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Political Conventions
Philadelphia has hosted national political conventions from the time of the Revolution to the modern era. The Pennsylvania State House, later known as Independence Hall, was the site of both the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitutional Convention in 1787. In the mid-nineteenth century, as national party conventions became the norm, politicians often returned to Philadelphia to nominate candidates in the city most closely associated with the nation’s founding ideals. Between 1848 and 2012, nearly one of every four major national political party conventions was held in Philadelphia, drawing visitors to the city and reinforcing the city’s place as a vibrant center of national politics.
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The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is a civic project to increase understanding of one of America’s greatest cities.
Produced by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden, the Encyclopedia as a digital resource and in print volumes will offer the most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region.
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