Pennsylvania History
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaHISTORYHISTORY COMPLIMENTS OF STATE SENATOR CHRISTINE TARTAGLIONE Commonwealth of Pennsylvania PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY TABLE OF CONTENTS Physical and Natural Properties . 1 Symbols ..................................................................2 Capitol....................................................................5 The Governor’s Residence . 5 Capitol Complex . 6 Harrisburg and Vicinity . 7 Harrisburg Area Map/Parking Information .............................................................................7 Pennsylvania History . 8 Pennsylvania on the Eve of Colonization ...............................................................................8 The Quaker Province: 1681-1776 .......................................................................................10 Independence to the Civil War: 1776-1861 .........................................................................14 The Era of Industrial Ascendancy: 1861-1945.....................................................................21 Maturity: 1945-2005...........................................................................................................33 PENNSYLVANIA PAST AND PRESENT Courtesy of The Pennsylvania Manual, Volume 117 and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission PHYSICAL AND The state has a great variety of soils, ranging from extremely rich in Lancaster County to very poor in the mountain regions. NATURAL PROPERTIES Through advanced agricultural methods, a large part of Pennsylvania soil which was only marginally fertile has been William Penn, as proprietor of Penn's Woods, was an aggressive made very productive. Originally Pennsylvania was a transition and active promoter of his new land. "The country itself," he wrote, zone between northern and southern primeval forests. In the "its soil, air, water, seasons and produce, both natural and artificial, northern plateau area the original species were white pine and is not to be despised." Pennsylvania still contains a rich diversity of hemlock, mixed with beech and sugar maple. In the southern natural and geological features. region, white oak, American chestnut, hickory, and chestnut oak dominated. Innumerable forest fires and storms, One of the original thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania is today surround- unrecorded by man, led to gradual change because they ed by the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West altered the soil composition and the degree of shade from Virginia, and Ohio. It has a land area of 44,820 square miles and 735 sunlight. Because much land was later cleared by settlement square miles of the area of Lake Erie. It ranks 33rd in area among and by lumber operations, very little virgin timber remains, but the 50 states. Pennsylvania has an average width of 285 miles, even today half the state is wooded. east to west, and an average north-to-south distance of 156 miles. Animal and bird life, including the wild pigeon, panther, black Only the Delaware River on the east and about 40 miles of Lake bear, and Canada lynx, was abundant in the primeval forest. Erie in the northwest corner form natural boundaries. Elsewhere The first of these species is now extinct, the second has been borders are based on those established in the charter granted to exterminated, and the last two are no longer abundant. William Penn by King Charles II of England, although it was 1787 Raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, skunks, and woodchucks are still before land and border disputes with other states were settled and common, as are most of the smaller birds. Today, deer, Pennsylvania took clear title to its land. The most famous border pheasants, rabbits, ducks, and turkeys are popular with dispute was with Maryland and was ultimately settled when the hunters. Pennsylvania's rivers were originally filled with English Crown accepted the Mason-Dixon Line in 1769, a border sturgeon, shad, salmon, trout, perch and, surprisingly, mussels. which, in subsequent years, became the symbolic demarcation in State and federal agencies keep streams and ponds well the United States between the North and the South. stocked, and trout, salmon and, walleyed pike are caught in large numbers. A dissected plateau covers Pennsylvania's northern and western sections, ranging from about 2,000 feet above sea level in the Pennsylvania ranks tenth in value of mineral production among northern tier of counties to about 1,200 feet south of Pittsburgh. A all the states. Coal, petroleum, natural gas, and cement are the broad belt of wide valleys, alternating with narrow mountains, principal products. Others are fire clay, iron ore, lime, slate, and stretches across the state from the south-central boundary to the stone. northeast corner. To the east of this section is the Great Valley, which is divided into southern, central, and eastern sections - the In spite of its proximity to the ocean, Pennsylvania has a Cumberland, Lebanon, and Lehigh valleys, respectively. Further to continental climate because the prevailing winds are from the the east is a line of discontinuous mountains, as well as lowlands west. This makes for extremes of heat and cold but not with so of irregular form and a deeply dissected plateau of moderate height marked a variation as in the central states. There are minor which gradually slopes to the Delaware River. There is also another climatic differences within the state because of altitude and lowland along the shores of Lake Erie. Pennsylvania's highest peak geological features. The frost-free period, for example, is is Mt. Davis on Negro Mountain in Somerset County which has an longest in southeastern Pennsylvania, in the Ohio and elevation of 3,213 feet above sea level. Monongahela valleys in southwestern Pennsylvania, and in the region bordering Lake Erie. The higher lands have only three to Pennsylvania has three major river systems, the Delaware, the five months free from frost. Rainfall throughout the state is Susquehanna, and the Ohio. The Delaware's important tributaries usually adequate for temperate zone crops. are the Schuylkill and Lehigh Rivers. The Susquehanna has north and west branches as does the Juniata River. In the west, the Ohio Pennsylvania's location and its characteristics of climate, River begins at the confluence of the Allegheny and the waters, minerals, flora, and fauna helped shape the growth not Monongahela, and its tributaries include the Youghiogheny, Beaver, only of the state but of the entire nation. Midway between the and Clarion Rivers. The Ohio system provides thirty-five percent of North and the South, the fledgling colony prospered and all the water emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. became the keystone of the young nation. PENNSYLVANIA STATE HISTORY 1 SYMBOLS present one. The seal received legal recognition from the General Assembly in 1791, when it was designated the official State Seal. "Commonwealth" The obverse of the seal contains a shield upon which are Pennsylvania shares with Virginia, Kentucky and Massachusetts the emblazoned a sailing ship, a plough, and three sheaves of wheat. designation "Commonwealth." The word is of English derivation and To the left of the shield is a stalk of Indian corn; to the right, an refers to the common "weal" or well-being of the public. The State olive branch. The shield's crest is an eagle, and the entire design Seal of Pennsylvania does not use the term, but it is a traditional, is encircled by the inscription "Seal of the State of Pennsylvania." official designation used in referring to the state, and legal processes These three symbols, the plough, ship, and sheaves of wheat, are in the name of the Commonwealth. In 1776, our first state have despite minor changes through the years remained the constitution referred to Pennsylvania as both "Commonwealth" and traditional emblems of Pennsylvania's State Seal.They were first "State," a pattern of usage that was perpetuated in the constitutions found in the individual seals of several colonial Pennsylvania of 1790, 1838, 1874, and 1968. Today, "State" and "Commonwealth" counties which mounted their own identifying crests above the are correctly used interchangeably. The distinction between them existing Penn Coat of Arms. Chester County's crest was a plough; has been held to have no legal significance. Philadelphia County's crest was a ship under full sail; Sussex County, Delaware (then a part of provincial Pennsylvania) used a "Keystone State" sheaf of wheat as its crest. The shield of the City of Philadelphia The word "keystone" comes from architecture and refers to the contained both a sheaf of wheat and a ship under sail. It was a central, wedge-shaped stone in an arch, which holds all the other combination of these sources that provided the three emblems stones in place. The application of the term "Keystone State" to now forming the obverse of the State Seal. The reverse of this Pennsylvania cannot be traced to any single source. It was first seal shows a woman who represents liberty. Her left hand commonly accepted soon after 1800. holds a wand topped by a liberty cap, a French symbol of liberty. In her right hand is a drawn sword. She is trampling At a Jefferson Republican victory rally in October 1802, upon Tyranny, represented by a lion. The entire design is Pennsylvania was toasted as "the keystone in the federal union," encircled by the legend "Both Can't Survive." and in the newspaper Aurora the following year the state was referred to as "the keystone in the democratic arch." The modern Coat of Arms persistence