December 12, 1787 – Pennsylvania Joins the Union as the Second State

Pennsylvania was originally the home to various Native American tribes. The three major groups were the Delaware, the Susquehannocks, and the Monongahela.

On March 4, 1671, Charles II of England granted the Province of Pennsylvania to William Penn as payment for a debt the king owed to Penn’s father. (The king named the area Pennsylvania which meant “Penn’s woods” in Latin.) The younger Penn founded a colony there as a religious refuge for Quakers, landing in North America in 1682 and founding Philadelphia that same year.

William Penn

According to the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission,
William Penn’s charter required him to “reduce the Savage Natives by gentle and just manners to the love of civil Societies and Christian Religion.” But as the website attests:

He instituted a different policy compared to some of the other colonies. For the Europeans, the essential goal in dealing with the Indians was to acquire their land. In most cases, whatever the official strategy, the result was warfare and Native people were killed or forcibly removed. In Pennsylvania however, the policy was to treat them fairly and buy their land. This was accomplished through a series of treaties and by 1792, Penn and his decedents had purchased all of what is now known as Pennsylvania.”

Nevertheless, as the History Commission reports, the concept of “buying land” was foreign to most Native Americans and many were left bitter and angry by this practice, feeling that they had in actuality been pushed out of their lands. They moved to western Pennsylvania for a time, but by 1800 they had been displaced to Indiana and places further north and west.

Pennsylvania is officially a Commonwealth, a word which comes from Old English and means the “common weal” or well-being of the public. In Pennsylvania, all legal processes are carried out in the name of the Commonwealth, although the word does not appear on the State Seal. Pennsylvania is one of only four commonwealth states in the country along with Kentucky, Massachusetts and Virginia. Each was, prior to 1776, a British colony, or parts thereof, and share evidence of the influence of English common law in some of their institutions.

 

N.B.: Besides the four aforementioned states, other states have also, on occasion, used the term “commonwealth” to refer to themselves:

• Vermont uses the term “commonwealth” three times in its Constitution, interchangeably with the term “state.”
• Delaware was primarily referred to as a “state” in its 1776 Constitution, however, the term “commonwealth” was also used in one of its articles.

Two U.S. territories are also designated as commonwealths: Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.

When used in connection with areas under U.S. sovereignty that are not states, the term broadly describes an area that is self-governing under a constitution of its own adoption and whose right of self-government will not be unilaterally withdrawn by the United States Congress.

In addition to English Quakers, Pennsylvania attracted several other ethnic and religious groups, many of whom were fleeing persecution and the religious wars. These settlers included Huguenots, Puritans, Catholics, and Calvinists. Other groups, including Anglicans and Jews, came to Pennsylvania as well, while Pennsylvania also had a significant African-American population by 1730. (Pennsylvania adopted the first state law to abolish slavery, albeit “gradually,” in 1780. You can read the text here.)

Pennsylvania played a central role in the American Revolution. Philadelphia was the site where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution was written in 1787. Philadelphia also served as the nation’s capital for a portion of the 18th century. Notable Philadelphian and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin established such organizations there as the American Philosophical Society, the Union Fire Company, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. By the start of the American Revolution, Philadelphia was the largest city in British North America.

From 1790 to 1800, when Philadelphia was the nation’s capital, both the state and national legislatures met in the same building. In 1799, the State Assembly, citing reasons ranging from disease (yellow fever epidemics), population growth, cost of living, and sectional antagonism, decided to move westward to Lancaster, and a year later Congress convened in Washington, D.C.

In 1785, John Harris, Jr., a prominent trader, donated four acres of land along the Susquehanna he called Harrisburg and recommended this as the site for a new state capitol. In 1812, the Assembly used Harris’ donated land, combined with more than ten acres purchased from William Maclay, to build two state office buildings. Local architect Stephen Hills was chosen to construct the buildings, and in 1812, the Pennsylvania Legislature moved to Harrisburg.

The Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in July 1863 is considered the turning point in the Civil War. Union forces led by Gen. George Meade defeated the Confederate forces under General Robert E. Lee, who led a retreat to Virginia. President Lincoln’s historic Gettysburg Address soon followed the battle.

Sports have played a large role in Pennsylvania history as well. The first official World Series for Major League Baseball was played at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh in 1903. The Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3.

Pennsylvania has two major league football teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers. (Who says regionalism is dead in Pennsylvania!) Interestingly, for one season in 1943 the two teams merged to form the Steagles. The teams were forced to combine because both had lost many players to military service during World War II. The league’s official record book refers to the team as “Phil-Pitt Combine,” but the unofficial name “Steagles” is the one that has endured.

1943 Steagles starting line-up

Today, many visitors go to Pennsylvania to see the memorial at the site in Somerset County where Flight 93 crashed on September 11, 2001. They also visit many less depressing scenic destinations, such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Valley Forge, Bushkill Falls – the “Niagara of Pennsylvania” – and Hershey Park, a town built around chocolate.

Streetlights shaped like Kisses in downtown Hershey