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Boston and Philly its near the top but Detroit changed the globe (ford motor company)
I agree Boston should be #1 here as its contribution to history is obvious, but as a history person I agree with this poster regarding Detroits importance. Modern Detroit is a nearly dead city, nothing but negative coming out of there lately so its contribution to history is often overlooked. Detroit changed this nation so drastically that we could not possibly imagine modern life without it. Henry Fords affordable cars, his high pay standard literaly created the middle class and it made us mobile. GM and Chrysler followed suit and made the car an item every American needed. We ceased to be a nation powered by horses slugging through muddy streets and became a modern auto based society with paved streets and mobility that was previoulsy unimaginable in just a decade or two. When Hitler threatened to plunge the world into a dark age it was that industrial power that tipped the war into our favor. It was not our superior army, nor navy but our superior industrial base that made victory possibe. Detroit was the "arsenal of democracy" and without it we could be living in a world of dictatorship today. If Germany and Japan had won the war it would have taken centuries to un-do the damage they would have done. The auto plants of Detroit were 900 miles inland, totaly protected from Axis bombs cranking out tanks and flying fortresses faster than the Germans could even dream of shooting them down. When the war ended those same plants were the catalyst for massive growth of the US economy as they were untouched by the destruction of war. After the war the US auto industry dominated the world markets and had no real competition for years. Detroit during the first 50 years of the 1900s grew so fast it was the Pheonix or Atlanta of its day. Everyone wanted to be there, and hundreds of thousands headed there from around the nation for a job. It was a boom city, and like all booms the party came to an end. Detroits collapse is now legendary and its fate a depressing one. However you cannot deny its major influence on the history of the 20th century. A visit to the city will show you the fabulous architecture dating from the boom days, most now in ruins. For a short period it was one of the most important cities on earth.
Detroit was a fire cracker. It expanded quickly, shined bright for a short time, make a big impact, and fizzled out just as quickly as it rose to prominence. For sure, Detroit's impact on the world will be felt for generations to come, but as a broad scale of history, it's not first or even second tier.
Boston is 115 years older, so therefore has more European/American History
Not sure where you've gotten your facts. Boston is not 115 years older than Philadelphia. Boston was founded in 1630, while Philly was founded in 1682, so it's only around 50 years older (settling patterns of immigrants make their regions actually very similar in age, regardless of formal "founding" dates).
Even so, both cities are chock full of European/American Revolutionary history. It's pretty clear that both cities matured/industrialized at around the same time, giving way to a tit-for-tat of "firsts" making them two preeminent commercial centers of the US -- along with New York, or course.
The only reason the important conferences and signings happened in Philly was that Philly was both the largest city in the colonies at the time and it was the most central city, so representatives from the south could get there more easily than they could get to Boston or NYC. Otherwise, Philly's active role in the revolution was pretty small. All the revolutionary war characters were all from either Massachusetts (Ben Franklin, John Hancock, John Adams, etc.) or Virginia (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, etc).
I'll certainly agree that most of the prominent Sons of Liberty were Bostonians (even if there were branches in all 13 colonies). Here's how the most prominent Founding Fathers are typically associated: Massachusetts (John Adams), New York (Alexander Hamilton, John Jay), Pennsylvania (Benjamin Franklin), Virginia (James Madison, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson). Obviously, that list could be expanded to include a few more names. Massachusetts (Sam Adams, John Hancock), Pennsylvania (John Dickinson, Robert Morris), and Virginia (Patrick Henry).
Thomas Paine lived in Philadelphia, became a citizen of PA, and published Common Sense from Philadelphia (with the help of Philadelphian Benjamin Rush). It's hardly fair to call Benjamin Franklin a Bostonian when he ran away from there when he was 17 and all his major works (including his contributions to the Revolution) were while he was a Philadelphian.
Another important antecedent of the Revolution is, arguably, the Peter Zenger case. Andrew Hamilton, the ultimate Philadelphia lawyer, defended Zenger against accusations of seditious libel against the crown (the case was in New York). As a result of the case, there could be a freer public discourse, which helped later men spread the cause of liberty. Gouverneur Morris called Hamilton, "The Day-Star of the American Revolution."
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Its true that a few battles were fought in New Jersey, and Valley Forge is very close to Philly, but neither of these events, imo i guess, had to do with the city or actions in the city.
Brandywine and Germantown were pretty important battles because they were for defending the capital. Brandywine was one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolution. It was certainly an important objective for the British. Valley Forge was absolutely related to Philadelphia, because it came on the heels of the Philadelphia campaign. The point was to be close enough to the British to keep them pinned down in Philadelphia over the winter (without being so close to invite a surprise attack). The most unique Philadelphia food of the 19th Century, Pepper Pot Soup (which isn't really around any more), had its supposed origins in Valley Forge (although, there's a strong Caribbean connection). Valley Forge is definitely tied to Philadelphia.
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What US city has the most historic Value
