Pennsylvania

3665

Pennsylvania

are State medical and surgical hospitals in the
coal mining districts. Industrial work in the
penitentiaries and reformatories is an im-
portant activity of the Bureau of Restoration.
The products of these instiutions are numer-
ous, including brushes, shoes, sheeting, and
furniture. The present constitution of Penn-
sylvania was adopted in 1873. The legisla-
ture consists of a Senate, one-half of which
is chosen every two years, and a House of
Representatives chosen biennially. Regular
sessions convene in January of odd years.
The chief executive officers are the Governor,
Lieutenant-Governor, and a Secretary of
State, all elected for a term of four years;
an Auditor-General, elected for three years;
a Treasurer, elected for four years; and an
Attorney-General, appointed by the governor
(with the approval of two-thirds of the Sen-
ate) during pleasure. The Superintendent of
Public Instruction is similarly appointed for
a terra of four years. The governor is not
eligible for the next succeeding term. The
judicial authority is vested in a Supreme
Court of seven justices, elected at large for a
term of twenty- one years, and ineligible for
re-election; in a Superior Court of seven
judges elected also at large for ten years; in
Courts of Common Pleas, for which one
judge is elected for a term of ten years, in
each of the judicial districts of one or more
counties, holding sessions in each county of
the district; and in Justices of the Peace.
Under the Reapportionment Act Pennsyl-
vania has 33 Representatives in the National
Congress. Harrishurg is the capital of the
State.

In 1638 the Swedes under Peter Minuit
settled along the Delaware and founded New
Sweden, but in 1655 they were conquered by
the Dutch of New Netherland. In 1664 these
settlements on the Delaware were granted to
the Duke of York, together with all the lands
between the Delaware and the Connecticut.
The Duke of York, in turn, granted the re-
gion to William Penn, a zealous Quaker. In
1680 Perm received a grant of the region
forming the present State of Pennsylvania.
•He was made absolute lord of all the lands,
paying to the crown a fixed rent of two
beaver skins. Penn sent over William Mark-
ham as deputy until he came himself. Phila-
delphia was laid out in 1682. Penn arrived
in the colony in the fall of 1682, and imme-
diately concluded a treaty with the Indians.
He submitted several schemes of govern-
ment before one was firmly established, The

constitution as revised in 1701 was in force
until the Revolution. Liberty of conscience
was granted to all who acknowledged God.
In 1682 Penn received from the Duke of
York the right to the soil of the three lower
counties on the Delaware, and with the con-
sent of the inhabitants assumed the govern-
ment of these counties. They remained a
part of Pennsylvania though with a separate
legislature after 1703, until they formed the
State of Delaware in 1776. Pennsylvania
had long disputes over its boundaries on every
side. Penn accepted 42" as the northern
boundary, and insisted on 39° as the south-
ern. It was not until 1760 that the line was
settled, on a compromise made in 1732, be-
ing fixed at the parallel of 39° 43.' The line
was surveyed for 264 miles by Mason and
Dixon in 1763-7. Tn the west there were dis-
putes with Virginia and Connecticut. The
boundary with Virginia was settled in 1779
by extending Mason and Dixon's line to a
point five degrees w. of the Delaware River.
The dispute with Connecticut was more
serious. The 'Pennamite and Yankee War'
was fought over the possession of the Wyo-
ming Valley. Finally the Continental Con-
gress interfered, by virtue of the Articles of
Confederation, and for State reasons gave
the disputed tract to Pennsylvania. In 1792,
by act of Congress, Pennsylvania obtained
the triangular strip west of New York and
north of the parallel of 42°, on Lake Erie,
thus securing a lake frontage. Soon after the
adoption of the Declaration of Independence,
which was signed at Philadelphia, a State
government was organized (1776). During
the greater part of the war Pennsylvania
served as a base of operations for Washing-
ton. Except for the brief period that it was
held by Howe (1777-8), Philadelphia was
the seat of Congress. During the first few
years of the Union the large foreign popula-
tion in Western Pennsylvania caused trouble
for the Federal Government, through their
ignorance of the true nature of the new con-
ditions. The Scotch-Irish resisted the excise
tax on liquors, which led to the Whiskey In-
surrection of 1794. In 1798 the Germans re-
sisted the assessment of a direct tax, and this
resulted in Fries'-Rebellion, About 1820 the
State began a series of internal developments,
and built many miles of roads, canals, and
railroads. At the outbreak of the Civil War,
Pennsylvania was the first to respond to
Lincoln's call to arms, and at once sent troops
to defend the National Capital, During the