Pennsylmania

The financing and logistics of the American Revolution. In order to get a full picture of the American Revolution, one has to study more than the battles fought by the soldiers and the political ideals of the Founding Fathers. You have to ask, “Who paid for all this stuff and how did it get to where it was needed?” This episode covers the first three years of the War, from 1775 to 1778, when America was a scrappy start-up venture. It illuminates the ways in which the Continental Congress paid for the War. Chief among these are that they printed money, took out foreign loans, and received foreign military aide. But they also employed lesser-known methods, such as government-sanctioned piracy. This episode also explains the far-flung supply network that handled logistics for the Americans, which was essential in receiving and transporting needed supplies, such as gunpowder and arms. It features the man who did more than anyone to fund the War and to get provisions where they were needed: Philadelphia financier Robert Morris. This is the first of a 3-part series that takes us through the end of the War of Independence.

What was life like in the nation’s capital under British control? From September of 1777 to June of 1778, the British Army occupied the City of Philadelphia. During this time, the Congress was in exile in York, and the Pennsylvania Assembly was in exile in Lancaster. This episode explains life and events in Philadelphia under British occupation. About a third of Philadelphians fled the approaching British, leaving behind a population of mostly loyalists and the disaffected. For the working-class, life would become difficult. But if you were a rich loyalist at the time, you could have the time of your life.

July 1777 to June of 1778 was the pivotal year of the American Revolution. With the exception of the Battles of Saratoga, the most crucial events either happened in Pennsylvania (like the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, the occupation of Philadelphia by the British, and the York Congress), or Pennsylvanians were at the heart of it (like Benjamin Franklin negotiating with the French in Paris). It was the Year of Pennsylvania. On the last episode we described those events but ended in December of 1777. We pick up where we left off, with Franklin at his residence outside of Paris hearing the delayed news of the victory in the Battles of Saratoga, and Washington’s Army leaving Whitemarsh for its winter encampment at Valley Forge. During this episode, and while at Valley Forge, General Washington and his staff successfully tackle the most difficult problems bedeviling the army – supplies, training and re-enlistments – and beat back efforts to replace the General or make him subservient to other military leaders. Meanwhile, in France, Benjamin Franklin parlays the American victory in the Battles of Saratoga to official French recognition of and a military alliance with the American state.

The Second Continental Congress – the very same Congress that declared independence from Great Britain in 1776 at the state house in Philadelphia and that served as our representative government during the American Revolutionary War – – actually spent nine months in official session at the county courthouse in York, Pennsylvania. During its time in York, some of the most consequential decisions of the American Revolution were made – including agreement on the Articles of Confederation, which was our first national charter, and signing our nation’s first alliance – which was with France. Some say that the Articles of Confederation make York the first true capital of the United States. This episode explains why the Continental Congress met in York, how it got there, and why it left after nine months. It also includes a detailed description of the Battle of Brandywine Creek and the Battle of Germantown. This is the first in a three-part series titled “The Year of Pennsylvania” when from July of 1777 to June of 1778 the most crucial events in that pivotal year of the American Revolution, save for the Battles of Saratoga, either happened in Pennsylvania or Pennsylvanians were at the heart of it.

The life and legacy of William Penn. This episode, the second of a two-part series, focuses on his founding of the English colony of Pennsylvania. William has direct experience with colonial rule, his father being a landholder in Ireland with Catholic tenant farmers, and his own mediation of a dispute in America in the colony of West Jersey. Penn successfully receives a colonial charter in 1681 but has to navigate many hostile parties – chiefly Charles Calvert, the Lord Baltimore, proprietor of the Maryland colony, and the Anglican Church. Native American tribes already occupy his colony as well as some European settlers – mostly Swedes, Finns and Dutch in the “Lower Counties”. Penn sets up a framework of government and recruits settlers and arrives in Pennsylvania in October of 1682. Under his direction, a great new town is developed, Philadelphia, which will be the capitol of his colony. Penn navigates many challenges associated with a new colony but is increasingly embroiled in a border dispute with Charles Calvert, the Lord Baltimore, and the Maryland colony. Both proprietors – Penn and Calvert – return to England in 1684 to plead their case and Penn becomes an absentee landlord, not returning to his colony for 15 years. Penn is back in 1699 for two more years and just before his return completes the Charter of Privileges in 1701, which will remain the colony’s framework of government for 75 years. He returns to England and, his financial problems growing, unsuccessfully tries to sell the colony back to the Crown. He suffers a stroke in 1712 and lingers on until he dies in 1718. His second wife, Hannah Callowhill Penn, serves as de facto proprietor from 1712-1718 and then as sole proprietor until her death in 1726.

The life and legacy of William Penn, the founder of the English colony of Pennsylvania. This episode, the first of a two-part series, focuses on his family history and upbringing, his embrace of Quaker belief, and how he became a key figure in the struggle for religious freedom in England. He became what today would be considered a keyboard warrior and social influencer in support of Quakerism and the right of conscience – in defiance of his father, an English admiral, as well as authorities who imprisoned him for his advocacy and worship. A few years after successfully petitioning for a colonial charter and founding Pennsylvania, Penn becomes an ally of James II, the embattled Catholic monarch of England. Penn supports James II’s efforts to institute religious tolerance. The overthrow of James II leads Penn to go into hiding and delays his return to Pennsylvania.

Why the map of Pennsylvania has that little right triangle of land at the Northwest corner and why it has been a consequential place in our state’s history, perhaps most notably in the War of 1812. The episode starts with a discussion of colonial borders as they appear in the Kings’ charters and then reviews how Pennsylvania’s borders were settled. The Erie Triangle itself is created in 1784 and then sold by the federal government to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1792. The causes of the War of 1812 are reviewed and how, after the shooting starts, a naval arms race on Lake Erie ensues, and an American shipyard established at Presque Isle Bay. The Battle of Lake Erie – an American victory by fleet Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry – and its aftermath is covered in some detail.

The successful opening of the Erie Canal in New York State in 1825 gives the rest of the country a case of “canal fever” and none more so than the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Desperate to catch up with the surging economy of New York City, economic elites from Philadelphia and elsewhere in the Commonwealth hatch a plan for a cross-state canal, linking Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh to Erie. What is eventually developed – the Main Line of Public Works – is a system of canals and railroads that link the state, but at enormous cost to the Commonwealth. The 36-mile Allegheny Portage Railroad, constructed between 1831 and 1834, was the key section that would transport goods and people over the crest in the Allegheny Mountains, and while it was a technological marvel it was inefficient. The entire system never generates enough tolls to reimburse the huge investment of funds of the state government, and the Commonwealth defaults on its debt payments in 1842. Out of this disaster would arise a later a successful effort to create a statewide rail system owned and operated by a private company, which would be known as the Pennsylvania Railroad, and which would become in a few decades both the largest railroad and the largest company in the world. It is also during this time that anthracite found in the Coal Regions of the state becomes vital to manufacturing and the Philadelphia economy pivots to become the leading manufacturing center in the country.

What happens when the wickedest man in the world arrives in the wickedest place on the globe? It’s February of 1866 and the oil boom of Northwestern Pennsylvania is in high gear. Ben Hogan, welcome to Pithole, Pennsylvania. The discovery of oil and the birth of the oil industry created several boom towns some of which later became ghost towns. The most famous oil ghost town in Pennsylvania was Pithole, and it was populated with many a scoundrel and fallen woman. In this episode, we meet some of them, including the most famous of all – Ben Hogan and French Kate. This is the third episode in the 3-part series on the Discovery of Oil and the History of the Oil Regions of Pennsylvania. In this episode we also have repeat appearances by Frank Tarbell and his daughter Ida Tarbell from the first two episodes.

Part one of “The Titusville Gusher” ended in about 1880 with John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company crushing the independent oil producers of Northwest Pennsylvania, where oil was first discovered in 1859 and the industry was born. In this episode, we learn how journalist Ida Tarbell’s first wrote her History of Standard Oil, which appeared in McClure’s magazine in 19 installments. She tells a detailed story of how one business came to dominate an industry, through the greedy and ethics-defying actions of those who ran it, and the counter-efforts of the oil producers and other people to stop them. Hers was the most impactful work of investigative journalism in America before the Watergate scandal.

Titusville, Pennsylvania was where the first oil well was drilled in 1859. That started an economic boom that birthed a new industry and created several oil boom towns, some of which still exist today like Titusville and Oil City, and some of which became ghost towns and disappeared like Pithole and Petroleum Center. This episode focuses on that first discovery of oil by Edwin Drake, the resulting economic boom, and the rise of the Standard Oil Company, helmed by John D. Rockefeller. The episode tracks how Standard Oil became overwhelmingly dominant in oil refining, transportation and marketing. This is the first of a three-part series on the Oil Regions of Northwest Pennsylvania.

Trailer for a new podcast on the people and events in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.