American Revolution Era
Essay
Situated midway between New England and the southern colonies, Philadelphia became the capital of the American Revolution as representatives gathered for the First and Second Continental Congresses. When the delegates to Congress declared independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, they also secured Philadelphia’s enduring place in American history. In military action as well as politics, the New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware stood at the crossroads of revolution.
Following the War for Independence, population growth outside the city of Philadelphia led to the designation of new counties in Pennsylvania, including Montgomery (created in 1784, from a portion of Philadelphia County) and Delaware (created in 1789, from a portion of Chester).
Related Topics
Locations
- Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- Center City Philadelphia
- Delaware County, Pennsylvania
- Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
- Cumberland County, New Jersey
- Salem County, New Jersey
- Gloucester County, New Jersey
- Burlington County, New Jersey
Essays
- France and the French
- Courthouses (County)
- Polish Settlement and Poland
- Philadelphia Pepper Pot
- City Councils (Philadelphia)
- Pietism
- Musical Instrument Making
- German Reformed Church
- Great Wagon Road
- Poetry and Poets
- Trenton, New Jersey
- Ceramics
- Wilmington, Delaware
- Philadelphia Contributionship
- Historic Preservation
- Center City
- Wieland; or, the Transformation: An American Tale
- Bakeries and Bakers
- Horticulture
- Saws and Saw Making
- Street Numbering
- Paper and Papermaking
- Mayors (Philadelphia)
- Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (The)
- Textile Manufacturing and Textile Workers
- Mennonites
- Irish (The) and Ireland
- Market Street
- Machining and Machinists
- Poverty
- Prisons and Jails
- Doylestown, Pennsylvania
- Mount Holly Township, New Jersey
- Dogfighting
- Dogs
- Brickmaking and Brickmakers
- Nativism
- Pacific World (Connections and Impact)
- Fashion
- Anglican Church (Church of England)
- Deafness and the Deaf
- Dancing Assembly
- Scots Irish (Scotch Irish)
- Dutch (The) and The Netherlands
- Opera and Opera Houses
- Library Company of Philadelphia
- Free Black Communities
- Bartram’s Garden
- Clocks and Clockmakers
- Classical Music
- Nursing
- Mummies
- Lehigh Valley
- West Chester, Pennsylvania
- Literary Societies
- Woodbury, New Jersey
- Freemasonry
- Roman Catholic Parishes
- Smoking and Smoking Regulations
- Furnituremaking
- Crowds (Colonial and Revolution Eras)
- Militia
- Lotteries
- Horses
- Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans
- Pennsylvania Prison Society
- Iron Production
- Norristown, Pennsylvania
- Fairmount Park Houses
- Mansions
- New Year’s Traditions
- Civil Defense
- Shoemakers and Shoemaking
- Hinterlands
- British Occupation of Philadelphia
- Tobacco
- Chemistry
- China Trade
- Artisans
- Heating (Home)
- Police Department (Philadelphia)
- Infectious Diseases and Epidemics
- Public Health
- Privateering
- Meteorology (Study of the Atmosphere)
- Ornithology (Study of Birds)
- Peale Family of Painters
- Funerals and Burial Practices
- Veterans and Veterans’ Organizations
- Coffeehouses
- Loyalists
- Free African Society
- Scientific Societies
- American Philosophical Society
- Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
- Home Remedies
- Barbershops and Barbers
- Log Cabins
- Almshouses (Poorhouses)
- Entomology (Study of Insects)
- Lafayette’s Tour
- Grand Federal Procession
- Trails (Indian)
- Smith’s and Windmill Islands
- Medicine (Colonial Era)
- Grand Juries
- Herpetology (Study of Amphibians and Reptiles)
- Cartoons and Cartoonists
- Dentistry and Dentists
- Saint Patrick’s Day
- Public Parks (Philadelphia)
- Arsenals
- Vagrancy
- Restaurants
- Painters and Painting
- Peale’s Philadelphia Museum
- Educational Reform
- Articles of Confederation
- Anatomy and Anatomy Education
- Treaty Negotiations with Native Americans
- Law and Lawyers
- Philadelphia Lawyer
- Revolutionary Crisis (American Revolution)
- Street Vendors
- Bank of North America
- Book Publishing and Publishers
- Meschianza
- Pirates
- Salt Making
- Tun Tavern
- Plantations
- Junto
- Common Sense
- Philadelphia Campaign
- Proclamation Line of 1763
- Native American-Pennsylvania Relations, 1754-89
- Constitutional Convention of 1787
- Forts and Fortifications
- Society Hill
- Trenton and Princeton Campaign (Washington’s Crossing)
- Hog Island
- Crime
- Cemeteries
- Fort Wilson
- Pine Barrens
- Valley Forge
- Arboretums
- Trees
- African American Migration
- Insurance
- Haitian Revolution
- Taverns
- Paints and Varnishes
- Printing and Publishing
- Fox Hunting
- Animal Protection
- Shipbuilding and Shipyards
- Ladies Association of Philadelphia
- Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Abolitionism
- Spanish-American Revolutions
- French Revolution
- Continental Congresses
- Declaration of Independence
- Independence Hall
- Liberty Bell
-
Historic Germantown: New Knowledge
in a Very Old Neighborhood - Women’s Education
- Constitution Commemorations
- Elfreth’s Alley
- Earthquakes
- Almanacs
- Salem (City), New Jersey
- Poconos (The)
- Pollution
- Delaware River
- Lutherans and the Lutheran Church
- Museum of the American Revolution
- Silversmiths
- Brandywine Valley
- Schuylkill River
Artifacts
Related Reading
Beeman, Richard. Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776. New York: Basic Books, 2013.
—–. Plain Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution. New York: Random House, 2009.
Bodle, Wayne. The Valley Forge Winter: Civilians and Soldiers in War. University Park, Pa.: Penn State University Press, 2002.
Doerflinger, Thomas M. A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise: Merchants and Economic Development in Revolutionary Philadelphia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986.
Dorwart, Jeffery M. Fort Mifflin of Philadelphia: An Illustrated History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.
Finger, Simon. The Contagious City: The Politics of Public Health in Early Philadelphia. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2012.
Frantz, John B. and William Pencak, eds. Beyond Philadelphia: The American Revolution in the Pennsylvania Hinterland. University Park, Pa.: Penn State University Press, 1998.
Gibbs, Jenna M. Performing the Temple of Liberty: Slavery, Theater, and Popular Culture in London and Philadelphia, 1760-1850. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
Hutchins, Catherine E. Shaping a National Culture: The Philadelphia Experience, 1750-1800. Winterthur: Henry F. DuPont Winterthur Library and Museum, 1994.
Mitnick, Barbara J. New Jersey in the American Revolution. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rivergate Books, Rutgers University Press, 2007.
McGuire, Thomas J. The Philadelphia Campaign, Vol. 1: Brandywine and the Fall of Philadelphia. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2006.
—–. The Philadelphia Campaign, Vol. 2: Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2007.
Mires, Charlene. Independence Hall in American Memory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.
Nash, Gary B. Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia’s Black Community, 1720-1840. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988.
—–. The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.
Olton, Charles S. Artisans for Independence: Philadelphia Mechanics and the American Revolution. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1975.
Rosswurm, Steven. Arms, Country, and Class: The Philadelphia Militia and the Lower Sort during the American Revolution. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1989.
Ryerson, Richard A. The Revolution is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia, 1765-1776. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978.
Smith, Billy G. Life in Early Philadelphia: Documents from the Revolutionary and Early National Periods. University Park, Pa.: Penn State University Press, 1995.
—–. The “Lower Sort”: Philadelphia’s Laboring People, 1750-1800. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990.
Taaffe, Stephen R. The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777-78. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 2003.
Thompson, Peter. Rum Punch & Revolution: Taverngoing & Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.