Changes

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.

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'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.

==Politics==

==Politics==

==Name==

==Name==

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>  The name means "Penn's woods".

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>  The name means "Penn's woods".

* WPA Federal Writers' Project. ''Pennsylvania: A Guide to the Keystone State,''  1940.  

* WPA Federal Writers' Project. ''Pennsylvania: A Guide to the Keystone State,''  1940.  

==See Also==

==See also==

*[[Blue state]]s

*[[Blue state]]s

*[[Purple state]]s - swing states that can vote either [[Republican]] or [[Democrat]]

*[[Purple state]]s - swing states that can vote either [[Republican]] or [[Democrat]]

{{USstates}}

{{USstates}}

[[Category : States of the United States]]

[[Category:States of the United States]]

[[Category : Pennsylvania]]

[[Category:Pennsylvania]]

[[Category : Purple States]]

[[Category:Purple States]]