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Answers to Review Questions for Guide Training
1) Why did William Peters come to America? William Peters came to America in 1739 to escape personal problems with his wife in England and for economic opportunity because his wife had control over the income from his English land rents.
2) How did William Peters earn his living? William Peters worked as a lawyer and an agent for the Penn family in enforcing the collection of their Pennsylvania land rents. Later William inherited his father's property in England.
3) Why did William Peters buy the property at Belmont? William Peters bought Belmont in 1742 as a home for his American family.
4) In what architectural style was Belmont Mansion built? List some characteristics of this style. Finished in 1745, Belmont Mansion is the first fully developed Palladian style structure in the American colonies. Palladian style villas are characterized by a central hall, which takes up over half of the first floor, flanked by small side chambers and a small winding staircase on the side. The symmetrical placement of fireplaces, doors, and windows is another important characteristic.
5) Why is the ceiling of the central hall at Belmont Mansion special? It is the earliest modeled plaster ceiling in America, probably created by traveling Italian plaster workers who had been working in England. Its original design is composed of the arms of the Peters family, musical instruments, scallop shells, and floral garlands.
6) What part of the Belmont Mansion Complex is the earliest structure? How do we know this? The "cottage" was originally a freestanding farmhouse, built before Belmont Mansion. The asymmetry of its roof and placements of doors and windows are characteristic of informal, rural building traditions.
7) Describe the landscape around Belmont Mansion when owned by William Peters. William Peters turned Belmont Mansion into a country estate, surrounded by ornamental gardens. The gardens included an axial gravel walk leading to a summerhouse and then on to an obelisk. Formal gardens composed of a labyrinth of low cedar and spruce hedges with classical statuary lay on one side, a wood cut into vistas with a Chinese temple on the other.
8) Describe the relationship between William Peters and his son Richard Peters. William Peters abandoned his American wife, Richard Peters' mother, and returned to England in 1768. At that time William Peters turned the management 2
of Belmont Mansion over to his son Richard, assisted by William's brother Richard. Richard Peters inherited Belmont Mansion when William Peters died in 1786.
9) List four important positions held by Richard Peters. Richard Peters was an American Revolutionary Army officer and Secretary of the Board of War and Ordinance. He served as Representative to Congress under the Articles of Confederation, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, and Pennsylvania State Senator. From 1792 on, he served as Judge of the District Court of the United States for Pennsylvania.
10) How did Richard Peters use his life and the law to protect and assist people who ran away from slavery? Richard Peters was among the first non-Quakers to join the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1787. As a judge, Peters witnessed the injustices of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. He actively opposed the Fugitive Slave Act by urging others to overturn the law.
11) What was the Underground Railroad? The Underground Railroad was a secret network of hiding places, organizations, and people who helped runaways find routes of travel for escaping to freedom before the Civil War.
12) How did the enslaved find out about the Underground Railroad? The enslaved heard about the Underground Railroad from members of the free black community, enslaved people who had already escaped, sympathetic neighbors (black and white), church members, and members of anti-slavery and abolition societies. Songs and quilts were also used to convey secret messages about routes of escape because the enslaved were forbidden to read or write.
13) Did any enslaved people work for Richard Peters? In 1811 Judge Peters purchased the enslaved Cornelia Wells and her daughter Jane and immediately freed them. Then Cornelia Wells worked as a cook at Belmont Mansion for three years under an indenture agreement.
14) How did Cornelia Wells earn her living? In 1814 Cornelia Wells moved to the Boelsen Cottage and earned wages as a washerwoman for the Peters family. She also ran an informal tavern there, selling spruce beer and ginger cakes, and kept a vegetable garden.
15) Name some significant people associated with the American War of Independence and the United States Constitution who visited Richard Peters at Belmont. Through his political connections, Richard Peters hosted many of the “Founding Fathers” of America: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.
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16) Why did Judge Peters and his son get involved in the Abolitionist Movement? They believed that “all men are created equal” (as stated in the Declaration of Independence) applied to all races. They thought that slavery was inhumane and that existing laws allowing slavery were in conflict with American ideals of social justice. Inhumane treatment of slaves included death, beating, whipping, attack by dogs, shackling, and separation from family and friends.
17) How were Belmont Mansion, the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad, and the Underground Railroad connected to each other? Runaways escaped towards Philadelphia hidden in boxcars on the Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad that belonged to William Whipper and Stephen Smith, African-American lumber merchants from Columbia, Pennsylvania. The Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad crossed the Schuylkill River at Belmont where trains had to negotiate an inclined plane, thereby giving the runaways a chance to disembark and escape.
18) How might Peters Island, the Boelsen Cottage, and the Underground Railroad be connected to each other? The Boelsen Cottage and Peters Island, in the Schuylkill River offshore from the Boelsen Cottage, might have served as a hiding place for runaways.
19) How are Richard Peters, Jr., the legal case Prigg v. Pennsylvania, and the Underground Railroad connected to each other? As Official Reporter to the United States Supreme Court, Richard Peters, Jr. published the legal case Prigg v. Pennsylvania. The case made the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 ineffective, thereby stimulating the activities of the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania.
20) How did Belmont Mansion become part of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park? The Fairmount Park Commission acquired Belmont Mansion in 1868 as part of a program to reduce industrial development along the Schuylkill River.
21) When and why was the American Women's Heritage Society founded? The American Women's Heritage Society was founded in 1986 as a non- profit organization for the purpose of maintaining and restoring Belmont Mansion. It is the only African-American women's organization to administer an historic house in Fairmount Park.
22) What is the current mission of the American Women's Heritage Society? The American Women's Heritage Society’s mission is to preserve, restore, collect and educate the public regarding the background and significance of the Historic Belmont Mansion, especially its use in the Underground Railroad; the role of the original owners – the Peters Family – in the Abolitionist Movement; and the relationship of the Mansion to African American heritage and history in Philadelphia.
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23) How are funds raised to operate and preserve Belmont Mansion? The American Women's Heritage Society raises funds from membership fees, admissions, rentals, grants, and donations.
24) How can Americans help free enslaved people today? Share what you have learned with family, friends, neighbors, classmates, and coworkers. Support organizations working to end slavery (see list under Recommended Internet Resources). Tell all governments to enforce anti-slavery laws. 5
Answers to Matching the Events to the Date
1683 Jan Boelsen, a Dutch land speculator, granted property at Belmont.
1739 William Peters immigrated to Philadelphia from England.
1742 William Peters bought the Belmont estate and began building Belmont Mansion.
1768 William Peters returned to England.
1787 Richard Peters joined the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery.
1792 Richard Peters became Judge of the District Court of the U.S. for Pennsylvania.
1793 First Fugitive Slave Act passed.
1804 The Schuylkill Permanent Bridge opened.
1808 U.S. passes law forbidding the direct importation of enslaved Africans.
1811 Richard Peters purchased and freed Cornelia Wells, an enslaved African American.
1828 Judge Richard Peters died leaving Belmont to his children.
1829 Columbia and Philadelphia Railroad built across Belmont Estate.
1842 Richard Peters. Jr. published legal case Prigg v. Pennsylvania, which stimulated the Underground Railroad.
1847 Runaways hidden in boxcars on the Columbia-Philadelphia Railroad met by an Underground Railroad agent at Belmont.
1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed the enslaved.
1868 Belmont Mansion became part of Fairmount Park.
1872 Publication of The Underground Railroad by William Still.
1986 American Women's Heritage Society founded to preserve Belmont Mansion.