On Dec, 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the Constitution. Its capital is Harrisburg.
PENNSYLVANIA is called the Keystone State because of its central location among the 13 colonies. Pennsylvania is nearly as big as New York at 46,055 square miles.
The colony that became Pennsylvania was founded by wealthy scholar William Penn. He shocked his associates by requesting the land in the territory between Lord Baltimore’s Maryland province and the Duke of York’s New York province. Penn belonged to a controversial religious sect called the Society of Friends or Quakers. He needed a haven for the group.
King Charles II named the new colony Penn in honor of Penn’s father. William Penn added Sylvania, which means forest. The king gave Penn ruling rights of this proprietary colony. Additionally, in 1682, The Duke of York gave Penn control of the three lower counties, which became the state of Delaware.
Penn chose not to settle any part of the land without buying claims from the native people including the Lenni-Lanape, Iroquois, Shawnee and Susquehannock who already lived there.
While in England, Penn drew up the First Frame of Government, a constitution of Pennsylvania.
In 1682, a general assembly united the Delaware counties with Pennsylvania.
Penn lost his provincial privileges from 1692 to 1694, after King James II was overthrown.
He returned to Pennsylvania in 1699 and agreed on a revised constitution, which allowed the Delaware counties to have their own legislature.
Philadelphia was the largest English-speaking city in the world next to London and a hub for the grassroots movements that fueled the revolution. The city was also center of resistance though the Quakers disagreed with anything that would cause war.
Pennsylvania saw major battles at Brandywine and Germantown during the Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783).
In June of 1776, a committee that included Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman gathered to draft a declaration of independence.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the declaration, basing it on Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, his own preamble to the Virginia Constitution and Richard Henry Lee’s resolution. The document was signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, by 52 delegates. Copies called Dunlap Broadsides were reproduced by printer John Dunlap and distributed throughout the colonies.
Betsy Ross created the new nation’s first flag with 13 stars and stripes representing the colonies.
The Quakers opposed slavery, but thousands of slaves were brought to the colony. The Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 was the first emancipation statute in the United States.
Pennsylvania became a leading agricultural area, with rich farmland.
Shipbuilding, papermaking, printing, publishing and tanning were important industries. The Conestoga wagon was developed in Lancaster County, as was the Pennsylvania long rifle, both valuable tools as the young country expanded west. The state was a major center for steel production and mining. Today healthcare, retail, transportation and tourism are its biggest industries.
Fun facts:
* Philadelphia was the nation’s first capital, and is home to the first non-denominational college, The University of Pennsylvania, first hospital, first library, first insurance company and first zoo.
* Kennett Square is the mushroom capital of the world.
* Punxsutawney is the weather capital of the world thanks to famous weather-predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil.
* The first daily newspaper was published in Philadelphia on Sept. 21, 1784.
* The state insect is the firefly.
* The state’s abbreviation is Pa.
Today’s lesson fulfills the following standards: ELA 1c, 3c, 3d, 4a, 4b, 5a, Social Studies Standards 1, 5.
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