Pennsylvania’s Early Colonial History
The first English charter to colonize land in the New World that is today known as Pennsylvania was set forth by King Charles II as a way to repay William Penn, a member of upper-class nobility, whose father had lent the king money before his death. Penn was a supporter of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, a controversial religion at the time that rejected rituals and oaths and opposed war. Penn wanted to create a haven for his persecuted friends in the New World and asked the King to grant him land in the territory between the province of Maryland and the province of New York.
On March 4, 1681, King Charles signed the Charter of Pennsylvania, and it was officially proclaimed on April 2. The king named the colony after Penn’s father, Admiral Sir Penn. In October 1682, Penn sent a proprietor to Pennsylvania who visited the capital city Philadelphia, created the three original counties and summoned a General Assembly to Chester on December 4.
Native Americans in Pennsylvania
Before Penn was granted land rights to build his colony, King Charles and his heirs bought the claims of the Native Americans who lived in the region. By 1768, all of present Pennsylvania except the northwestern third was purchased. Despite a seemingly peaceful transition of land, after multiple battles and failed attempts to live harmoniously, many of Pennsylvania’s Native Americans gradually left and migrated west.
Penn, on behalf of the Quakers, initially sought peace with the Lenape, one of the most prominent Native American tribes that occupied the region. The two groups signed the Treaty of Shackamaxon in 1682 which effectively formalized the purchase of the land and declared peace between the two groups.
The relationship between natives and settlers soured over the years as a result of miscommunication, an increase in the number of English colonizers coming to Pennsylvania, outward land expansion, disease and, most notably, a transfer of power. After he died, Penn gave control of the land to his sons, John and Thomas, who were known to sell parts of the land without consent from the local tribes. Eventually, colonial officials called on the Iroquois, another prominent local Native tribe, to help remove the Lenape from the land in 1741. From there, the Lenape to Indiana, Kansas and Oklahoma before further splintering into different groups.
Industrialization in Philadelphia
During the late 1800s, Philadelphia was the leader in industrial production, especially in manufacturing. The city was the world’s largest and most varied manufacturer of textile weaving including Weavers at the Quaker Lace Company, the Pennsylvania Woven Carpet Mills and the New Glen Echo Mills. The Cramp Shipyards, a producer of passenger steamships and warships, also helped pave the way for the state’s industrial profile. The Cramp Shipyards built the St. Louis, St. Paul and the USS Maine and supplied numerous federal governments with armored warships including the United States, Turkey, Russia and Japan.
Fueling the industry at this time relied heavily on Pennsylvania’s natural resources. The state became a major oil refinery and storage center. Reading Terminal became a hub for locomotive transportation and innovation across the country. The terminal often featured Baldwin’s steam locomotives, which were considered state-of-the-art and manufactured for countries including Russia, Finland, New Zealand, Brazil and Chile.
Population Shifts During the 1900s
Pennsylvania’s industry extended overseas and brought over more people from Germany, the Far East and South America. More than one million people arrived in Pennsylvania between 1870 and the early 1900s. Similar to other major cities at the time, immigrants grouped themselves by income and ethnicity. (Neighborhoods such as Southwark, Spring Garden and Northern Liberties comprised a larger population of Latin American residents, many of who worked as cigar makers and at Baldwin Locomotive Works.)
Newspapers in foreign languages and mutual aid networks sprouted as more immigrants moved into Pennsylvania. Amateur and professional baseball teams, department stores, a new free library system and theaters also came about around the same time. (The African American-led Pythian Baseball Club and the Cuban Giants emerged in the 1860s and 1880s, respectively, around the same time as the Philadelphia Phillies.)
Around the early 1900s, educational opportunities became more readily available through expanding colleges and universities. The University of Pennsylvania, for example, added several graduate programs, admitted women to them, and enrolled students of color. Meanwhile, the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania brought African American women from the south and students from India, Japan and Syria. It was the only college in the world at the time to train female physicians.
