1682 Pennsylvania Colony
The Pennsylvania Colony was one of four Middle Colonies which also included the New York Colony, the Delaware Colony, and the New Jersey Colony. The Pennsylvania Colony was founded by William Penn and others in 1682. The Pennsylvania Colony was named by King Charles II after William Penn's father Admiral Sir William Penn, and the Latin word meaning woodland - Sylvania. Together Sylvania and Penn form the name Pennsylvania, which stood for Penn's Woods.
Interesting Pennsylvania Colony Facts:
The land that became the Pennsylvania Colony had been in dispute for many years by the English, Dutch, and the Swedes.
The Pennsylvania Colony was also called the Province of Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Colony was dominated by the Quaker religious beliefs and values. However there was still religious freedom for other beliefs.
The reason for founding the Pennsylvania Colony was based on religious beliefs. The reason that King George II gave William Penn such a large area in the New World was because he owed William's father a large amount of money.
The Pennsylvania Colony included immigrants from England, German, Scotch-Irish, and African Americans. \
The Pennsylvania Colony was on good terms with the Native Americans. \
There was an un-sworn treaty in place that was never broken. The Quakers never helped the New Englanders during the Indian Wars.
The Pennsylvania Colony's landscape included mountains, coastal plains, and plateaus and land suitable for farming.
Natural resources in the Pennsylvania Colony included iron ore, coal, furs, forest, and farmland.
The Pennsylvania Colony exported iron ore and manufactured iron products to England, including tools, plows, kettles, nails and other items.
Major agriculture in the Pennsylvania Colony included livestock, wheat, corn, and dairy.
Manufacturing in the Pennsylvania Colony included shipbuilding, textiles, and papermaking.
The Pennsylvania Colony grew hemp, flax, rye, which were important for industry.
The Pennsylvania Colony's major cities included York, Lancaster, and Philadelphia. Famous colonists who lived in Pennsylvania included Benjamin Franklin (Founding Father), Thomas McKean (signer of Declaration of Independence and 2nd Governor of Pennsylvania), Robert Morris (Financier of the Revolution), Thomas Paine (invented the phrase 'United States of America'), Arthur St. Clair (judge and general), James Wilson (lawyer and signer of Declaration of Independence), and Peggy Shippen (Benedict Arnold's wife).
Slavery was legal in the Pennsylvania Colony. Free African-Americans were also controlled by law and treated differently than whites.
During the American Revolutionary War the Liberty Bell was hidden in the Zion's Reform Church in Allentown.
The Pennsylvania Colony was a proprietary colony until the American Revolution began. It then became the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and one of America's first 13 states.
The Pennsylvania Colony became a U.S. state on December 12th, 1787.
The Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia's Independence Hall. Pennsylvania is famous for many places and things including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Gettysburg, and Valley Forge.