HISTORY 



141 



already covered in the vague grants made to the 

 New Kngland colonies \ "irginia and Maryland. 

 All the boundary-linens, however, were easily 

 settled, except that separating Pennsylvania 

 and Maryland, which was not defined until the 

 completion of the Mason and Dixon Survey, 

 in 1767. The original Swedish immigrants 

 readily coalesced with the Quaker colonists, 

 and the remarkable thrift of the people, com- 

 bined with their peaceful Indian policy, soon 

 made Pennsylvania a flourishing region. Large, 

 additional bodies of immigrants, Scotch-Irish 

 between 1715 and 1725, and Germans from 17.it> 

 onward, rapidly swelled population and wealth. 

 1 he government instituted by William Penn 

 remained in force until 1770, when the province ; 

 joined the other colonies in the fight for inde- 

 j>endence, and a provisional constitution was made | 

 by a convention presided over by Benjamin ! 

 Franklin. Philadelphia was occupied by the 

 British forces from September, 1777, to June, 

 1778. All the earlier sessions of the Continental 

 Congress were held in this city. The battle of 

 Germantown was fought within the present 

 chartered limits of the city in 1777. From 1790 

 to 1800 it was the seat of the Government of the 

 United States. In 1790, a new State constitu- 

 tion was formed. In 1794 occurred the disturb- 

 ance known as the "Whiskey Rebellion" in the 

 western part of the State, growing out of oppo- 

 sition to the excise laws. In 1799, the seat of 

 the State government was removed to Lancaster, 

 and thence in 1812 to Harrisburg, which still 

 remains the capital. In 1862, during the late 

 Civil War, the State was threatened with inva- 

 sion by the Confederates, but the tide of attack 

 then stopped with invading Maryland. In 1863 

 General Lee carried out his interrupted purpose, 

 and overran the south portion of the State to 

 within a short distance of Harrisburg. On his 

 retreat General Meade joined battle with him 

 at Gettysburg, near the Maryland line. The 

 battle, beginning July 1st, lasted three days, 

 resulting in the Confederate defeat. This Fed- 

 eral victory was probably the important turning- 

 point of the war. As the seventh in the geo- j 

 graphical order of the original States, Pennsyl- 

 .1 has become historically the "Keystone" 

 State. Disastrous riots occurred about Pitt- 

 here in 1X77 and 1892. In I'.HIX. 

 the famous "State House Cases" were brought 

 to trial, as the result of an alleged S:,,IHHI.IMIII 

 steal by the contractor- of the new State < apitol, 

 at Harrisburg. and their accompli* 



Persia. The original country of the Per- 

 sians occupied a small portion of modem I' 

 r.n the north of the IVr-ian (iulf. After being 

 under the Assyrians, and next under the Medes, 

 Cyrus (B. C. 559-529), by conquering and unit- 

 Media. Babylonia. |.\ dia. and all Via Minor. 



became the founder of UM iVr-ian Kmpin The 

 empire was further extended by hi- -on and 

 succe--or. Camb\-es i H. C. ;,_'. 622), \\ ho con- 

 quered Tyre. pi: and by 



I ariu- I. .'who -ubdned d Mace. I 



and a small part of India. Hi- -on \< 



i^i ir,:, h. C.) rednc. t. which had 



re\.)lted under his father, an.) also continued 

 the war against the European but 



Was defeated at Thennopyla- ami at Salami- 



(480 B. C.), and obliged to defend himself 

 against their attacks in a disastrous war. Artax- 

 erxes I. (465-425 B. C.) had a long and com 

 para lively |>eaceful reign. Art ax. rZM was fol- 

 lowed by Darius II. or Darius Nothus, Artax- 

 erxes II. (Mnemon), Artaxerxes III. (Ochus), 

 and Darius III. (Codomannus, 338-330 B. C.), 

 the last of this dynasty, known as the Achae- 

 menian Dynasty. He was defeated by Alex- 

 ander the Great in three battles, lost his life. 

 and the empire passed into the hands of his 

 conqueror. On the dissolution of the Mace- 

 donian Empire, after the death of Alexander 

 (323), Persia ultimately fell to his general, 

 Seleucus and his successors, the Seleucida 

 They reigned over it till 236 B. C., when the last 

 Seleucus was defeated and taken prisoner by 

 Arsaces I., the founder of the dynasty of the 

 Arsacidffi and of the Parthian Empire, of which 

 Persia formed a portion, and which lasted till 

 226 A. D. The supremacy was then recovered 

 by Persia in the person of Ardishfr Babigdn 

 (Artaxerxes), who obtained the sovereignty of 

 all Central Asia, and left it to his descendants, 

 the Sassanidre, so called from Sassan, the grand- 

 father of Ardishir. This dynasty continued to 

 reign for about 417 years, under twenty ix 

 sovereigns. The reign of Sapor II., called the 

 Great (310-381), and that of Chosroes I. (Kh..- 

 ru, 531-579), were perhaps the most notable of 

 the whole dynasty. The latter extended t he- 

 Persian Empire from the Mediterranean to the 

 Indus, from the Jaxartes to Arabia and the con- 

 fines of Egypt. He waged successful wars with 

 the Indians, Turks. Romans, and Arabs. Chos- 

 roes II. (591-628) made extensive conquests, 

 but lost them again in the middle of the reign 

 of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. Hi- -on 

 Ardishfr (Artaxerxes) III., but seven years old, 

 succeeded him, but was murdered a few days 

 after hi- B006MIOIL He was the last descendant 

 of the Sanssa'uUp in the male line. Numerous 

 revolutions now followed, until Ye/digerd III.. 

 a nephew of Chosroes II., ascended the throne 

 in ii:;j. at the age of sixteen. He was attacked 

 and defeated by Caliph Omar in M9-63G, and 

 Persia became for more than l.~><> \ 

 ince of the Mohammedan Kmpire. The Arab 

 conquest had a profound influence on Persian 

 life a- well a- on the language and n 

 The old Persian religion was given up in 

 of Mohammedani-m. only the (luebres. OF 

 Parsees, adhering to the faith of their fathers. 

 About the beginning of the Ninth Century the 

 IVr-ian territories began to be broken up into 

 numerous petty -tate-. The Seljuks. a Turkish 

 Dyna-ty. who first became |M>werful about HUT. 

 extended its dominions over several Persian 

 province-, an. I Malek-Shah. the mo-t |.. 

 of them, conquered also Georgia, S 

 .Via Minor. '1 hrough < lenghis Khan the I 

 and Mongols became dominant in IVr-ia about 

 nd they preserved t his a-celidency till the 

 beginning of 'the Fifteenth <Vntur\ 



^7) Tiimirleiik (Tamerlane at the 



head of a Hew horde of Mongol-, who conquered 



Persia and filled the world from Hindustan to 

 <. Minor \\ith terror, hut 

 the death of this famous conqueror in 1 I' 

 followed not long after by the downfall of the 



