The Hanna’s Town Resolves

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on The Hanna’s Town Resolves On May 16, 1775, the citizens of Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County gathered at Hanna’s Town to draft a series of resolutions condemning the actions of Parliament and to organize themselves into an armed militia. The resulting 755-word document, known as the Hanna’s Town Resolves, challenged the scope of British authority and took the western backcountry one step closer to revolution. Signed 14...
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The Arrival of Thomas Paine and the Publication of Common Sense

Posted by on Nov 18, 2024 in | Comments Off on The Arrival of Thomas Paine and the Publication of Common Sense Two hundred fifty years ago, on November 30, 1774, Thomas Paine (1737–1809) arrived in America from England. By early 1776 his inflammatory pamphlet, Common Sense — urging the American Colonies to declare independence from imperial Britain — had been published and widely read, accelerating the momentum of the American Revolution. Born in Norfolk, England, Paine displayed a talent for debating in...
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Humphry Marshall, Father of American Dendrology

Posted by on Apr 19, 2016 in | Comments Off on Humphry Marshall, Father of American Dendrology Humphry Marshall (1722-1801) has been called the Father of American Dendrology, the study of wooded plants. In 1785 he authored Arbustum Americanum, a catalog of American trees and shrubs following the Linnaean system of plant classification, the first publication of its kind. A stonemason by trade, Marshall took an early interest in botany. His cousin John Bartram (1699-1777), who had created a...
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“Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on “Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution Religion in the colony of Pennsylvania was distinctive. In contrast to most areas of the western world, this province practiced freedom of religion. It never had an established church. Friends who controlled the first legislative assembly, meeting in Upland, now Chester, in 1682, specified that no one was “at any time [to] be com­pelled to frequent or Maintain anie religious worship, place...
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John Dickinson, Reluctant Revolutionist

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on John Dickinson, Reluctant Revolutionist Students of American history will recognize John Dickinson as the Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress who had the temerity to speak against separation from Great Britain and the obstinacy to refuse to sign the Declaration of Independence. Paradoxically, Dickinson had been an early leader of the patriot cause in Pennsylvania, author of the “Farmers’ Letters”...
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A Pennsylvania Yankee in King George’s Court

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Pennsylvania Yankee in King George’s Court They were an odd pair. One was a commoner, a native Pennsylva­nian and son of an innkeeper on a busy road between Chester and Philadel­phia; the other, a king who could trace his royal ancestry through several centuries. In spite of their disparate back­grounds and the tumultuous period during which their countries were pitted against each other, the American colon­ist and the monarch of Great...
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British Images of War at Brandywine and the Tredyffrin Encampment

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on British Images of War at Brandywine and the Tredyffrin Encampment Two hundred and twenty-five years ago, on fateful September 11, 1777, one of the largest and most important engagements of the American Revolution took place in southeastern Pennsylvania. It was the Battle of Brandywine, a crushing defeat for the American side. Although British and Hessian engineers delineated several maps of the battle immediately afterwards, until recently no contemporary...
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Library of the Founding Fathers

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Library of the Founding Fathers Three centuries after the birth of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the world continues to be amazed by his overwhelming contributions, from the proprietary period in the early years of Pennsylvania through the birth of the United States of America. Of his many accomplishments, Franklin’s love of the printed word seems most obvious. In 1731, he and several friends founded the first...
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