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Philadelphia grew quickly into the largest city in colonial America and with 35,000 people in 1776 was the second largest city in the British Empire. The city's economy was based on growing agricultural wealth from prosperous inland  farms which sent their surplus grains, cattle and horses for export. Entrepreneurs set up prosperous shipbuilding works on the Delaware River, and opened an iron industry. The Quaker merchants favored education and civic culture, creating a rich cultural and intellectual life that gave Philadelphia the nickname, "the Athens of America."

Philadelphia grew quickly into the largest city in colonial America and with 35,000 people in 1776 was the second largest city in the British Empire. The city's economy was based on growing agricultural wealth from prosperous inland  farms which sent their surplus grains, cattle and horses for export. Entrepreneurs set up prosperous shipbuilding works on the Delaware River, and opened an iron industry. The Quaker merchants favored education and civic culture, creating a rich cultural and intellectual life that gave Philadelphia the nickname, "the Athens of America."

The [[Continental Congress]] met in Philadelphia, the largest city in Pennsylvania, and at the time, the largest city in any of the colonies. The [[Declaration of Independence]] was signed there, the [[Liberty Bell]] is there, and the [[Continental Army]] spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania.  The [[Constitution of the United States|American Constitution]] was written in [[Philadelphia]]. Pennsylvania was the 2nd State to join [[United States of America|the Union]] on December 12, 1787.

The [[Continental Congress]] met in Philadelphia from 1774 to 1783, with an interruption when the British occupied the city in 1777 and the government moved to Lancaster and York. The [[Declaration of Independence]] was signed there in 1776, the [[Liberty Bell]] is there, and the [[Continental Army]] spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge outside Philadelphia, where they suffered severe hardships for want of supplies.  

  The [[Constitution of the United States|American Constitution]] was written in [[Philadelphia]] in 1787. Pennsylvania was the 2nd State to join [[United States of America|the Union]] on December 12, 1787 and the city was the national capital from 1790 to 1800.  In 1790 the state adopted a more conservative state constitution; state capital was relocated in 1800 to  Lancaster, and then to Harrisburg in 1812. 

 

 

The need for Philadelphia to maintain access to the expanding interior  and the West, both as markets and as sources of materials, such as coal and iron, to be sold and manufactured, led to aggressive state programs to improve the transportation system. The  Philadelphia-Lancaster Turnpike, first in the nation, was completed in 1794; the state built hundreds of miles of canals; mules pulled boats loaded with commerce and passengers. The canal system was linked by the Allegheny Portage Railroad over the Allegheny mountains in 1835. Private enterprise built railroads that opened up the anthracitge coal region, which became the premier energy source for America by 1850. Philadelphia became an industrial city, famous for textiles, iron and steel, and railroad equipment along with commerce and shipbuilding.  Oil was discovered near Titusville in 1859.