PENNSYLVANIA 



4570 



PENNSYLVANIA 



Raritan Canal, extending across New Jersey, 

 and the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal fur- 

 nish outlets to the sea. Many of the rivers of 

 the state are made navigable by locks and are 

 connected by .canals, and the Ohio opens the 

 river route by way of the Mississippi to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Lake Erie, on the northwest, 

 gives Pennsylvania access to the commercial 

 highway of the Great Lakes. 



In 1829, at Honesdale, Pa., the first locomo- 

 tive in America was operated, and now there 

 are over 12,000 miles of railroad in the state, a 

 mileage exceeded only in Texas and Illinois. 



The most important roads are the Pennsyl- 

 vania; Philadelphia & Reading; Lehigh Val- 

 ley; Baltimore & Ohio; New York Central; 

 Erie; Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh; and the 

 Delaware, Lackawanna & Western. Philadel- 

 phia and Pittsburgh are the chief railroad cen- 

 ters. Railroads are controlled by a public utili- 

 ties commission, created in 1913. 



There are over 4,000 miles of electric rail- 

 way in the state, and there is interurban con- 

 nection between Philadelphia and New York 

 City. About 4,000 miles of the public roads 

 are surfaced. 



Government and History 



Government. The constitution of 1873, with 

 a few amendments, is the present basic law of 

 the state. Three other constitutions had been 

 previously adopted in 1776, 1790 and 1838. 

 Amendments may originate in either house of 

 the legislature and to become effective must be 

 adopted by two successive assemblies and must 

 receive the affirmative vote of the people. 

 Every male citizen twenty-one years of age 

 who has resided in the state one year and in 

 the district two months and has been a United 

 States citizen one month may vote. In 1915 an 

 amendment providing for woman's suffrage was 

 defeated by a large majority. 



Legislative Department. The lawmaking body 

 is the general assembly, consisting of a senate 

 and a house of representatives. One senator is 

 chosen from each of fifty senatorial districts, 

 and one-half of the body is elected every two 

 years. The representatives, 205 in number, are 

 elected for terms of two years and are appor- 

 tioned according to population. A two-thirds 

 vote of all members in each house of the assem- 

 bly is necessary to make appropriations of 

 money to a charitable or public institution not 

 under absolute control of the state. The legis- 

 lature meets on the first Tuesday in January, 

 in the odd-numbered years. There is no pre- 

 scribed limit to the length of the sessions. 



Executive Department. The power of ad- 

 ministering the government is vested in a 

 governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, 

 auditor, treasurer, attorney-general and super- 

 intendent of public instruction. The salary of 

 the governor is $10,000 per year. These officers 

 are elected for four years. 



Judiciary. The judicial department consists 

 of a supreme court and a superior court, each 

 having seven judges; courts of common pleas, 

 of oyer and terminer (courts having higher 



criminal jurisdiction), general jail delivery 

 courts, quarter sessions of the peace courts, 

 orphans' courts and magistrates' courts. All 

 judges are elected by the people, those of the 

 supreme court for twenty-one years and all 

 others for ten years. In 1913, electrocution was 

 substituted for hanging in cases of capital pun- 

 ishment. Workmen's compensation acts and 

 advanced child labor laws are in force. 



Earliest Settlement. Although Henry Hud- 

 son sailed into Delaware Bay in 1609, laying 

 the foundation for the Dutch claim to the bay 

 and river, and Dutch trading posts were 

 founded on the east side of the stream, the 

 first settlement in what is now Pennsylvania 

 was made by the Swedes. Some of the churches 

 of these religious colonists are still standing in 

 Philadelphia and their presence is also recorded 

 in the names of many towns near Philadelphia 

 and Chester, such as Swedeland and Swedes- 

 burg. The Swedish, and later the Dutch, au- 

 thority was ended by the British, who secured 

 the Pennsylvania territory with New York in 

 1664. 



Creation of Pennsylvania. In payment for a 

 debt owed to Admiral Penn, Charles II be- 

 stowed a grant of the territory west of the Dela- 

 ware between 40 and 45 upon the former's 

 son, William Penn, the Quaker. Although Penn 

 was granted absolute feudal rights, his liberal 

 government, religious toleration and the social 

 freedom of the colony attracted many from all 

 countries, and Pennsylvania became the larg- 

 est and most successful of the proprietary colo- 

 nies. 



Boundary disputes arose with New York, 

 Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia, which 

 were not settled for many years. The south- 

 ern limit of the colony was fixed by the draw- 

 ing of the famous Mason & Dixon Line in 



