250 and Counting

Tag: Pennsylvania History

Pennsylvania Ratifies A New Constitution–September 28, 1776

As I mentioned a few days ago, when Pennsylvania drafted its constitution and then voted on it, not everybody involved was on board with the idea.

In June 1776, The Pennsylvania Provincial Conference resolved “that the present Assembly of the Colony is ‘not competent to the exigencies of affairs’ and that a Provincial Convention ought to be called for inaugurating a form of Colonial government, in compliance with the recommendation of Congress”. In short, We gotta move on this, since Independence is around the corner.

So a state convention was called, which met for the first time on July 15, 1776. They determined that whatever government they came up with would supersede whatever was in place at the time of ratification. Then they established a Council of Safety which would handle things in the interim. So the Council of Safety was designed specifically to be obsolete once a Constitution was in place. The change of government, was, however, opposed by many of the commonwealth’s citizens: John Dickinson, James Wilson, Robert Morris, and Frederick Muhlenberg, among others.

The Constitutional Convention elected Benjamin Franklin as their president, along with Colonel George Ross, vice-president, John Morris, secretary, and Jacob Garrigues, assistant-secretary. Given this particular group of men, it’s no surprise that the new Constitution borrowed pretty heavily from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, with an underlying fear of an aristocracy and words such as “liberty” and “the people’s government.” Giving so much power to a lower class and limiting the power of the upper reaches of government clearly reflects this fear.

This constitution was in use until 1790, when another convention refined a few items and instituted a bicameral legislature. There have been a few more updates, but the Pennsylvania Constititution has essentially been the same since 1968.

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September 27, 2026
Pennsylvania Writes A Constitution–September 20, 1776

The Pennsylvania Constitution turned out to have many unique qualities, but they were so good that before long they weren’t unique anymore, because so many people copied them.

That’s not to say that everything about the Pennsylvania Constitution was unique, or even original. For instance, the document begins with a Declaration of Rights that was lifted directly from Virginia.

Regardless, there were some radical ideas in there (for that time), which clearly demonstrated that some of the authors had a little bit of an ax to grind when it came to the way things were being done up until then. Government was designed to be relatively weak, in the sense that it was difficult for any one entity to seize power. Decisions were made by one body and they were largely carried out by another. Veto power wasn’t really a thing. And…anyone could vote? ANYONE? Yes, so long as they were taxpayers. And male. But that’s still a much bigger demographic than other states were offering the franchise to.

The committee which worked on this document presented it to the rest of the Committee of Safety (which was running things for the time being), and in a few days we’ll look at the actual adoption of the Pennsylvania Constitution and some of the people who opposed its adoption.

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September 20, 2026
Some Big News–July 6, 1776

The Pennsylvania Evening Post is an interesting study in media relations and what a publication sometimes has to do in order to survive.

The Post was America’s first daily newspaper, but early on it published three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. They were generally supportive of the Revolution and published pro-Patriot articles.

As Mike explains, it was through a quirk of their publishing schedule that the Post was able to publish the text of the Declaration of Independence before anyone else, but the war got worse before it got better, and as things progressed into 1778 and the British occupied Philadelphia, they simply shifted gears, publishing Loyalist opinions and British-positive stories. All the other Patriot newspapers in town ceased operating. The crazy part of this is, because of their sudden political shift, the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania placed its publisher, Benjamin Towne, on a list of traitors. Because the other printers had not returned to the city, the list was printed in The Post!

Some of this activity did lead to public controversy and a drop in revenue. Towne resorted to selling the newspaper via hawkers (the people on street corners in old movies hollering “Extra! Read all about it!” and such), but the Pennsylvania Evening Post ultimately shut down in 1784.

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July 6, 2026
A Busy Day In Congress–June 25, 1776

The big story today is about the Pennsylvania Delegation finally getting new orders, but I admit that I buried the lede on this one, largely because the Board of War and Ordnance had a lot going on, and the Pennsylvania story was a relatively simple one to tell.

But as you can tell in today’s episode, the note we gave you the other day about the sheer volume of material they had to deal with is evident in the minutes of the Continental Congress for today; what’s more, a bunch of it was items that needed to be addressed immediately, so the business of the Congress was halted for several hours until the Board could report back.

But the fact that the Pennsylvanian government had finally gotten past whatever they needed to get past, made it possible for the Pennsylvania Delegation to be able to vote in the affirmative on the question of Independence, which left exactly one colony about to vote “Yes” and another one unable to do so. And that’s something we’ll talk about in just a few days.

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June 25, 2026
George Schetky–June 1, 1776

George Schetky came from a very musical family. As we mention in the episode, his father was also a cellist and composer who was originally from Vienna. As a result his home always had plenty of music present and was a regular hub of performances.

In fact, one could say that the Schetky family was a musical dynasty, between George, his father, his uncle on his mother’s side (Alexander Reinagle) amd others. Thus, he was a virtuoso on the cello before he ever set foot in America.

George came to America to stay with his uncle Alexander in Philadelphia, who was already well established there, and got himself into the local music scene as a performer and a teacher. This penchant for teaching also led him to theater programs including educational pamphlets so that patrons would understand the importance of the piece they were about to hear.

And, of course, Schetky was important in the founding of the Musical Fund Society of Phladelphia, which is dedicated to artistic advancement and musician welfare even now, over 200 years later.

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June 1, 2026
Thwarted On The Delaware–May 8, 1776

The HMS Roebuck was a ship that tangled with the Americans numerous times. One advantage that she had over other British ships was a relatively shallow draught (vertical distance between keel and waterline), which proved helpful when it came to navigating some of the shallower waters off the American coast.

The HMS Roebuck had already had an encounter just south of today’s events back in March. She was also involved in the Battle of Long Island, which took place during the summer, in a battle on the Hudson River in October 1776, and then in 1777 during another attempt to take Philadelphia, this time as part of a successful assault.

There were other small battles that went on for another couple of years before she was finally recalled to England for a refit, after which she returned to America, successfully engaging again with the Americans. I

In 1783 HMS Roebuck finished her war service and was recommissioned as a hospital ship for the French Revolutionary Wars. In the late 1790s she was recommissioned as a warship and participated in the Anglo-Dutch War and then the Napoleonic Wars. Once the Treaty of Amiens was ratified, Roebuck was was used as a guardship, then a receiving ship. Finally in 1811 she was formally decommissioned and broken up.

HMS Roebuck was in action–most of it battles–for 37 years, a relatively long time for any ship of that era. Even though they were on the enemy side of the war, we can’t help but admire her record, which was quite glossed-over in this relatively small space.

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May 8, 2026
The Pennsylvania Thirteenth–March 6, 1776

The Pennsylvania State Rifle Regiment, also known as Miles’ Regiment, also known as the Pennsylvania 13th Regiment first came about when the Pennsylvania State Battalion of Musketry merged with Miles’ Reigment. We know it’s confusing, largely because there were so many names involved and that’s not even where the names ended.

Samuel Miles was their commander when they were first raised, and he was their commander in 1777 at the Battle of Long Island. It’s especially notable because he allowed himself to be captured by British troops who thought he was George Washington, a ruse that allowed the real George Washington and many of his troops to escape. It was nearly two years before he would be released in a prisoner exchange.

As for the regiment itself, that eventually got absorbed into the Continental Army in June of 1777, but they were still informally called the Pennsylvania 13th.

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March 6, 2026
Innis Green–February 26, 1776

Innis Green served as a Jacksonian Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 20th (1827–1829) and 21st (1829–1831) Congresses, essentially holding the party’s populist line.

But he did deviate from party alignment on May 26, 1830, when Green voted nay on H.R. 287, the Indian Removal Act. Despite this, the bill passed narrowly, 102-97. This stance positioned him among Pennsylvania Jacksonians influenced by local Quaker and moral opposition to forced tribal relocations, contrasting with southern and western Democrats who prioritized land acquisition for white settlement.

Green’s vote highlighted intraparty tensions over executive-driven policies, though it did not derail his Jacksonian credentials amid broader support for Jackson’s anti-bank rhetoric and vetoes of federal internal improvements like the Maysville Road in 1830.

The short version of all that is, while Green was a fairly reliable guy when it came to upholding Jacksonian politics, he often acted with his actual constituents in mind: if it wasn’t going to poorly affect the people in his district, he could get behind it. Otherwise, he would be willing to vote against it.

Perhaps he didn’t make a huge splash politically, but there are some behavior lessons in there.

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February 26, 2026
John M. Snowden–January 13, 1776

Portrait of John Maugridge Snowden, Third Mayor of Pittsburgh. From the Snowden Family Collection via Wikimedia Commons.

What can I say about John M. Snowden that I didn’t tell you about in the episode itself?

The truth is, he’s not a well-documented man, nor is his family, even though (as I noted) his wife was an advisor to George Washington for awhile.

I can note that I foreshortened his career a little bit, in that he had done a little public service before he was the mayor of Pittsburgh. He also spent some time as the Allegheny County Recorder and Treasurer before he was elected mayor. It should be noted, however, that until 1835 mayors were appointed by the City Council. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it could lend itself to corruption. And the incumbent won the first election, so chances are the process wasn’t too bad.

We also spend a little time with Henry Knox, who (you might remember) began the Noble Train of Artillery journey back on December 17. His arrival in Cambridge is still about two weeks out; we don’t know a lot about what happened during that time because today is the day that his diary stops. But when he arrives, we’ll all be there to greet him.

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January 13, 2026
When The North Went South–December 4, 1775

While the premise of today’s episode seems a little far-fetched, if you look closely at the map in today’s cover art, you’ll see it makes a lot of sense. In the mid-1700s, neither Pennsylvania nor Virginia had well-defined western borders. In fact, Virginia was occasionally thought to continue northward all the way to Lake Erie. Some maps even have a Pennsylvania boundary somewhere east of Pittsburgh.

The point is, there have been times when the borders have been blurry, and others where they’ve overlapped, and still others (before West Virginia was a thing) when the two colonies had well-defined borders AND were neighbors. And now we’ve brought the South into the realm of mutual commitment.

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December 4, 2025