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  #    Entered Union     Year Settled 2nd      Dec. 12, 1787      1682  Nickname  Rank  Population 6th       12,448,279  Rank  Square Miles 33rd           46,055  State Bird  State Flower   State Tree  State Motto Virtue, Liberty, and Independence  Although Swedes and Dutch were the first European settlers, William Penn, a Quaker, named Pennsylvania in honor of his father by combining the name Penn and the Latin term sylvania, which translates as "woodlands" or “forest land,†to come up with "Penn's woodlands." Known as the "Keystone State," Pennsylvania is one of the original 13 colonies (it entered the Union in 1787).  Today, two major cities dominate the state--Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and a thriving metropolitan area, and Pittsburgh, a busy inland river port. The Amish, a group of people who live without the use of modern technology, live in the countryside of Pennsylvania. The capital is Harrisburg.  How did Pennsylvania get its name? Its founder, English reformer William Penn, born on October 14, 1644, in London, England, named it in honor of his father.  Persecuted in England for his Quaker faith, Penn came to America in 1682 and established Pennsylvania as a place where people could enjoy freedom of religion. The colony became a haven for minority religious sects from France, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia, and Great Britain. Penn obtained the land from King Charles II as payment for a debt owed to his deceased father.  Born the privileged son of a land-owning gentleman, young William Penn was greatly affected by the preaching of Quaker minister Thomas Loe. Expelled from Oxford University in England in 1662 for refusing to conform to the Anglican Church, Penn joined the Quakers.  He was locked up in the Tower of London four times for stating his beliefs in public and in print. After his father died in 1670, Penn inherited the family estates and began to frequent the court of King Charles II, campaigning for religious freedom.  Seeing no prospects for religious tolerance or political reform in England, Penn looked to America, which he had visited briefly in 1677. In a 1682 document, Penn guaranteed absolute freedom of worship in Pennsylvania. Rich in fertile lands as well as religious freedom, the colony attracted settlers and grew rapidly.  Penn is also remembered for peaceful interaction with the Lenni Lenape Indians and his draft of the Plan of Union, a forerunner of the U.S. Constitution. Thanks to William Penn, Pennsylvania, which guaranteed religious freedom for its citizens, was established in the New World.  Benjamin Franklin was many things: a printer, writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, civic leader, and diplomat.  As a scientist, he is best known for his experiments with electricity. As a writer, he is known for Poor Richard's Almanac and his autobiography. He was the oldest figure of the American Revolution. Franklin also was the only person to sign the three documents that established the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the peace treaty with Britain that ended the Revolutionary War, and the Constitution. Electricity was on people's minds in the 1740s, but not in the way we think about it today. People used electricity for magic tricks by creating sparks and shocks. Scientists conducted experiments with electricity, but scientific thinking about electricity had not changed much in hundreds of years. Electricity wasn't "useful" yet. Benjamin Franklin was interested in electricity. Being a curious and inventive thinker, Franklin wanted to know more than just the popular tricks. He kept thinking about electricity and came up with a very important idea. His idea was about electricity and lightning. Franklin noticed several similarities between the two: They both created light, made loud crashes when they exploded, were attracted to metal, had a particular smell, and more. Based on these observations, Franklin thought electricity and lightning were the same thing. A few people shared his belief, but no one had ever tested it. Franklin wrote up his thoughts on electricity in several letters to a fellow scientist who lived in London. This scientist and other scientists in London thought Franklin's letters contained valuable information, so in 1751 they published them in a little book, Experiments and Observations on Electricity. One of the letters contained Franklin's plan for how to prove that electricity and lightning were the same. His plan required something tall, like a hill or a tall building, but Philadelphia had neither at the time. While Franklin was waiting for a tall building to be built, he came up with another plan. This one involved a key and a kite  Franklin needed something to get close enough to the clouds to attract the lightning. He couldn't get up there since Philadelphia didn't have any hills or tall buildings. He did have a silk handkerchief, a couple of sticks and some string, so instead of getting himself up near the lightning, he flew a kite up to it. And it worked! Franklin and a few other scientists in Europe (who did their own experiments) proved that lightning and electricity were the same thing. But that wasn't enough for Franklin. He believed that this knowledge should be used for practical purposes.  What could be practical about lightning? Many folks knew what wasn't practical: having your house burn down because it was struck by lightning. Franklin thought he could help. He knew that lightning usually hit the highest part of a building. He also knew that the electrical current in lightning could start a fire. So he invented the lightning rod.  A lightning rod is made of metal and is attached to the highest point on a house. The lightning hits the rod instead of the house, and the electrical current from the lightning goes into the ground and leaves the house undamaged. Franklin thought the lightning rod was his most important invention.  What was the most important battle in Pennsylvania during the Civil War?  It was the Battle of Gettysburg, which took place on July 1 through 3, 1863, in southern Pennsylvania. The battle was General Robert E. Lee's final attempt to invade the North. Even though the Union army won the battle, more than 51,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured in the bloodiest battle of the entire war.  At the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. You may have heard the famous opening words before: "Four score and seven years ago." The Gettysburg Address is a very short speech. It is less than 300 words, and it probably seemed even shorter at the time because Lincoln delivered his address after a two-hour speech by orator Edward Everett.  At one point in the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln says: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."  Lincoln is unclear when he talks about the soldiers who died during the Battle of Gettysburg. Perhaps he wanted Southerners to believe he was including the Confederate as well as the Union soldiers. By calling for a "new birth of freedom" for the nation, Lincoln may have been asking the South to rejoin the union.  What American city do you think of when you think of steel?  If you answered Pittsburgh, you are right. As a major source of steel products and technology, Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania were once a powerful hub of the Industrial Age -- one that pushed the United States to world leadership as an industrial giant.  Pittsburgh steel was used to build some of the most important structures of the modern age: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Panama Canal locks, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Oakland Bay Bridge, and the United Nations.  During World War II, southwestern Pennsylvania became known as America's "Arsenal of Democracy," because its mills were working around the clock to make enough steel for America and its allies. Andrew Carnegie became the richest man in the world because of his ownership of steel mills.  Today, Pittsburgh no longer dominates world steel production, but the nonprofit Rivers of Steel Corporation seeks to preserve the heritage of the area.  Andrew Carnegie Grows Up Working  All kids learn from their parents. And, as a child, Andrew Carnegie learned values from both of his parents. But their values were very different and often in conflict.  From his father, Andrew learned the value of helping those who are less fortunate. Carnegie's father, Will Carnegie, was part of a British working class movement in Scotland, which believed in making conditions better for the working man.  Will Carnegie was a weaver but when he was unable to find work in America he tried to produce and sell his own cloth. He died at the age of 51 when Andrew was 20 years old and the only breadwinner for the family. Given these circumstances, what kind of values do you think Carnegie learned from his mother?  Carnegie's mother taught him that he needed to put his own needs before those of others in order to survive. This is a direct result of the family's poverty, especially after his father died.  You can see how his mother's values influenced him by some of his actions. In 1865, someone told Carnegie that the railroad workers were about to strike and gave him a list of the strike organizers. Carnegie gave the information to his boss, who fired everyone on the list. So the strike was broken before it even began. What do you think about what Carnegie did? How do you think his actions affected him later in life?  Carnegie was extremely successful in business. He became a very wealthy man. In fact, when he retired, he was the richest man in the world. But he had mixed feelings about some of the ways in which he made his fortune, so as a result, he decided to give much of his money away.  His father would have liked knowing that by the time he died, Carnegie had given away over $350 million, equal to more than $3 billion in 1996 dollars. It is interesting to see how Carnegie's parents' opposing values affected him as a person. Were you brought up with any values that are in conflict with each other?  The Early Years Andrew Carnegie's life was a true "rags to riches" story. Born November 25, 1835 to a poor Scottish family that immigrated to the United States, Carnegie became a powerful businessman and a leading force in the American steel industry. Today, he is remembered as an industrialist, millionaire, and philanthropist. Carnegie believed that the wealthy had an obligation to give back to society, so he donated much of his fortune to causes like education and peace.  Although Andrew Carnegie became a millionaire, he did not start life as one. He was born in 1835 into a working-class family in Dunfermline, Scotland. In 1848 his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When Carnegie was 13 he got his first job in a textile mill earning $1.20 a week. How old were you when you got your first job? He then took a job in a factory tending the steam engine. Can you guess how much he was paid for that job?  Carnegie earned $2 a week tending a steam engine. The next year, Carnegie worked as a messenger boy in a telegraph office for $2.50 per week. Because of his quickness and hard work, he was soon promoted to telegraph operator and was paid $5 a week.  Slowly but surely, Carnegie was working his way up. In 1853, he went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad for $35 per month as the personal telegrapher and assistant to Thomas Scott, a superintendent. Under Scott, Carnegie learned all about the railroad industry and later became a superintendent himself. Scott also taught Andrew about investing in the stock market. What do you know about the stock market?  Scott explained to Carnegie that when a company performed well, it paid "dividends" out of its profits to people who owned its stock. When Carnegie received his first dividend check, he shouted, "Here's the goose that laid the golden eggs!" Do you know what he meant? This money was the first he had ever received without having worked for it himself. The golden eggs he was talking about meant that Carnegie had learned to let his money work for him.  Andrew Carnegie, Philanthropist Can you imagine becoming the richest person in the world and then giving your money away? That's exactly what Andrew Carnegie did. After retiring in 1901 at the age of 66 as the world's richest man, Andrew Carnegie wanted to become a philanthropist, a person who gives money to good causes. He believed in the "Gospel of Wealth," which meant that wealthy people were morally obligated to give their money back to others in society.  Carnegie had made some charitable donations before 1901, but after that time, giving his money away became his new occupation. In 1902 he founded the Carnegie Institution to fund scientific research and established a pension fund for teachers with a $10 million donation. Do you know of any other causes that Carnegie funded?  Throughout his life, Andrew Carnegie loved to read. So it made sense that he wanted to give money to support education and reading. When Carnegie was a young man he lived near Colonel James Anderson, a rich man who allowed any working boy to use his personal library for free. In those days, America did not have a system of free public libraries.  Carnegie never forgot Colonel Anderson's generosity. As a result, Carnegie supported education; he gave money to towns and cities to build more than 2,000 public libraries. He also gave $125 million to a foundation called the Carnegie Corporation to aid colleges and other schools. What else did Carnegie believe in?  World peace was another cause Carnegie believed in. He established the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and funded the building of the Hague Palace of Peace, which houses the World Court, in the Netherlands. By 1911, Carnegie had given away a huge amount of money -- 90 percent of his fortune. Can you think of some other Americans who have given away a large part of their fortunes to support a worthy cause? What causes would you choose to support?  |
