Pennsylvania: Difference between revisions

Pennsylvania played a vital and historic role in the [[American Revolution]] and the ultimately successful quest for independence from the [[British Empire]], hosting the [[First Continental Congress|First]] and [[Second Continental Congress]] in [[Philadelphia]], which formed the [[Continental Army]] and appointed [[George Washington]] as its commander in 1775, and unanimously adopted the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] the following year.<ref name="American Creation">{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Joseph |url=https://archive.org/details/americancreation0000elli_t3w8 |title=American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic |date=2007 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-307-26369-8 |location=New York |pages=55–56 |author-link=Joseph Ellis |url-access=registration}}</ref> On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania was the second state to ratify the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]].<ref>[https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/pennsylvania U.S. News | Best States | Pennsylvania]</ref>  

[[Geography of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania's geography]] is highly diverse. The [[Appalachian Mountains]] run through the center of the state; the [[Allegheny Mountains|Allegheny]] and [[Pocono Mountains|Pocono]] mountains span much of [[Northeastern Pennsylvania]]; close to [[Forest cover by state and territory in the United States|60% of the state is forested]]. While it has no ocean shoreline, it has {{convert|140|mi|km|0}} of waterfront along Lake Erie and the tidal Delaware River.<ref name="Coastalmanagement.noaa.gov">{{cite web |url=https://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/states/shorelines.pdf |title=General Coastline and Shoreline Mileage of the United States |publisher=NOAA Office of Coastal Management |access-date=December 31, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225011959/https://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/states/shorelines.pdf |archive-date=December 25, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><!-- Uncited and not developed anywhere in the article: Pennsylvania has the most [[List of rivers of Pennsylvania|navigable rivers]] of any state in the nation, including the [[Allegheny River|Allegheny]], Delaware, [[Genesee River|Genesee]], [[Ohio River|Ohio]], [[Schuylkill River|Schuylkill]], [[Susquehanna River|Susquehanna]], and others. -->

The General Assembly met at a nearby [[Methodism|Methodist Church]] until a new capitol could be built. Following an architectural selection contest, [[Chicago]] architect [[Henry Ives Cobb]] was asked to design and build a replacement building. However, the legislature had little money to allocate to the project. When they dubbed the roughly finished, somewhat industrial Cobb Capitol building complete, the General Assembly refused to occupy the building. In 1901, political and popular indignation prompted a second contest that was restricted to Pennsylvania architects; [[Joseph Miller Huston]] of Philadelphia was chosen to design the present [[Pennsylvania State Capitol]] that incorporated Cobb's building into a magnificent public work, finished and dedicated in 1907.<ref name="legiscap2" />

The politics of Pennsylvania were for decades dominated by the financially conservative [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]-aligned [[Cameron machine]], established by [[Simon Cameron|U.S. Senator Simon Cameron]],<ref name="chapter12">[https://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-20&chapter=1 Chapter One: 1. Pennsylvania's Bosses and Political Machines]. ''ExplorePAHistory.com''. Retrieved February 18, 2022.</ref> later the [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] under [[Abraham Lincoln|President Abraham Lincoln]]. Control of the machine was subsequently passed on to Cameron's son [[J. Donald Cameron]], whose ineffectiveness resulted in a transfer of power to the more shrewd [[Matthew Quay]] and finally to [[Boies Penrose]].