PENNSYLVANIA 



PENNSYLVANIA 



1763-1767. and the arc between Delaware and 

 Pennsylvania. The northern limit was not set- 

 tled until 1789, when the forty-second parallel 

 was made the boundary between this state and 

 . York. The triangular section on Lake 

 Erie was purchased in 1792. 



After Penn's death petty disturbances in the 

 colony became grave, and the Indians who had 

 formerly been the friends of the colonists at- 

 tacked the frontier settlements. The French 

 and Indian War and the claims of both Con- 

 necticut and Pennsylvania to the Wyoming Val- 

 ley led to Indian uprisings which resulted in 

 the terrible Wyoming Massacre. 



The Age of Franklin. The outstanding figure 

 in the history of Pennsylvania during the Revo- 

 lutionary period was Benjamin Franklin, the 

 colony's agent in England. He vigorously op- 

 posed the Stamp Act and represented Pennsyl- 

 vania in the Provincial and Continental con- 

 gresses. 



The first two Continental congresses met in 

 Philadelphia except during those months when 

 the city was occupied by the British, when ses- 

 sions were held at Lancaster and York, both 

 Pennsylvania towns. It was at Philadelphia, 

 in Independence Hall, that the Declaration of 

 Independence was adopted. The state was the 

 scene of the battles of Brandy wine, Paoli, Fort 

 Mifflin and Germantown; Washington's head- 

 quarters at Valley Forge during one terrible 

 and memorable winter may still be seen, near 

 the Susquehanna, twenty-four miles north of 

 Philadelphia. 



In 1781 Pennsylvania adopted the Federal 

 Constitution. The state played a prominent 

 part in the early history of the United States; 

 it was Robert Morris of this state who was the 

 "banker"' of the Union until a banking system 

 was established by Alexander Hamilton. 



Later History and Development. In the crisis 

 of 1861, the position of Pennsylvania as a cen- 

 tral state was of vast importance to the Union, 

 and it was then that Whittier addressed his 

 call, To Pennsylvania: 



O State prayer-founded ! never hung 

 Such choice upon a people's tongue, 



Such power to bless or ban, 

 As that which makes thy whisper Fate, 

 For which on thee the centuries wait, 



And destinies of man ! 



And unto thee in Freedom's hour 

 Of sorest need God gives the power 



To ruin or to save ; 

 To wound or heal, to blight or bless 

 With fertile field or wilderness, 



A free home or a grave ! 



At the first sound of war Pennsylvania fulfillec 

 the hopes of the North and responded witl 

 nearly twice its quota of troops, and besides 

 336,000 soldiers it furnished Generals McClel- 

 lan, Hancock and Reynolds and Admirals Por- 

 ter and Dahlgren. Being close to the field of 

 battle, the state suffered from many raids. On 

 July 1-3, 1863, the greatest battle of the war 

 was fought at Gettysburg, in Adams County, 

 and a year later Chambenburg was raided and 

 burned. 



Since the war industrial development and 

 prosperity have been remarkable, though fre- 

 quently interrupted by serious strikes; that at 

 the steel mills at Homestead, near Pittsburgh, 

 in ,1892 was one of the gravest industrial dis- 

 turbances in American history. A serious gen- 

 eral strike of the anthracite miners occurred in 

 1902. The state also suffered from two disas- 

 trous floods, one at Johnstown in 1889 and the 

 second at Austin in 1911. 



Other Items of Interest. Pennsylvania fur- 

 nishes over 6,000,000 school slates and more 

 than 3,000,000 square feet of blackboard mate- 

 rial each year. 



This state is frequently called the "Black 

 Diamond" state because of its immense pro- 

 duction of anthracite coal. 



When Penn made his treaty with the Indians 

 under the Shackamaxon elm, wampum belts 

 were exchanged, according to . custom, by the 

 parties to the treaty. The one said to have 

 been given to Penn by the Indians is in the 

 possession of the Pennsylvania Historical So- 

 ciety. Woven into its strings of white and 

 black beads are figures representing an Indian 

 and a European, with hands joined in friend- 

 ship. 



It is said that Penn offered about $100 to the 

 secretary of Charles II if he would drop the 

 prefix Penn from the name of the territory, but 

 no one can fail to be glad that the offer was 

 not accepted. 



If the northern boundary of Pennsylvania 

 ran straight west, the state would be without a 

 port on Lake Erie. The early settlers realized 

 the importance of such an outlet, and pur- 

 chased from the United States government for 

 about $150,000 the triangle of land in the north- 

 west corner of the state, on which has grown 

 up the thriving industrial city of Erie. 



Over one-fourth of the manufactured articles 

 of the state are made in Philadelphia. E.B.P. 



Consult Walton and Brumbaugh's Stories of 

 Pennsylvania; Sharpless' Two Centuries of 

 Pennsylvania History; Pennypacker's Pennsyl- 



