Philadelphia,
Popularly known as the “City of brotherly love” ; founded by
William Penn in 1682, between the
Delaware and
Schuylkill rivers.
He bought the land of the Swedes; with the assistance of
Thomas Holme, the surveyor of his colony, laid out the city at the close of 1682.
He caused the boundaries of the streets to be marked on the trunks of chestnut, walnut, locust, spruce, pine, and other forest trees, and many of the streets still bear the names of those trees.
The new city grew rapidly.
Within a year after the surveyor had finished his work almost 100 houses were erected there, and Indians came almost daily with the spoils of the forest as gifts for “
Father Penn,” as they delighted to call the founder.
In March following (1683), the city was honored as the gatheringplace of the representatives of the people to consider a constitution of government which
Penn had prepared.
It constituted a representative republican government, with free religious toleration and justice for its foundation; and the proprietor, unlike those of other provinces, surrendered his charter-rights to the people on the appointment of public officers.
Wise and beneficent laws were enacted under the charter.
To prevent lawsuits, it was decreed that three arbitrators, called peacemakers, should be appointed by the county courts to hear and determine differences among the people; that children should be taught some useful trade; that factors wronging their employes should make satisfaction and one-third over; that all causes for irreligion and vulgarity should be repressed; and that no man should be molested for his religious opinions.
They also decreed that the days of the week and the months of the year should be called, as in Scripture, first, second, third, etc.
The settlers lived in huts before houses could be built, also in caves in the riverbanks, arched over with boughs.
The chimneys were built of clay, strengthened
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by grass.
A man named Guest built the first house, it is believed, which was the
Blue Anchor Tavern afterwards, and Guest was its first keeper.
Ten other houses were soon built near of frames filled in with clay.
Before
Penn's arrival a little cottage had been built on the site of the new city by a man named Drinker, and this was the first habitation of a white man there.
The name of
Philadelphia was given by
Penn to the town to impress the people with an idea of the disposition which he hoped would prevail there.
Liberty in the colony caused a great influx of emigrants, and in the space of two years
Philadelphia had grown so rapidly that there were 600 houses.
There had arrived in 1682 twenty-eight ships.
A large emigration, chiefly of Friends, arrived there from
Holland,
Germany,
England, and
Wales in 1683-84; and the population was estimated, at the close of the latter year, at 2,500.
Schools were established; and in 1687
William Bradford set up a
printing-press.
A city charter was given by
Penn, Oct. 28, 1701, and a court-house was built in 1707.
During the whole colonial period
Philadelphia was the most important city in the country, and remained so for more than a quarter of a century after the establishment of State government in
Pennsylvania in 1776.
Writing to Lord Halifax from
Philadelphia,
Penn said, with righteous exultation, “I must, without vanity, say I have led the greatest colony into
America that ever any man did upon private credit, and the most prosperous beginnings that ever were in it are to be found among us.”
After the battle at the
Brandywine, in 1777,
Washington fell back to
Philadelphia, and on Sept. 16 he recrossed the
Schuylkill and marched against the advancing
British.
The armies met 20 miles from
Philadelphia, and began to skirmish, when a violent storm of rain prevented the impending battle.
Washington again retired across the
Schuylkill, and, while manoeuvring to prevent
Howe from crossing that river above him, the enemy crossed below him, and was thus placed between the
American army and
Philadelphia.
Nothing but a battle and a victory could now save that city.
Washington's troops, inferior in numbers and much fatigued by recent marches, were also sadly deficient in shoes and clothing; their arms were in
a bad condition; and the regular supply of food had been rendered very precarious.
Under these circumstances, it seemed too hazardous to risk a battle.
The Congress had already left
Philadelphia, and
Washington was compelled to abandon it. He formed a camp at
Skippack Creek, about 20 miles from
Philadelphia.
Howe found a large number of loyalists in
Philadelphia, who welcomed him. He stationed the bulk of his army near
Germantown, about 5 miles from the city (Sept. 25). Four regiments were quartered in the city.
Joseph Galloway, a Tory who had accompanied the army, was made chief of police there.
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In 1778 the danger of being blockaded by a French fleet in the
Delaware caused the British fleet to leave those waters, and the
British army had to evacuate
Philadelphia and flee towards New York.
That movement was begun on June 18.
The baggage and stores, and a considerable number of loyalists, were sent around to New York to the fleet.
The British army, 17,000 strong, having crossed the
Delaware, took up its march across
New Jersey, and was pursued by
Washington, who broke up his encampment at
Valley Forge as soon as he heard of the evacuation of
Philadelphia.
The rapid depreciation of the
Continental paper money and the continued rise in prices, which some chose to ascribe to monopoly and extortion, produced a riot at the seat of the general government in 1779.
A committee of citizens of
Philadelphia had attempted to regulate the prices of leading articles of consumption, to which
Robert Morris and other prominent merchants refused to conform.
Among the non-conformists was
James Wilson, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence.
He had already become obnoxious by his defence of the accused
Quakers.
He now took an active part against so regulating trade.
He was denounced as a defender of the Tories, and it was proposed to seize him and others and to banish them to New York.
The threatened persons, with their friends (among whom was
General Mifflin), assembled (Oct. 4) at Wilson's house.
A mob approached, with drums beating, and dragging two pieces of cannon.
They opened a fire of musketry on the house.
One of the
inmates was killed and two wounded. The mob was about to force open the barred doors, when the president of
Pennsylvania
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(
Joseph Reed) arrived, soon followed by some of the city cavalry.
The latter attacked the mob, when a man and boy were killed and several were severely wounded.
It was several days before order was restored.
The operations of the
British blockading fleet on the
New England coast, the capture of
Washington, D. C., by the
British, and the attack on
Baltimore, in the summer of 1814, alarmed
Philadelphia as well as New York, and the greatest patriotic efforts were exerted in the
preparation of defences in both cities.
In Philadelphia a public meeting was held in the State-house yard on Aug. 26, and a committee of defence was appointed, with ample powers.
A fort was planned near Gray's Ferry and Darby roads; also a redoubt opposite Hamilton's Grove another upon the
Lancaster road, and a third upon the site of an old British redoubt on the southern side of the hill at
Fairmount, which would command the bridge at Market Street and the roads leading to it. To construct these works, the volunteer assistance of the citizens was given, and a hearty enthusiasm was shown in the service.
Societies, trades, and religious associations of every kind labored systematically under the direction of the committee.
Work began on Sept. 3, and ended on Oct. 1, when the fieldworks were completed.
The method of procedure in the labor was as follows: “Arriving at the fortifications,” says
Westcott, “the citizens, having been previously divided into companies, were put to work.
At ten o'clock the drum beat for ‘grog,’ when liquor sufficient for each company was dealt out by its captain.
At twelve o'clock the drum beat for dinner, when more ‘grog’ was furnished.
This was also the case at three and five o'clock in the afternoon.
At six o'clock the drum beat the retreat, when, it was suggested in general orders, ‘for the honor of the cause we are engaged in, freemen to live or die, it is hoped that every man will retire sober.’
” The enemy did not come, and the beautiful city was spared the horrors of war.
Early in 1861 ten companies of the
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Washington Brigade of
Philadelphia accompanied the 6th Massachusetts Regiment to
Washington, under
Gen. Wilson C. Small.
They were entirely unarmed.
These remained at the President Street station in
Baltimore, while the 6th Massachusetts went on to the
Camden Street station.
After the latter had encountered the mob (see
Baltimore), the Philadelphians, who had remained in the cars, were attacked.
The mob had tried in vain to seize arms.
Quite a large number of Union men of
Baltimore had gathered around these troops, and many of the latter sprang out of the cars and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the rioters for about two hours, assisted by the
Baltimore Unionists.
The soldiers were discomfited by numbers.
Order was finally restored, and the Philadelphians went on to
Washington.
The hundredth year of American independence was celebrated in
Philadelphia by the
Centennial international Exhibition (q. v.). The manufacturers and merchants of
Philadelphia organized a Commerical Museum in 1897, which proved a success in every way and led to the
National Export Exposition of 1899.
Washington's second inauguration took place in
Philadelphia, in the building adjoining Independence Hall.
On the cen-
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tennial of that event the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames to whom the city intrusted the building, opened the rooms to the public, restored to their original condition.
