Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/704

 PENNSYLVANIA

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PENNSYLVANIA

God, — Roman Catholics, and Protestants, Unitarians, Trinitarians, Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans, and excluded only Atheists and Polytheists." At that time in no American colony did anything ap- proacliing to toleration exist. When the provisions of "The Groat Law" were submitted to the Privy Council of England for approval they were not allowed; but in 1706 a now law concerning liberty of conscience was passed, whereby religious liberty was restricted to Trinitarian Christians, and when the Constitution of 1770 was adopted, liberty of conscience and worship were extended even further by the declaration that "no human authority can in any case whatever con- trol or interfere with the rights of conscience." It has been said: "There never was in Pennsylvania during the colonial period, to our knowledge, any molestation or interruption of the liberty of Jews, Deists or Unitarians,. . . while the Frame of Gov- ernment of 1701. . . guaranteed liberty of conscience to all who confessed and acknowledged ' one Almighty God, the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the World', and made eligible for office all who believed in 'Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World.' " His toleration of other forms of religious belief was in no way half- hearted and imbued the Societj' of Friends with feelings of kindness towards Catholics, or at least accentuated those feelings in them. During the time of Lieutenant Ciovernor Gordon a Catholic chapel was erected, which was thought to be contrary to the laws of Parliament, but it was not suppressed pending a de- cision of the British Government upon the question whether immunity granted by the Pennsj'lvania law did not protect Catholics. When, during the French War, hostility to France led to an attack upon the Catholics of Philadelphia by a mob after Braddock's defeat, the Quakers protected them.

Penn returned to England in a short time, but made another visit to Pennsylvania in 1699. He returned to England again in 1701, but before his departure a new constitution for the colony was adopted, con- taining more liberal provisions. This constitution endured until 1776, when a new one was adopted which has since been superseded by three others — the Constitutions of 1790, 1838, and 1873. In 1718 the white population of the colony was estimated at 40,000, of which one-half belonged to the Society of Friends and one-fourth resided in Philadelphia. In 1703 the counties composing the State of Delaware were separated from Pennsylvania. It was not until after the colonial period that the present boundaries of Permsylvania were settled. Claims were made for portions of the present area of the state on the north, west, and south. Under the charter granted to Con- necticut by Charles II, in 1662, the dominion of that colony was extended westward to the South Sea or Pacific Ocean. Although the territory of New York intervened between Connecticut and the present bor- der of Pennsj'Ivania, claim was made by Connecticut to territory now included in Pennsylvania between the fortieth and forty-first parallels of north latitude, and in 1769 a Connecticut company founded a settlement in the valley of Wyoming, and until 1782 the claim of sovereignty was maintained. It was finally settled against Connecticut in favour of Pennsylvania by a commission appointed by mutual agreement of the two states after trial and argument. The contro- versy between Mar>'land anrl Pennsvlvania was finally settled in 1774. Lord Baltimore, the founder of Mary- land, claimed that the boundaries of his grant extended above the present position of Philadelphia. On the other hand, Pcnn's contention, if allowed, would have extended the southern limit of Pennsylvania to a point that would have far overlapped the present boundary of Maryland. A litigation in Chancery eventually resulted in a settlement of the hovmdaries as they now exi.st. Previous to this final settlement, in the year 1763, Mason and Dixon, two English as-

tronomers, surveyed the western boundary of Dela- ware and subsequently carried a line westward for the boundary t)otwoon Pennsylvania and .Maryland, set- ting up a uiik'-stoneal every fifth mile with the arms of the Penn family on the north anil Baltimore on the south, intermediate miles being marked with stones having P on one side and M on the other. This line was carried beyond the western extremity of Mary- land, and thus it passed into history as marking the line between the northern and southern sections of the whole United States. The difficulty with the western boundary of the state on the \irginia border was settled in 1779 by a connnissioii appointed by the two states. That portion which bordiTs upon Lake Erie, known as the Erie triangle, bi'longed to New York and Massachusetts. By thoni it was ceded to the United States, and in 1792 bouglit from them by Pennsylvania for $151,640. The effect of the settle- ment of those boundaries was very far-reaching, for if the Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia claims had born (locidod adversely to Pennsylvania, there would have Ixrn loft but a narrow strip of land westward of Philadeliihia and eastward of Pittsburg.

Pennsylvania was the scene of some of the most in- teresting and important events of the French and In- dian W'ar during the colonial period, notably the de- feat of Braddock at the ford of the Monongahela about seven miles from Fort Duquesne, now the site of Pittsburg. It suffered much from Indian depreda- tions on the western borders. During the early colo- nial period the mild dealings of the Quakers who con- trolled the province saved Pennsylvania from many of the ills that befell other colonies from the attacks of the aborigines. Prior to the French and Indian War, the Indians, who had been treated with careful consid- eration by Penn, were outraged at the unfairness and triekerj' practised by one of his successors in obtaining title to land extending, on the eastern border of the state, to the region of the Delaware Water Gap, and known as "The W'alking Purchase". This, added to the harsh treatment of the frontier settlers, who were for the most part North-of-Ireland immigrants (lo- cally known as Scotch-Irish), resulted in bloody and persistent Indian wars which spread terror throughout the colony and were ended only after several cam- paigns. The defeat of the Indians by Bouquet and Forbes, and the destruction of the French stronghold, Fort Duquesne, broke the power of the Indians, and the colony was not troubled w'ith them again until the Revolutionary War, when their alliance with the British resulted in the massacre of Wyoming.

When the contest with Great Britain arose, Phila- delphia, the chief city of the American Colonies, was chosen as the place for assembling the first Continen- tal Congress. There the Declaration of Independence was drafted and promulgated, and after the Revolu- tion the Government of the I'nited States was seated there until the year 1800, when Washington was made the capital. Philadelphia remained the capital of the state under the Constitution of 1776 until 1812, when it was replaced by Harrisburg. The Convention which drafted the Constitution of the United States assembled at Philadelphia in May, 1787, and pre- sented the draft to Congress on 17 September. On the following day it was submitted to the Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania, by which body the Consti- tution was ratified on 12 December of the same year, Pennsylvania being the second to approve it. Again, Pennsylvania was the first state to respond to the ap- peal of President Lincoln for troops at the outbreak of the Civil War. Regiments were sent by Governor Curtin to the garrison at Washington and were largely effective in preventing that city from being captured by the Confederate forces after the first battle of Bull Run. In 1863 General Lee invaded the state, coming from the South by way of the Shenandoah Valley, and was signally defeated in a three days' battle on the 1st,