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Charter Of Pennsylvania is Signed
William Penn was an Englishman who came from a rich family. He was a quaker and was attacked for his beliefs. King Charles II owed his family money so an arraignment was made to give William Penn the land in the colonies in order to pay of the debts. Penn named is Pennsylvania (which means Penn's Woods) -
City of Philadelphia is Founded
Founded by William Penn, The name means the city of brotherly love. -
Counties breakaway from Pennsylvania
The three counties asked to separate because they didn't like having to travel to philadelphia which was were they had government meetings. William Penn agreed and let them for their own colony called Delaware -
William Penn Dies
William Penn dies in Ruscombe, England. He was 74 years old. He died of a stroke. -
Pennsylvania gets land from Native American
The colonists found a lost charter, signed in 1686 ceiling a deal between the Delaware indians and the colonist of Pennsylvania. The colonists did not take the land by force. About 1,200 square miles of land was given to the colonists -
First Continental Congress meets at Philadelphia
Representatives from each colony met gathered to to talk about the Intolerable acts passed by Parliament. Notable People- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams. -
Declaration of Independence is signed
The document declared the 13 colonies as one nation. The United States of America. It was signed in the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) Some of the Signers: Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock -
Slavery Abolished
The Pennsylvania Congress passed the Gradual Emancipation Act which stated that any stave born after March1,1780 with be free at age twenty eight. All slaves were to be registered, any unregistered would also become free. It helped pave the wave for Abolishement of Slavery in the northern states -
Pennsylvania becomes a state
becomes the second state five days after Delaware became the first -
Philadelphia capitol of the US
It became a temporary capitol because they still hadn't decided where the capitol should be -
Washington D.C becomes capitol
They had completed the white house and so D.C becomes the permanent capitol -
Harrisburg becomes state capitol
It replaced Philadelphia as state capitol -
The Great Fire of Pittsburgh
The cause of the fire was from a woman's fire exploded which then made the fire spread. It burned for nearly seven hours, it destroyed more than 1,000 buildings, bit surprisingly only two people were killed -
First Railway in Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Railroad was founded in Philadelphia and ran over Pennsylvania and parts of new york and other states, it became a sucessful railway until it was bought by anthor company in 1968 -
Liberty bell ring for the last time
It was rung for George Washington's birthday , they didn't ring it after that because of the crack in the bell -
Oil Discovered
Oil was discovered by Colonel Edwin Drake in a town called Titusville. It became one of the first successful oil drills ever. It kicked started the oil industry and started the Pennsylvania Oil riush which lasted from 1859 to the early 1870s -
The Battle of Gettysburg
Took place in a field near the city of Gettysburg PA. The Union won it was a turning point for the north.
Union Casualties: 3,155 dead,14,529 injured and 5,365 missing
Confederate Casualties: 3,903 dead, 18,735 injured, 5,435 missing -
Hershey Chocolate Company is Founded
Founded in Derry township,PA by a man named Milton Hershey (1857-1945). The Chocolate became successful and is still made to this day -
Darr Mine Explosion
Occurred at the Darr Mine near the town of Smithon,PA.
Killed 239 men and boys -
First Radio News Program
The radio station made the United States first commercial broadcast
It was a huge success with 600 new commercial stations across the country in the next 4 years -
First African American to be elected state legislature
Crystal Bird Fauset (1894-1965) became the first black woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature representing the 18TH district of Philadelphia and the first in the entire United States
She introduced nine bills and three amendments on issues concerning issues in public health, housing for the pour,public releif, and supporting women’s rights in the workplace -
Polio vaccine
Polio is a disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause people to go paralyzed
It was a disease that swept through the US in the 20s and 30s and he had a vaccine that could cure it. The vaccine went through tests on children in Pittsburgh and in 1955 it was proved that it was successful now polio is all but forgotten disease -
Race Riots
One of the first riots in the civil rights era. Took place in areas of black neighborhoods. Reasons for the riots was because the black residents felt the police had involved in several police brutality over the last few months -
Race Riots Continued
Occurred because of two blacks killed a white person, riots lasted for 3 days and many people were arrested -
Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident
It occurred at a nuclear power plant near Harrisburg Pennsylvania. It occurred because of several mechanical and human errors. It lead to several radioactive gases lead out into the air. Although the health effects were not serious it lead to public fears of power plants and several closed in to following months. It slowed down the industry for several years. -
Ashland Oil Spill
It occurred close to Pittsburgh. The big tank split apart and between 750,000 to 800,000 gallons was sent into the Monongahela River. -
US Air Flight 427 crash
Plane left from Chicago and was to land in Pittsburgh but crashed into a field because the pilot lost control on the plane. All 132 passengers and crew were killed -
United Air Flight 93 crashes
Suppose to fly from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco California. It was high jacked by terrorists who were plotting to crash into the white house or capitol. Passengers stopped them by forcing the plane to crash into a field southeast of Pittsburgh. All 37 people died -
Miners Trapped
The nine miners were trapped by flooding in the Somerset mine and it took 77 hours to rescue them
Everyone lived -
Penn State Scandal
The reports of sexual abuse going on in the school resulted in several staff members being fired and arrested