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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 [[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.  

===Early national period===

===Early national period===

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 [[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 population grew with high birth rates, and low death rates, but little immigration. Scotch Irish filled out the frontier. A strong sense of commitment to [[Jeffersonian Democracy]] and [[Jacksonian Democracy]] gave the Jeffersonian Republicans and (after 1830) the Democratsa strong position. The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 saw western farmers angrily protest the federal tax on their most portable product. President Washington personally led an army against it, and the rebels immediately gave in. A new and more democratic state

The population grew with high birth rates, and low death rates, but little immigration. Scotch Irish filled out the frontier. A strong sense of commitment to [[Jeffersonian Democracy]] and [[Jacksonian Democracy]] gave the Jeffersonian Republicans and (after 1830) the Democratsa strong position. The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 saw western farmers angrily protest the federal tax on their most portable product. President Washington personally led an army against it, and the rebels immediately gave in. A new and more democratic state constitution was adopted in 1838.  

  constitution was adopted in 1838.  

===Civil War Era===

===Civil War Era===

The antislavery movement flourished after Quaker originated the anti-slavery cause and freed their own slaves.  

The antislavery movement flourished after Quaker originated the anti-slavery cause and freed their own slaves.  

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.

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.  The world's first major oil wells were drilled near Titusville in 1859 and the northwestern part of the state became the center for [[Standard Oil]] and other companies.

 

Pennsylvania's only president, [[James Buchanan]], proved a failure in allowing seven southern states to break away under his watch.  During the war Gettysburg was the scene of the war's most decisive battle,  July 1-3, 1863--and Pennsylvania furnished men and leaders, including generals George B. McClellan, Winfield S. Hancock, and George Meade and Adm. David D. Porter, for the Union army and navy. Philadelphia banker, Jay Cooke was the leading financier of  the Civil War; he invented a sytstem of savings bonds that allowed ordinary people to help finance the war. Philadelphia continued as a financial leader in the nation until after  1870, when it was far overshadowed by New York.

Pennsylvania was named by the king after William Penn's father (Penn himself did not want the name used.)<ref>  

Pennsylvania was named by the king after William Penn's father (Penn himself did not want the name used.)<ref>  

He wrote, "This day, my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the King would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being as this, a pretty, hilly country, but Penn being Welsh for head as in Penmanmoire, in Wales, and Penrith, in Cumberland, and Penn, in Buckinghamshire . . . called this Pennsylvania, which is the high or head woodlands; for I proposed, when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania and they added Penn to it, and though I opposed it and went to the King to have it struck out and altered he said it was past . . nor could twenty guineas move the under-secretary to vary the name" See [http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts1.html#americaname source]</ref>

He wrote, "This day, my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the King would give it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, being as this, a pretty, hilly country, but Penn being Welsh for head as in Penmanmoire, in Wales, and Penrith, in Cumberland, and Penn, in Buckinghamshire . . . called this Pennsylvania, which is the high or head woodlands; for I proposed, when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania and they added Penn to it, and though I opposed it and went to the King to have it struck out and altered he said it was past . . nor could twenty guineas move the under-secretary to vary the name" See [http://www.britannia.com/celtic/wales/facts/facts1.html#americaname source]</ref>

 

== References ==

== References ==

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