill Town, 1870–1940, (1977), on Steelton
• Heineman; Kenneth J. A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh, (1999)
• Higgins, James E. The Health of the Commonwealth: A Brief History of Medicine, Public Health, and Disease in Pennsylvania (2020) online review
• Keller, Richard C., "Pennsylvania's Little New Deal", in John Braeman et al. eds. The New Deal: Volume Two – the State and Local Levels (1975) pp. 45–76
• Lamis, Renée M. The Realignment of Pennsylvania Politics since 1960: Two-Party Competition in a Battleground State (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009) 398 pp.
  ISBN 978-0-271-03419-5
• Lubove, Roy. Twentieth-century Pittsburgh: The post-steel era. Vol. 2. University of Pittsburgh Pre, 1995.
• McGeary, M. Nelson. Gifford Pinchot: Forester-Politician (1960) Republican governor 1923–1927 and 1931–1935
• Sandoval, Edgar. The New Face of Small-town America: Snapshots of Latino Life in Allentown, Pennsylvania (Penn State Press, 2010).
• Warner, Sam Bass. The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of its Growth (1968)

Economic and labor history

• Aurand, Harold W. Coalcracker Culture: Work and Values in Pennsylvania Anthracite, 1835–1935 2003
• Blatz, Perry. Democratic Miners: Work and Labor Relations in the Anthracite Coal Industry, 1875–1925. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994.
• Binder, Frederick Moore. Coal Age Empire: Pennsylvania Coal and Its Utilization to 1860. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1974.
• Chandler, Alfred. "Anthracite Coal and the Beginnings of the 'Industrial Revolution' in the United States", Business History Review 46 (1972): 141–181. in JSTOR
• Churella, Albert J. (2013). The Pennsylvania Railroad: Volume I, Building an Empire, 1846–1917. Philadelphia:
  OCLC 759594295
  .
• Davies, Edward J., II. The Anthracite Aristocracy: Leadership and Social Change in the Hard Coal Regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1800–1930 (1985).
• DiCiccio, Carmen. Coal and Coke in Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1996
• Dublin, Thomas, and Walter Licht, The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century Cornell University Press, (2005).
  ISBN 0-8014-8473-1
  .
• Lauver, Fred J. "A Walk Through the Rise and Fall of Anthracite Might", Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine 27#1 (2001) online edition
• Lewis, Ronald L. Welsh Americans: A History of Assimilation in the Coalfields (U. of North Carolina Press, 2008) online Archived January 2, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
• Powell, H. Benjamin. Philadelphia's First Fuel Crisis. Jacob Cist and the Developing Market for Pennsylvania Anthracite. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1978
• Sullivan, William A. The Industrial Worker in Pennsylvania, 1800–1840 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1955 online edition
• United States Anthracite Coal Strike Commission, 1902–1903, Report to the President on the Anthracite Coal Strike of May–October 1902 By United States Anthracite Coal Strike (1903) online edition
• Wallace, Anthony F.C. St. Clair. A Nineteenth-Century Coal Town's Experience with a Disaster-Prone Industry. (1981)
• Warren, Kenneth. Triumphant Capitalism: Henry Clay Frick and the Industrial Transformation of America (1996)
• Warren, Kenneth. Big Steel: The First Century of the United States Steel Corporation, 1901–2001 (2002)
• Williamson, Harold F.
  and Arnold R. Daum. The American Petroleum Industry: The Age of Illumination, 1859–1899 (1959)

Historiography

• Bauman, John F. "An urban look at Pennsylvania history" Pennsylvania History (2008) 75#3 pp 390–395. online

Primary sources

• The Peoples Contest: A Civil War era digital archiving project, access to primary sources from Pennsylvania, especially newspapers and other resources
• Report of the United states coal commission.... (5 vol in 3; 1925) Official US government investigation of the 1922 anthracite strike. online vol 1–2
• Carocci, Vincent P. A Capitol Journey: Reflections on the Press, Politics, and the Making Of Public Policy In Pennsylvania. (2005) memoir by senior aide to Gov Casey in 1990s excerpts online

• The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study
  (1899)

• Martin, Asa Earl, and Hiram Herr Shenk, eds. Pennsylvania history told by contemporaries (Macmillan, 1925) online.

• Myers, Albert Cook, ed., Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630–1707, (1912) online

• Pinsker, Matthew. "The Pennsylvania Prince: Political Wisdom From Benjamin Franklin to Arlen Specter" Pennsylvania Magazine of History & Biography (2008) 132#4 pp 417–432; examines autobiographies. online

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to History of Pennsylvania.

• ExplorePAHistory.com
• Pennsylvania state archives website
• View the Pennsylvania State Archives Online
• Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Publications
• 1776 Constitution text
• Pennsylvania Indian Tribes Listing of Indian tribes with a historical presence in Pennsylvania
• Boston Public Library, Map Center. Maps of Pennsylvania, various dates
• Ohio Historical Sites