Thehistory of Pennsylvania is traceable to the first modernindigenous peoples that occupied the area of present-dayPennsylvania. These included theLenape,Susquehannocks,Iroquois,Erie,Shawnee, Arandiqiouia, and otherAmerican Indian tribes.
The area was first colonized by theDutch in 1643.TheEnglish took control of the colony in 1667.[clarify] In 1681, Pennsylvania became anEnglish colony whenWilliam Penn received a royal deed fromKing Charles II of England.
Penn, aQuaker, established his colony based onreligious tolerance; it was settled by many Quakers along withPhiladelphia, its largest city, which was also the first planned city. In the mid-1700s, the colony attracted manyGerman andScots-Irish immigrants. Most of these tribes were driven off or reduced to remnants as a result of diseases, such assmallpox.
While each of theThirteen Colonies contributed to theAmerican Revolution, Pennsylvania, and especially Philadelphia, was a center for the early planning and ultimate formalization of rebellion againstKing George III and theKingdom of Great Britain, which was then the most powerful political and military empire in the world.
Philadelphia served as the capital of the new United States between New York City and the establishment ofWashington, D.C.. During the 19th century, Pennsylvania established its northwestern, northeastern, and southwestern borders, andPittsburgh emerged as one of the nation's largest and most prominent cities of the day. The state played an important role in theUnion's victory in theAmerican Civil War. Following the war, Pennsylvania grew into aRepublican political stronghold and a major manufacturing and transportation center.
During the 20th century, following theGreat Depression in the 1930s andWorld War II in the 1940s, Pennsylvania moved away from being dominated by industry and farming and towards theservice andfinancial sectors economically and became aswing state politically.
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Pennsylvania's history of human habitation extends to thousands of years before the foundation of theProvince of Pennsylvania.Archaeologists generally believe that the firstsettlement of the Americas occurred at least 15,000 years ago during thelast glacial period, though it is unclear when humans first entered present-day Pennsylvania. There is an open debate in the archaeological community regarding when the ancestors ofNative Americans expanded across the two continents to the tip ofSouth America, with the range of estimates being between 30,000 and 10,500 years ago.[1] TheMeadowcroft Rockshelter contains the earliest known signs of human activity in Pennsylvania, and perhaps all of North America,[2] as it contains the remains of a civilization that existed over 10,000 years ago and possibly pre-dated theClovis culture.[3][2] By 1000 C.E., in contrast to their nomadichunter-gathererancestors, the native population of Pennsylvania had developed agricultural techniques and a mixed food economy.[4]
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 theSt. 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 larger 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 thatEuropean colonization of the Americas began, severalNative American tribes inhabited the region.[3] TheLenape spoke anAlgonquian language, and inhabited an area known as theLenapehoking, which was mostly made up of the state ofNew Jersey, but incorporated a lot of surrounding area, including eastern Pennsylvania. Their territory ended somewhere between theDelaware andSusquehanna rivers in the state. TheSusquehannock spoke anIroquoian language and held a region spanning fromNew York toWest Virginia, that went from the area surrounding the Susquehanna River all the way to the Allegheny andMonongahela Rivers near present-day Pittsburgh.[9]
European disease and constant warfare with several neighbors and groups of Europeans weakened these tribes, and they were grossly outpaced financially as the Hurons and Iroquois blocked them from proceeding intoOhio during theBeaver Wars. As they lost numbers and land, they abandoned much of their western territory and moved closer to the Susquehanna River and the Iroquois and Mohawk to the north. Northwest of the Allegheny River was the IroquoianPetun,[10] known mostly for their vast tobacco plantations, although this is believed to be complete fabrication.[11] They were fragmented into three groups during theBeaver Wars, the Petun of New York, theWyandot of Ohio, and the Tiontatecaga of theKanawha River in southernWest Virginia. Their size was much larger than previously thought, evidenced by Kentatentonga being used on the Jean Louis Baptiste Franquelin map, a known name for Petun, showing them with Pennsylvania bounds and with 19 villages destroyed and using Tiontatecaga, mimicking the Petun autonym, Tionontati.[12] South of the Alleghany River was, allegedly, a nation known as the Calicua (probably Kah-dee-kwuh), or Cali.[citation needed] They may have been the same as theMonongahela Culture and very little is known about them, except that they were probably a Siouan culture. Archaeological sites from this time in this region are scarce and the very few historical sources even mention them—most of these sources only coming from those who met Calicua traders further east on the Allegheny.
A tribe known as the Trokwae were said to have settled by the westernmost Susquehannocks along theOhio River.[13] They may be the same as theTockwogh, 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 andOneida—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.[14] In the end, the French pushed the Iroquois back to the Ohio-Pemnsylvania 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 asShamokin,Lenape,Tutelo,Saponi,Piscataway, andNanticoke.[15][16] 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 andNanticoke tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy.[17]
In the 1680s, conflicts with the sons ofWilliam Penn resulted in theWalking 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.[18]
Other tribes would pass through, such as the firstShawnee, after they broke away from the Algonquian tribes based in present-dayVirginia on theeast coast. They soon after merged with other tribes in present-dayOhio,Kentucky, andWest Virginia to form a massive confederacy that held much of the eastern Ohio River Valley until theShawnee Wars in 1811–1813.[3] Like the other indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Native Americans of Pennsylvania suffered from amassive loss in population caused by disease following the beginning of theColumbian Exchange in 1492.[19] TheMonongahela culture of southwestern Pennsylvania suffered such large losses that it was nearly extinct by the time Europeans arrived in the region in the 17th century.[20]
Long-term Europeanexploration of the Americas commenced after the 1492 expedition ofChristopher Columbus, and the 1497 expedition ofJohn Cabot is credited with discovering continentalNorth America for Europeans.European exploration of North America continued in the 16th century, and the area now known as Pennsylvania was mapped by the French and labeledL'arcadia, or "wooded coast", duringGiovanni da Verrazzano's voyage in 1524.[21] Even before large-scale European settlement, the Native American tribes in Pennsylvania engaged in trade with Europeans, and thefur trade was a major motivation for the European colonization of North America.[20] The fur trade also sparked wars among Native American tribes, including theBeaver Wars, which saw theIroquois Confederacy rise in power. In the 17th century, theDutch,Swedish, andBritish all competed for southeastern Pennsylvania, while theFrench expanded into parts ofwestern Pennsylvania.
In 1638, theKingdom of Sweden, then one of thegreat powers in Europe, established the colony of New Sweden in the area of the present-dayMid-Atlantic states. The colony was established byPeter Minuit, the former governor of New Netherland, who established thefur trading colony over the objections of the Dutch. New Sweden was centered on theDelaware River with a capital atFort Christina (nearWilmington, Delaware), and extended into very southeasternmost modern-day Pennsylvania. In 1643, New Sweden GovernorJohan Björnsson Printz established Fort Nya Gothenburg, the first European settlement in Pennsylvania, onTinicum Island. Printz also built his own home,The Printzhof, on the island.
In 1609, theDutch Republic, in the midst of theDutch Golden Age, commissionedHenry Hudson to explore North America. Shortly thereafter, the Dutch established the colony of New Netherland to profit from theNorth American fur trade. In 1655, during theSecond Northern War, the Dutch underPeter Stuyvesant captured New Sweden. Although Sweden never again controlled land in the area, several Swedish andFinnish colonists remained, and with their influence came America's firstlog cabins.
TheKingdom of England had established theColony of Virginia in 1607 and the adjacentMaryland Palatinate in 1632. England also claimed the Delaware River watershed based on the explorations ofJohn Cabot,John Smith, andFrancis Drake. The English named the Delaware River forThomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, the Governor of the Virginia colony from 1610 until 1618. During theSecond Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667), the English took control of the Dutch (and former Swedish) holdings in North America. At the end of theThird Anglo-Dutch War, the 1674Treaty of Westminster permanently confirmed England's control of the region.
Following the voyages ofGiovanni da Verrazzano andJacques Cartier, the French established a permanent colony inNew France in the 17th century to exploit theNorth American fur trade. During the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the French expanded New France across present day Eastern Canada into theGreat Lakes region, and colonized the areas around theMississippi River as well. New France expanded into western Pennsylvania by the 18th century, as the French builtFort Duquesne to defend theOhio 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 oftenallied with Spain, the only other remaining European power with holdings in continental North America. Beginning in 1688 withKing William's War (part of theNine Years' War), France and England engaged in aseries of wars for dominance over Northern America. The wars continued until the end of theFrench and Indian War in 1763, when France lost New France.
On March 4, 1681,Charles II of England granted the Province of Pennsylvania to William Penn to settle a debt of £16,000[22] (around £2,100,000 in 2008, adjusting for retail inflation)[23] that the king owed toPenn's father. Pennsylvania was one of the two majorRestoration colonies. Penn founded aproprietary colony that provided a place of religious freedom forQuakers. Charles named the colonyPennsylvania ("Penn's woods" in Latin), after the elder Penn, which the younger Penn found embarrassing, as he feared people would think he had named the colony after himself. Pennlanded in North America in October 1682, and founded the colonial capital,Philadelphia, that same year.
In addition to English Quakers, Pennsylvania attracted several other ethnic and religious groups, many of whom were fleeing persecution and the religious wars.Welsh Quakers settled a large tract of land north and west of Philadelphia, in what are nowMontgomery,Chester, andDelaware counties. This area became known as the "Welsh Tract", and many cities and towns were named for points in Wales. The colony's reputation of religious freedom and tolerance also attracted significant populations ofGerman,Scots-Irish, Scots, and French settlers. Many of the settlers worshiped a brand ofChristianity disfavored by the government of their homeland, includingHuguenots,Puritans,Calvinists,Mennonites, andCatholics, who migrated to colonial-era Pennsylvania to exercise their religion freely. Other groups, includingAnglicans and Jews, migrated to Pennsylvania, while Pennsylvania also had a significant African-American population by 1730. Additionally, several Native American tribes lived in the area under their own jurisdiction. Settlers ofSwedish andDutch colonies that had been taken over by the British continued to live in the region.[3][24]
To give his new province access to the ocean, Penn had leased the proprietary rights of the KingCharles II's brother,James, Duke of York, to the "three lower counties" (now the state ofDelaware) on the Delaware River. In Penn'sFrame 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 theLower Counties and theUpper Counties. The meeting place for the assembly alternated between Philadelphia andNew Castle. In 1704, after disagreements between the upper and lower counties, the lower counties began meeting in a separate assembly. Province of Pennsylvania andDelaware continued to share the same royal governor until theAmerican Revolutionary War, when both Pennsylvania and Delaware became states.[24]
Penn died in 1718, and was succeeded asproprietor of the colony by his sons. While Penn had won the respect of theLenape for his honest dealing, Penn's sons and agents were less sensitive to Native American concerns.[20] The 1737Walking Purchase expanded the colony, but caused a decline in relations with theLenape.[20] Pennsylvania continued to expand and settle in the areas to the West until theRoyal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade all settlers from settling on the western side of theAppalachian Mountains. Meanwhile, Philadelphia became an important port and trading center. TheUniversity of Pennsylvania was founded during this period, andBenjamin Franklin established various other organizations such as theAmerican Philosophical Society, theUnion Fire Company, and thePennsylvania Abolition Society. By the start of theAmerican Revolution, Philadelphia was the largest city in British North America.[25]
The western portions of Pennsylvania were among disputed territory between the colonial British and French during theFrench and Indian War (the North American component of theSeven Years' War). The French had established numerous fortified sites in Pennsylvania, includingFort Le Boeuf,Fort Presque Isle,Fort Machault, and the pivotalFort Duquesne, located near the present site ofPittsburgh. Many Indian tribes wereallied with the French because of their long trading history and opposition to the expansion of the British colonies. The conflict began near the present site ofUniontown, Pennsylvania when a company of Virginia militia under the command ofGeorge Washington ambushed a French force at theBattle of Jumonville Glen in 1754. Washington retreated toFort Necessity and surrendered to a larger French force at theBattle of Fort Necessity. In 1755, the British sentBraddock Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne, but the expedition ended in failure after the British lost theBattle of the Monongahela near present-dayBraddock, Pennsylvania. In 1758, the British sent theForbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. The French won theBattle of Fort Duquesne, but after the battle the outnumbered French force demolished Fort Duquesne and retreated from the area. Fighting in North America had mostly come to an end by 1760, but the war continued until the signing of theTreaty of Paris in 1763.Britain's victory in the war helped secure Pennsylvania's frontier, as theOhio Country came under formal British control. AlthoughNew France was no more, the French would deal their British rivals a major blow in theAmerican Revolution byaiding the rebel cause.
During theFrench 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 GovernorRobert Morris and the Pennsylvania Assembly. Morris wanted to send military forces to the frontier, but the Assembly, whose leadership includedBenjamin 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.[26]
Shortly after the end of theFrench and Indian War, Indians attempted to drive the British out ofOhio country inPontiac's Rebellion. The war, which began in 1763, saw heavy fighting in western Pennsylvania. The native forces were defeated in theBattle of Bushy Run. The war lasted until 1766, when the British made peace. During the war, the king issued theProclamation Act. The act barred Americans from any settling west of the Appalachians, and reserved thatterritory for the Native Americans. Fighting between Native Americans and Americans in present-day Pennsylvania continued inLord Dunmore's War and theRevolutionary War. Native American tribes ceased to pose a military threat to European settlers in Pennsylvania after the conclusion of theNorthwest Indian War in 1795.[27]
By the mid-18th century Pennsylvania was basically a middle-class colony with limited deference to the small upper-class. A writer in thePennsylvania Journal in 1756 summed it up:
Pennsylvania's residents generally supported the protests common to allThirteen Colonies after theProclamation of 1763 and theStamp Act were passed, and Pennsylvania sent delegates to theStamp Act Congress in 1765 Philadelphia hosted thefirst andsecondContinental Congress.
Gathered in the present-dayIndependence Hall in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress founded theContinental Army, appointedGeorge Washington as its commander, and, on July 4, 1776, unanimously adopted theDeclaration of Independence, which both formalized and escalated theAmerican Revolutionary War.
Pennsylvania was the site of several battles and military activities during the Revolutionary War, includingGeorge Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, theBattle of Brandywine, and theBattle of Germantown. During thePhiladelphia campaign, the rebel army of George Washington spent the winter of 1777–78 atValley Forge, Pennsylvania. In 1781, theArticles of Confederation were written and adopted inYork, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia continued to serve as thecapital of the fledgling nation until thePennsylvania Mutiny of 1783. Notable Pennsylvanians whosupported the Revolution includeJohn Dickinson,Robert Morris,Anthony Wayne,Samuel Van Leer,James Wilson, andThomas Mifflin. However, Pennsylvania was also home to numerousLoyalists, includingJoseph Galloway,William Allen, and theDoan Outlaws.[29]
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 astate constitution. A committee was formed withBenjamin Franklin as chair andGeorge Bryan andJames Cannon as prominent members. The new constitution on September 28, 1776, called for new elections.[30]
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 aSupreme Executive Council whose members were to be appointed by the assembly. During elections in 1776, radicals gained control of the Assembly. By early 1777, they had selected an executive council, andThomas 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.
After theContinental Army's defeat at theBattle of Brandywine inChadds Ford Township on September 11, 1777, the revolutionary capital ofPhiladelphia was left defenseless and American patriots began preparing for an imminent British attack on the city.Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council ordered that 11 bells, including the State House Bell, now known as theLiberty Bell, and bells from Philadelphia'sChrist Church andSt. Peter's Church, be taken down and moved out of Philadelphia to prevent the British from melting the bells down to cast into munitions. The bells were transported north to present-dayAllentown by two farmers and wagon masters, John Snyder and Henry Bartholomew, and hidden under floorboards in the basement ofZion Reformed Church in what is nowCenter City Allentown, just prior to the British capture of Philadelphia in September 1777.
In 1780, Pennsylvania passed alaw that provided for the gradualabolition of slavery, making Pennsylvania the first state to pass an act to abolish slavery, althoughVermont (not yet a state) had also previously abolished slavery.[31] Children born after that date to slave mothers were considered legally free, but they were bound inindentured servitude to the master of their mother until the age of 28.
Six years after the adoption of theArticles of Confederation, delegates from across the country met again at thePhiladelphia Convention to establish a new constitution. Pennsylvania ratified theU.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, the second state to do so afterDelaware.[32] The Constitution took effect after eleven states ratified the document in 1788, andGeorge Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on March 4, 1789.
After the passage of theResidence Act,Philadelphia again served as thecapital of the nation from 1790 to 1800 prior to the development ofWashington, D.C. as the nation's new capital.
Pennsylvania ratified a new state constitution in 1790, which replaced the state's executive council with agovernor and abicameral legislature.
Pennsylvania's borders took definitive shape in the decades before and after the Revolutionary War. TheMason–Dixon line established the borders between Pennsylvania andMaryland, and was later extended to serve as the border between Pennsylvania andVirginia, except for what is present-dayWest Virginia's northern panhandle. Although some settlers proposed the creation of the state ofWestsylvania in the area that now containsPittsburgh, Pennsylvania retained control of the region. The firstTreaty of Fort Stanwix and the Treaty ofFort McIntosh[27] saw Native Americans relinquish claims on present-daysouthwestern Pennsylvania. TheTreaty of Paris (1783) granted the United States independence, and also saw Great Britain give up its land claims in the neighboringOhio Country, although most of these lands ultimately became new states under the terms of theNorthwest Ordinance of 1787. In thesecond Treaty of Fort Stanwix, Pennsylvania gained control of northwestern Pennsylvania from theIroquois League. TheNew York–Pennsylvania border was established in 1787. Pennsylvania purchased theErie Triangle from the federal government in 1792. In 1799, thePennamite–Yankee War came to an end, as Pennsylvania kept control of theWyoming Valley despite the presence of settlers fromConnecticut.
After theU.S. government granted land toRevolutionary War soldiers for military service, thePennsylvania 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 theAllegheny 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 inPotter,McKean,Cameron,Elk, andJefferson counties, at the time worthless tracts. West Allegheny district was made up of lands inErie,Crawford,Warren, andVenango counties, relatively good investments at the time.
Three major land companies participated in the land speculation that followed.Holland Land Company and its agent,Theophilus Cazenove acquired 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2) of East Allegheny district land and 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) of West Allegheny land fromPennsylvania Supreme Court justiceJames Wilson. The Pennsylvania Population Company and its president, Pennsylvania State Comptroller GeneralJohn Nicholson, controlled 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) of land, mostly in Erie County and theBeaver Valley. The North American Land Company and its patron,Robert Morris, held some Pennsylvania lands but was vested mostly in upstate New York, former Iroquois territory.[33]
TheWhiskey Rebellion, centered inWestern Pennsylvania, was one of the first major challenges to the new federal government under theUnited States Constitution. From 1791 to 1794, farmers rebelled against an excise tax on distilled spirits, and prevented federal officials from collecting the tax. In 1794, PresidentGeorge Washington led a 15,000-soldier militia force into Western Pennsylvania to put down the rebellion, and most rebels returned home before the huge militia force arrived.[34]
Pennsylvania, one of the largest states in the country, always had thesecond most electoral votes from 1796 to 1960. From 1789 to 1880, the state onlyvoted for two losing presidential candidates:Thomas Jefferson (in1796) andAndrew Jackson (in the unusual1824 election). TheDemocratic-Republicans dominated the state for most of theFirst Party System, as theFederalists experienced little success in the state after the1800 election. Pennsylvania generally supportedAndrew Jackson and theDemocratic Party in theSecond Party System (1828–54), although theWhigswon several elections in the 1840s and 1850s. TheAnti-Masonic Party was perhaps Pennsylvania's most successful third party, as itelected Pennsylvania's only third-partygovernor (Joseph Ritner) and several congressmen in the 1830s.
Several Pennsylvanians fought in theWar of 1812, includingJacob Brown,John Barry, andStephen Decatur. Decatur, who served in bothBarbary Wars and theQuasi-War, was one of America's first post-Revolution war heroes.CommodoreOliver Hazard Perry earned the title "Hero of Lake Erie" after building a squadron atErie, Pennsylvania and defeating a smaller British squadron at theBattle of Lake Erie. Pennsylvanians such asDavid Conner fought in theMexican–American War, and Pennsylvania raised two regiments for the war. Pennsylvania CongressmanDavid Wilmot earned national prominence for theWilmot Proviso, which would have banned slavery in territory acquired from Mexico.[35]
Philadelphia continued to be one of themost populous cities in the country, and it was the second-largest city afterNew York City for most of the 19th century. In 1854, theAct of Consolidation consolidated the city and county of Philadelphia. TheAcademy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and theFranklin Institute were founded during this period. Philadelphia served as the home of theBank of North America and its successors, theFirst andSecond Bank of the United States, all three of which served as thecentral bank of the United States. Philadelphia was also home to the first stock exchange, museum, insurance company, and medical school in the new nation.[25]
Settlers continued to cross theAllegheny Mountains. Pennsylvanians built many new roads, and theNational Road cut throughSouthwestern Pennsylvania.[39] Pennsylvania also saw the construction of thousands of miles of rail, and thePennsylvania Railroad became one of the largest railroads in the world.[39]Pittsburgh grew into an important town West of the Alleghenies, although theGreat Fire of Pittsburgh devastated the town in the 1840s. In 1834, Pennsylvania completed construction on theMain Line of Public Works, a railroad and canal system that stretched across southern Pennsylvania, connecting Philadelphia andPittsburgh. In 1812,Harrisburg was named the capital of the state, providing a more central location than Philadelphia.
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 asFrederick 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.[40]
In 1834, GovernorGeorge Wolf signed the Free Schools Act, which created a system of state-regulated school districts. The state created theDepartment of Education to oversee these schools. In 1857, the Normal School Act laid the foundation for the creation of normal schools to train teachers.[41]
Several Pennsylvania politicians gained national renown.Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania served as the nation's firstSpeaker of the House of Representatives.Albert Gallatin served as theSecretary of the Treasury from 1801 to 1814. DemocratJames Buchanan, the firstPresident of the United States from Pennsylvania, took office in 1857 and served until 1861.
Prior to and during theAmerican Civil War, Pennsylvania was a divided state. Although Pennsylvania had outlawed slavery, there were still Pennsylvanians who believed that thefederal government should not interfere with theinstitution of slavery. One such individual was DemocratJames Buchanan, the last pre-Civil War president. Buchanan's party had generally wonpresidential andgubernatorial elections in Pennsylvania.
The nascent Republican Party'sfirst convention took place atMusical Fund Hall onLocust Street inPhiladelphia. In the1860 elections, theRepublican Party won the state's presidential vote and the governor's office.
After the failure of theCrittenden Compromise, thesecession of the South, and theBattle of Fort Sumter, the Civil War began with Pennsylvania as a key member of theUnion. Despite the Republican victory in the 1860 election, Democrats remained powerful in the state, and severalcopperheads called for peace during the war. The Democrats retook control of the state legislature in the 1862 election, but incumbent Republican GovernorAndrew Curtin retained control of the governorship in1863. In the1864 election, PresidentLincoln narrowly defeated Pennsylvania nativeGeorge B. McClellan for the state's electoral votes.[42]
Pennsylvania was the target of several raids by theConfederate States Army.J.E.B. Stuart made cavalry raids in 1862 and 1863;John Imboden raided in 1863 andJohn McCausland in 1864, when his troopers burned the city ofChambersburg. However, easily the most famous and important military engagement in Pennsylvania was theBattle of Gettysburg, which is considered by many historians to be themajor turning point of the Civil War. The battle, called "thehigh water mark of the Confederacy", was a major union victory in theEastern theater of the war, and the Confederacy was generally on the defensive following the battle. Dead from this battle rest atGettysburg National Cemetery, established at the site of Abraham Lincoln'sGettysburg Address. A number of smaller engagements were also fought in the state during theGettysburg campaign, including the battles ofHanover,Carlisle,Hunterstown, and theFairfield.
Pennsylvania'sThaddeus Stevens andWilliam D. Kelley emerged as leading members of theRadical Republicans, a group of Republicans that advocated winning the war, abolishing slavery, and protecting the civil rights of African-Americans duringReconstruction. Pennsylvania generals who served in the war includeGeorge G. Meade,Winfield Scott Hancock,John Hartranft, andJohn F. Reynolds.GovernorAndrew Curtin strongly supported the war andurged his fellow governors to do the same, while former Pennsylvania SenatorSimon Cameron served asSecretary of War before his removal.
Following theCivil War, the Republican Party exercised strong control over politics in the state, as Republicanswon almost every election during theThird Party System (1854–1894) and the Party System (1896–1930). Pennsylvania remained one of the most populous states in the Union, and the state'slarge number of electoral votes helped Republicans dominate presidential elections from 1860 to 1928. Only once during that period did Pennsylvaniavote for a presidential candidate that was not a Republican; the lone exception was former Republican PresidentTheodore Roosevelt in1912. The Republican Party was nearly as dominant ingubernatorial elections, asRobert E. Pattison was the lone non-Republican to win election as governor between 1860 and 1930. In the 1870s, Pennsylvanians embraced the constitutional reform movement that was sweeping across several states, and Pennsylvania passed a new constitution in 1874.[43] The state created the office oflieutenant governor and made the offices ofstate auditor andstate treasurer into elective offices.[43] The term of theGovernor of Pennsylvania was extended to four years, but the governor was prohibited from serving two consecutive terms.[43]
ThePennsylvania Republican party was led by a series of powerful officials, including founderSimon Cameron, his sonJ. Donald Cameron,Matthew Quay, andBoies Penrose.[44] Quay in particular was one of the dominant political figures of his era, as he served as chairman of theRepublican National Committee and helped placeTheodore Roosevelt on the 1900 Republican ticket.[45] Following Penrose's death in the 1920s, no one boss dominated the state party, but Pennsylvania Republicans continued to be significantly more powerful than the Democrats until the 1950s.[44] Although the party bosses dominated politics, the Republicans also had a reform movement that challenged their power.[46] Many Pennsylvanians supported theProgressive movement, includingPhilander C. Knox,Gifford Pinchot, andJohn Tener.[47] Several new state agencies were established during this time, including the Department of Welfare and the Department of Labor and Industry.[43] Pennsylvanians twice rejected an amendment to the state constitution that would have grantedwomen the right to vote, but the state was one of the first to ratify theNineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote nationwide.[43]
The era after the Civil War, known as theGilded Age, saw the continued rise of industry in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was home to some of the largest steel companies in the world.Andrew Carnegie founded theCarnegie Steel Company andCharles M. Schwab foundedBethlehem Steel. Other industry titans, includingJohn D. Rockefeller andJay Gould, operated in the state. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S.oil industry was born in western Pennsylvania, which supplied the vast majority ofkerosene for years thereafter. As thePennsylvanian oil rush developed, the oil boom towns, such asTitusville, rose and fell. Coal mining was also a major industry in the state.
In 1903,Milton S. Hershey began construction on a chocolate factory inHershey, Pennsylvania;The Hershey Company would become the largest chocolate manufacturer inNorth America. TheHeinz Company was also founded during this period. These huge companies exercised a large influence on the politics of Pennsylvania; asHenry Demarest Lloyd put it, oil baronJohn D. Rockefeller "had done everything with the Pennsylvania legislature except refine it".[48][46] Pennsylvania created a Department of Highways and engaged in a vast program of road-building, while railroads continued to see heavy usage.[43]
The growth of industry eventually provided middle-class incomes to working-class households, after the development of labor unions helped them gain living wages. However, the rise of unions led to a rise ofunion busting, with several private police forces springing up.[48] Pennsylvania was the location of the first documented organized strike in North America, and Pennsylvania experienced theGreat Railroad Strike of 1877 and theCoal Strike of 1902. Eventually, the eight-hour day was adopted, and the "coal and iron police" were banned.[49][43] Similarly In 1922, 310,000 Pennsylvania miners went on strike during theUMW General coal strike.[50][51]
During this period, the United States was the destination of millions of immigrants. Previous immigration had mostly come fromwestern and northern Europe, but during this period Pennsylvania experienced heavy immigration fromsouthern and eastern Europe.[43] As many new immigrants wereCatholic and Jewish, they changed the demographics of major cities and industrial areas. Pennsylvania and New York received many of the new immigrants, who entered through New York and Philadelphia and worked in the developing industries. Many of these poor immigrants took jobs in factories,steel mills, and coal mines throughout the state, where they were not restricted because of their lack of English. The availability of jobs and public education systems helped integrate the millions of immigrants and their families, who also retained ethnic cultures. Pennsylvania also experienced theGreat Migration, in which millions of African Americans migrated from the southern United States to other locations in the United States. By 1940, African Americans made up almost five percent of the state's population.[43]
Even prior to the Civil War in the mid-19th century, Pennsylvania had emerged as a center of scientific discovery, and the state, led by its two major urban centers, continued to be a major place of innovation. The state continued to innovate, as Pennsylvanians invented the first iron and steelt-rails, iron bridges,air brakes, switching signals, and drawn metal wires. Pennsylvanians also contributed to advances in aluminum production, radio, television, airplanes, and farm machinery. During this period,Pittsburgh emerged as an important center of industry and technological innovation, andGeorge Westinghouse became one of the preeminent inventors of the United States.[52] Philadelphia became one of the leading medical science centers in the nation, although it no longer rivaled New York City as a financial capital.[43]Frederick Winslow Taylor pioneered the field ofscientific management, becoming America's first "efficiency engineer".[43] In 1890, Chicago had passed Philadelphia as thesecond most populous city in the United States, while Pittsburgh rose to the eighth spot after annexingAllegheny.
Education continued to be a major issue in the state, and the state constitution of 1874 guaranteed an annual appropriation for education.[43] 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.[43] Two of Pennsylvania's largest public schools were founded in the mid-to-late 19th century. ThePennsylvania State University was founded in 1855, and in 1863 the school became Pennsylvania'sland-grant university under the terms of theMorrill Land-Grant Acts.Temple University in Philadelphia was founded in 1884 byRussell Conwell, originally as a night school for working-class citizens.
Other colleges and universities, includingBucknell University,Carnegie Mellon University,Drexel University,Duquesne University,La Salle University,Lafayette College,Lehigh University,Saint Francis University,Saint Joseph's University, andVillanova University, were founded in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Western University of Pennsylvania had been operating since 1787; in 1908, it changed its name to theUniversity of Pittsburgh. TheCarlisle Indian Industrial School was founded in 1879 as the flagshipAmerican Indian boarding school. Thousands of Pennsylvanians volunteered during theSpanish–American War, and many Pennsylvanians fought in the successful campaign against the Spanish in thePhilippine Islands. Pennsylvania was an important industrial center inWorld War I, and the state provided over 300,000 soldiers for the army. PennsylvaniansTasker H. Bliss,Peyton C. March, andWilliam S. Sims all held important commands during the war. Following the war, the state suffered the effects of theSpanish flu.[43]
Like much of the rest of the country, Democrats were much more successful in Pennsylvania during theFifth Party System than they were in the previous two party systems. TheGreat Depression finally broke the lock on Republican power in the state, as DemocratFranklin Roosevelt won Pennsylvania's electoral votesin all three of his re-election campaigns. Roosevelt was the first Democrat to win the state's electoral votes sinceJames Buchanan in 1856. In 1934, Pennsylvania electedJoseph F. Guffey to the Senate andGeorge Earle III as governor; both individuals were the first Democrats elected to either office in the 20th century. Earle, with the help of a Democratic legislature, passed the "Little New Deal" in Pennsylvania, which included several reforms based on theNew Deal and relaxed Pennsylvania's strictBlue laws.[53][54] However, Republicans regained power in the state in the 1938 elections, and Democrats would not win another gubernatorial election untilGeorge M. Leader's successful candidacy in1954.[44]
Earle signed the Pennsylvania State Authority Act in 1936, which would purchase land from the state and add improvements to that land using state loans and grants. The state expected to receive federal grants and loans to fund the project under the administration of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and hisNew Deal. ThePennsylvania Supreme Court, inKelly v Earle, found the Act violated the state constitution.[55] This prevented the state from receiving federal funds forWorks Progress Administration projects and making it difficult to lower the extremely high unemployment rate. Pennsylvania, with its large industrial labor force, suffered heavily during the Great Depression.[43]
Pennsylvania manufactured 6.6 percent of total United States military armaments produced duringWorld War II, ranking sixth among the 48 states.[56] ThePhiladelphia Naval Yard served as an important naval base, and Pennsylvania produced important military leaders such asGeorge C. Marshall,Hap Arnold,Jacob Devers, andCarl Spaatz.
During World War II, over one million Pennsylvanians served in theUnited States Armed Forces, and moreMedals of Honor were awarded to Pennsylvanians than to individuals from any other state.[43]
The Republican lock on Pennsylvania was broken in the era afterWorld War II, and Pennsylvania became a somewhat less powerful state in terms of electoral votes and number ofHouse seats. Pennsylvania adopted its fifth andcurrent constitution in 1968; the new constitution established aunified judicial system and allows governors and the other statewide elected officials to serve two consecutive terms.[57]
Between 1954 and 2012, each party consistently won two straightgubernatorial elections before ceding control to the other party. Inpresidential elections, the Republican Party won Pennsylvania in seven of the eleven elections between 1948 and 1988, but Democrats have won the state in every presidential election from 1992 to 2012. When Democratic presidential nomineeHubert Humphrey won Pennsylvania's electoral votes in1968, he became the first non-Republican since 1824 to win Pennsylvania's votes without winning the presidential election. After having thesecond most electoral votes since the 18th century, Pennsylvania was eclipsed in electoral votes by California in 1964.Texas and Florida also now have more electoral votes, while New York also has more electoral votes andIllinois has the same number of electoral votes (and a slightly largerpopulation).
As of 2014[update], Pennsylvania is generally considered to be an importantswing state in both presidential and congressional elections, and Pennsylvania has aCook PVI of D+1. Since the 1990s, Republicans haveusually controlled both houses of the legislature, while candidates from both parties have been elected to the statewide offices ofgovernor,lieutenant governor,attorney general,treasurer, andauditor general. Democrats generally win the cities and Republicans win the rural areas, with the suburbs voting for both parties and often acting as the key swing areas.[58]
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 inPhiladelphia andPittsburgh. 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.[59]
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.[60] 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.[61] 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.[62]
On September 11, 2001, during theterrorist attacks on the United States, the small town ofShanksville, Pennsylvania received worldwide attention afterUnited Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field inStonycreek 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 theWorld 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.[63]
Philadelphia is the nation's sixth-largest city afterNew York City,Los Angeles,Chicago,Houston, andPhoenix. Philadelphia anchors the nation'ssixth-largestmetropolitan area. known as theDelaware Valley. Pittsburgh is the center ofGreater Pittsburgh, the nation's 22nd-largest metropolitan area. In eastern Pennsylvania, theLehigh Valley has grown to the nation's 68th-largest metropolitan area as of 2020.[64] Pennsylvania also hassix other metropolitan areas that rank among the nation's 200-largest metropolitan areas. Philadelphia is the second-largest city in theNortheast megalopolis afterNew York City and is a core population center in theNortheastern United States. Pittsburgh, the state's second-largest city, is part of theGreat Lakes Megalopolis and is often associated with theMidwestern United States. Both Allentown and Pittsburgh are considered part of theRust Belt, a region of the United States negatively impacted bydeindustrialization in the late 20th century.
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