Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Independence Begins
Okay, folks, let’s talk about Philly! Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The City of Brotherly Love. Or, as some locals might say, "wooder ice" and cheesesteaks. This city isn’t just the biggest in Pennsylvania; it’s a major player on the East Coast, second only to the Big Apple in the Boston-Washington corridor.
But Philly’s more than just a big city. It’s where America really got its start. We’re talking the birthplace of independence, the stomping ground of the Founding Fathers, and the nation’s capital way back in the day (until 1800, that is). Even today, Philly’s got its fingers in everything from business to culture, sports to music.
With over 1.6 million residents in the city proper (as of 2020) and a whopping 6.2 million in the metro area, Philly’s a bustling hub. It’s the heart of the Delaware Valley, one of the biggest metropolitan areas on the planet. So, yeah, it’s a pretty big deal.
Before the City: The Lenape
Long before William Penn showed up with his Quaker ideals, the land around Philadelphia belonged to the Lenape Indians. They called the area Shackamaxon and were part of a larger group also known as the Delaware Indians. These guys were Algonquian speakers who, according to their stories, migrated east from beyond the Mississippi River.
The Lenape nation had three main groups: the Munsee, Unami, and Unalachtigo. Philly’s history is mostly tied to the Unami (or "Turtle") tribe, but the Susquehannock and Shawnee also played a part in the early days.
The Unami were known for their distinct features – big heads, hooked noses. They were mostly farmers, living on corn, fish, and whatever game they could hunt. The men wore breechcloths, leggings, and moccasins, sometimes throwing a skin over their shoulders. They shaved their heads, leaving a "scalp lock" that they greased up with bear fat and decorated. The women wore leather shirts or skirts, with their hair braided down their backs.
Before the Europeans showed up, the Lenape lived in birch bark lodges. Later, they started building log huts, probably inspired by the white settlers (though some Indigenous groups already knew how to build log homes).
Around the time William Penn arrived, the Shawnee moved north to the Wyoming Valley and then further west into Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Meanwhile, the Susquehannock, who the Swedes called "Black Minquas," were already well-known to the early settlers. They were at war with the Iroquois Confederacy and were eventually pushed out of their Pennsylvania strongholds.
The Iroquois and the Lenape also had their share of fights. Over time, the Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland by the expanding European colonies, conflicts with other tribes, and diseases like smallpox. Eventually, the US government forced most of the remaining Delaware Indians to move to Oklahoma and surrounding areas. It was a tough time, to say the least.
Europeans Arrive: A Land Grab Begins
The first Europeans to arrive in the Delaware Valley were the Dutch. They built Fort Nassau in 1623, claiming the whole area as part of their New Netherland colony.
A few years later, a couple of Englishmen, Thomas Young and Robert Evelyn, sailed up the Delaware River and built a small fort near the Schuylkill River, but they didn’t stick around for long. Then, the Governor of Virginia sent Captain George Holmes to try and seize Fort Nassau, but the Dutch captured him and sent him packing.
In 1638, the Swedes, led by a Dutch renegade, established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina (now Wilmington, Delaware). They quickly spread throughout the valley.
In 1641, some Puritans from Connecticut tried to settle at the mouth of the Schuylkill River. They built a blockhouse, but the Dutch burned it down and sent them back to New Amsterdam.
For a while, New Sweden supported the Susquehannock in their war against Maryland. In 1648, the Dutch built Fort Beversreede near the Schuylkill River to reclaim their territory. The Swedes responded by building New Korsholm.
But in 1655, the Dutch, under Peter Stuyvesant, took control of the Swedish colony. The Swedish and Finnish settlers still had some autonomy, but their claim to independence was over.
Then, in 1664, the English showed up and captured the New Netherland colony. After years of back-and-forth, the Treaty of Breda in 1667 gave England control of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York. Things were changing fast in the New World.
After a few more changes in leadership, the English were firmly in control by 1674. By 1676, James West had started a shipyard that would become a major maritime center for the next century.
In 1678, the English ship Shield sailed up the Delaware River, passing the Lenape village of Coaquannock. One of the crew members looked at the forests stretching away from the river and said, "Here is a fine place for a town!"
William Penn’s "Holy Experiment"
In 1681, King Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for the Pennsylvania colony as repayment of a debt to Penn’s father. But Penn didn’t just take the land; he bought it from the local Lenape to make sure everyone was on good terms. He made a treaty of friendship with Chief Tammany under an elm tree at Shackamaxon.
Penn, a Quaker, wanted to create a colony based on tolerance and justice, with freedom of religion and trial by jury for all. He called it his "holy experiment" and set out to create an ideal city that wouldn’t corrupt his vision.
Philadelphia is Born
Philadelphia was officially founded in 1682. Penn’s Quaker beliefs led him to create a colony where anyone could worship freely. This tolerance attracted people from all over and helped Philadelphia grow into one of America’s most important cities.
Penn sold land to investors, offering generous terms to encourage settlement. He commissioned Captain Thomas Holme to lay out the city between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers.
Penn created a government with a governor, a provincial council, and an assembly. He believed in limited government, with the council originating bills and the assembly representing the people.
In 1682, Penn wrote his "Frame of Government," declaring that government’s purpose was to "terrify evildoers and to cherish those that do well."
To attract wealthy people, Penn offered large parcels of land at reasonable prices, with extra land for every servant brought to Pennsylvania. He also allowed families to buy smaller tracts of land with payments spread out over several years.
In 1682, Penn’s Code of Laws was passed in England, outlining the fundamental laws of the province, including voluntary elections, specified taxes, jury trials, moderate fees, and prisons that also served as workhouses.
Finally, Penn set sail for Pennsylvania on the Welcome in 1682 with 100 passengers. The journey was tough, with smallpox breaking out and killing nearly half the crew and passengers.
Penn landed in New Castle, Delaware, and was greeted by his cousin and a crowd of Dutch, Welsh, and English settlers. He then traveled to Upland (later renamed Chester), where he stayed for the weekend before heading to Philadelphia.
Construction began quickly in the spring. Penn ordered a house with a view of the Delaware River, moving in by March 1683. By then, the province had been divided into counties, and the assembly had adopted the Great Law and the Frame of Government.
Philadelphia was a rough frontier settlement in its early years. Some settlers even lived in caves along the riverbank before building log houses.
In 1683, more than 20 ships loaded with immigrants arrived in Philadelphia. Penn’s vision was becoming a reality.
That same year, Francis Daniel Pastorius arrived with a group of German settlers and founded Germantown. These weren’t just any Germans; they were Dutch Quakers and Mennonites who had moved to the Rhine region.
Pastorius obtained land from Penn and laid out Germantown with wide streets and large lots. The settlement grew quickly, with 12 families living there by 1685.
Penn and his friends rowed upriver to the site of Philadelphia, where they saw trees being felled, plots being leveled, and houses being built. The city was taking shape.
The City Grows, Penn Departs
During the next few weeks, Penn visited New York, observed the growth of Philadelphia, and worked on the government plan for his province. He also sent pamphlets to Europe, promoting the beauties of America and the advantages of moving to the new land.
As a result, immigrants poured into Pennsylvania. Many Germans came, leading Penn’s secretary to worry that it would become a German colony. One of the biggest draws was Penn’s Great Law and Frame of Government, which guaranteed free education, promotion of the arts and sciences, religious toleration, freely elected representatives, and trial by jury.
Many of the earliest settlers had to live in dugouts along the Delaware River. But construction never stopped. Within a year of Penn’s arrival, more than 100 brick, log, and clapboard houses had been built.
The Blue Anchor Inn, built in 1682, served as Philadelphia’s tavern, trade headquarters, and community center. But soon, other buildings were becoming more impressive, wharves were growing, and farms were being cleared. Penn proudly wrote that he had led the greatest colony into America ever.
In 1684, Robert Turner built the city’s first brick house. That same year, the Quakers built the Bank Meeting House, and Penn’s Council mandated public steps at every block for access to the Delaware River.
William Penn sailed for Europe in 1684, where he would remain for 15 years. During this time, he got caught up in royal intrigue, was arrested several times, and had to endure humiliating investigations.
Samuel Carpenter built the town’s first wharf in 1685. In exchange, he had to build steps from the water’s edge to the bank and a cartway along the bank.
The first prison and stocks opened in 1687. Germantown was incorporated as a borough in 1689.
From its founding, the Old City District was the center of political, economic, and cultural life in the colonies and the nation. Many influential people lived and worked there.
Penn planned Philadelphia as a port and a place for government. He wanted it to be more like an English rural town than a city, with houses and businesses spread far apart. But the city’s inhabitants crowded the Port of Philadelphia, subdividing and reselling their lots.
Penn was ousted from the proprietorship of Pennsylvania in 1692 but was restored in 1694.
A more substantial prison was built in 1693. Butcher stalls operated beneath the courthouse as part of High Street Market, Philadelphia’s first.
Old City’s Quaker meeting moved to a plot on Arch Street in 1693, where the Arch Street Meeting House was built in two phases. It was the largest Quaker meeting house in the world.
Penn’s wife died in 1694. The city’s first ferry business, Daniel Cooper’s Ferry, opened in 1695, operating between Philadelphia and New Jersey.
In 1696, Penn married Hannah Callowhill. Construction began to replace the Quaker’s Bank Meeting House with the Great Meeting House.
By 1698, Philadelphians had cut alleyways and built workers’ cottages. Without sanitation systems, the densely packed riverfront neighborhood was unhealthy, with pigs and goats roaming freely.
Eager to return to Pennsylvania, William Penn sailed for America in 1699 with his wife and daughter. They arrived in Philadelphia in the winter.
Penn found the yellow fever epidemic at Chester and a difficult assembly to deal with in Philadelphia. Two bills he presented were rejected. He realized he was proprietor in name only.
The founder lived in the Slate Roof House for a while before moving to his Pennsbury estate. He lived in political seclusion, but his restless nature led him to wander throughout the province, visiting Indian villages and outlying settlements.
The 18th Century: A City on the Rise
By 1700, Philadelphia had grown into the third-largest port on the Atlantic Ocean, with a population of 2,000 to 2,500.
During the 18th century, shipbuilding, import-export businesses, and maritime activities flourished along the Delaware River. Typical Philadelphians lived on an unpaved street near the river and worked in a shop at home or at a nearby wharf or warehouse.
In 1701, the English Parliament tried to bring Pennsylvania under direct royal control. Penn hurried to England to fight the bill. Before leaving, he issued the Charter of 1701, establishing Philadelphia as a city.
After 1701, with Penn granting religious and political freedoms to all citizens, many oppressed people immigrated to Philadelphia.
Penn intended to return to America, but he never did. His private affairs became so complicated that he ended up in a debtor’s prison.
The first public courthouse was built around 1708. William Penn died in 1718 and was buried in England.
The following decades saw the decline of Quaker dominance in Philadelphia’s political affairs. These years also witnessed civic improvement, expansion of foreign industry, and periodic epidemics.
A new stone prison was built in 1722. Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia in 1723 and quickly made his mark.
Franklin and others founded the colonies’ first firefighting organization in 1736. The following year, he was appointed Philadelphia’s postmaster.
By the 1740s, Philadelphia had a population of 10,000, second only to Boston.
In 1741, Ben Franklin opened his first printing shop.
By the 1750s, Philadelphia had become an important trading center with tolerable living conditions. Benjamin Franklin helped improve city services and founded new ones, including a fire company, library, and hospital. By then, Philadelphia had surpassed Boston as British America’s largest city and busiest port.
Street lighting and paid night watchmen were authorized in 1751. The following year, Franklin helped create the colonies’ first fire insurance company.
In 1754, there were at least 12 shipbuilding businesses. The city assumed responsibility for paving and cleaning streets in 1762.
By 1765, Philadelphia had a population of 25,000 and was the fourth-largest city in the British Empire.
The Road to Revolution
In 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. There was public rejoicing in Philadelphia. But the good feelings didn’t last. The Crown still wanted revenue from the colonies.
The colonists reacted to these new taxes with a boycott of British goods. John Dickinson’s famous Farmer’s Letters helped stiffen the colonists’ determination to resist taxation without representation. Philadelphia took the lead in the resistance movement.
By the 1770s, the city was overcrowded and unsanitary. Epidemics were common.
In 1773, news arrived that a shipload of British tea was on its way to Philadelphia. The colonists refused to permit the landing of the tea.
News of the Boston Tea Party reached Philadelphia on December 24. The following day, word was received that the Polly, a ship carrying tea, was lying off Chester. A committee was organized, and threats were made that any pilot who brought a British tea ship to Philadelphia would be hanged.
The Polly continued to Gloucester, New Jersey, where Captain Ayres was told he would not be permitted to land his cargo. He agreed to leave the ship and go to Philadelphia. A large public meeting was held, and it was unanimously resolved that the tea should be rejected and returned to England. Ayres complied, and the ship sailed for London with the rejected tea.
This incident and the Tea Party in Boston led Parliament to close the port of Boston. Paul Revere reached Philadelphia in May, bringing news of the King’s threat to close the Port of Boston and requests for support.
In Philadelphia, a resolution favoring the support of Boston was adopted. Letters were sent to the Southern Colonies to enlist their support, and the Governor was asked to convene the assembly.
In 1774, a meeting of the general congress was called for all the colonies to hold a state conference at Carpenters’ Hall. The meeting asserted the colonies’ right to resist Parliament’s unjust measures and requested the Provincial Assembly appoint delegates to the Continental Congress.
Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774 in Carpenters’ Hall. Prominent delegates included John Adams, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, John Jay, Patrick Henry, and Samuel Adams.
The congress’s deliberations were held behind closed doors. When it adjourned, resolutions of the independence movement had been adopted, including the Declaration of Rights and the Articles of Association.
By 1775, tensions between England and the colonies had increased. The Articles of Association aroused the ire of King George, who saw them as an act of treason.
The American Revolution Erupts
The storm broke on April 19, 1775, when the King’s troops clashed with the Minute Men at Lexington and Concord. The War for Independence had begun!
Continental officials worried that the British would immediately target Philadelphia.
In 1776, British General William Howe captured New York City and set his sights on Philadelphia. Rather than march overland, Howe sailed his army around Maryland and up the Chesapeake Bay.
He struck out at Philadelphia in August 1777, hoping to draw out George Washington and defeat him. Washington tried to block Howe at Brandywine Creek on September 11, 1777. Though the Americans fought bravely, Washington was defeated, opening the door for the British to march into Philadelphia.
Howe inflicted heavy casualties but failed to destroy Washington’s Army, which relocated to Lancaster along with the Continental Congress. Howe then proceeded into Philadelphia unopposed.
On October 4, 1777, Washington attempted to retake Philadelphia at the Battle of Germantown. The battle appeared to go in the Americans’ favor, but the tide shifted, and Washington was driven back.
From September 1777 to June 1778, the British occupied Philadelphia. Loyalist civilians welcomed the British, while Patriot civilians endured the occupation. Washington’s army settled into winter quarters at Valley Forge.
The occupation of Philadelphia was difficult for those residents who remained. Howe took up residence in the Masters-Penn House. He failed to take control of the surrounding area. Howe’s petty squabbles led to General Burgoyne’s disastrous defeat at Saratoga, emboldening the Continental Army and securing French support.
When news reached Philadelphia that France had joined America’s side, General Henry Clinton, now the British commander, left Philadelphia in June 1778. Washington’s army attacked the British in New Jersey and fought them to a draw at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.
Peace Returns
Congress returned to Philadelphia on June 25, 1778, and convened in Independence Hall. Benedict Arnold was appointed military commander of the city.
In 1780, Robert Morris and others founded the Bank of Pennsylvania.
French support changed the tide of war and led to the British’s final capitulation at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.
The Bank of North America opened in 1782.
In 1783, the conclusion of peace and Britain’s acknowledgment of American independence were officially proclaimed in Philadelphia.
With the return of peace, industry and commerce revived. By the middle of June 1783, 200 vessels had sailed up the Delaware River.
Two former slaves, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, received licenses to preach in 1784. They began holding services for African Americans.
In 1786, Dr. Benjamin Rush opened the first medical dispensary in America. The following year, the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and Useful Arts was established.
The growing popularity of church services for blacks led to a confrontation in 1787. Allen and Jones withdrew from St. George’s and founded the Free African Society. Allen later founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The U.S. Constitution was ratified in Philadelphia in 1787.
Philadelphia’s population was 53,000 in 1790. Philadelphia was the nation’s financial and cultural center until New York City eclipsed it in total population.
The President’s House served as the presidential mansion for George Washington and John Adams from 1790 to 1800, before the completion of the White House and Washington, D.C.
In 1793, the largest yellow fever epidemic in U.S. history killed approximately 4,000 to 5,000 people in Philadelphia.
In 1795, Samuel Blodgett Jr. designed a building for the First Bank of the United States.
Old City Catholics founded St. Augustine’s Church in 1796.
In 1798, public landings along the waterfront were at the intersections of Water Street and the major east-west streets.
The state capital was moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster in 1799, then to Harrisburg in 1812.
The capital of the United States was moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800. That year, Philadelphia had grown to 68,000.
That’s just a glimpse into the early history of Philadelphia. The city has continued to evolve and change, but its role as a birthplace of American independence remains central to its identity.