If Philadelphia had remained the Capital of the U.S.? (crime, difference)

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by Billiam

Maybe in Your mind, but the world cities deemed to be the top four on earth are London, Paris, Tokyo, and New York

I was talking about the supposed European cultural refinement in London and Paris. (The new list shows London and New York as one level above Paris, Tokyo and a whole list of other cities.)

But I really want to discuss what would be the consequences if government and finance were in the same city?

[theATLien]

the northeast would've been in a lot of debt

[bryson662001]

Originally Posted by LauraC

How would political representation be impacted in both places and in Pennsylvania? Assuming Philadephia would have been siphoned off from Pennsylvania and exist as the District of Philadelphia, wouldn't some electoral college votes be less in Pennsylvania with no Philadelphia? Wouldn't the people of Philadelphia have no Rep in the House of Representatives, just a delegate? No Senate representation? Pennsylvania would be down in the House of Representatives, too, without Philadelphia.

There are only one and half million people in Philadelphia and if it were the capital that would probably be less, depending on the size of the fed. district. The bulk of Philly's population live in the suburbs so they would still be residents of PA, NJ and Del. Virgina and Maryland would take a hit however.

[Fred314X]

The OP makes it sound as though the capital of the United States went from Philadelphia directly to Washington. New York had been the capital for several years (our first President was inaugurated here when it was the capital). And had it not been for Thomas Jefferson--who didn't like New York--the city of Washington might never have been built.

Plenty of grounds for speculation without even taking into consideration Philadelphia remaining our capital!

[bryson662001]

Originally Posted by Fred314X

The OP makes it sound as though the capital of the United States went from Philadelphia directly to Washington. New York had been the capital for several years (our first President was inaugurated here when it was the capital). And had it not been for Thomas Jefferson--who didn't like New York--the city of Washington might never have been built.

Plenty of grounds for speculation without even taking into consideration Philadelphia remaining our capital!

As I said prior, I thought of Philadelphia as the default capital because it was the 1st capital up to and through the revolution. (except while it was occupied by the British) The official government was created there. New York was then chosen to be the capital but southerners weren't happy about it so after a couple years the capital came back to Philadelphia for another 10 years while Washington was being built. In 1800 the capital moved from Philly to DC and in spite of some rough patches it has remained there. If there was no DC then chances are pretty good that the capital would have remained in Philly just out of tradition.

[cpterp]

Well if Philadelphia remained the capital, it would suck for the DC Metro Area (if the city of DC existed still). Since I live here I'll look at the perspective of a resident of MD/DC.

1. The major thing would be that the counties surrounding DC in MD and VA wouldn't be the wealthiest in the country, since it's mostly federal jobs and govt. contractors that fuel that.

2. Maryland and Delaware may not have joined the Union, although slavery was long on a downtrend in the two states (unlike the rest of the South) at the time and the residents were split, and the MD governor was a flip-flopper.

3. As a result of 2, MD and DE might be "Southern" states today like Virginia.

4. Virginia would be poor as hell, and Southern MD and Northern VA would be backwater and tobacco production would be the backbone of their economies.

5. Maryland would be a very Baltimore-centric state, so maybe that city would be in better shape than it is now.

Yeah, so it would basically be a nightmare for the area. However, if Baltimore or Annapolis in Maryland remained capitals (2 of 5 non-Pennsylvanian capitals, the others being New York, Trenton, and Princeton), MD would probably be even better off (since it wouldn't have to share suburbs), and VA would be screwed.

[bryson662001]

Originally Posted by cpterp

Well if Philadelphia remained the capital, it would suck for the DC Metro Area (if the city of DC existed still).

Hello! That was the point of this whole thread. What if Washington DC didn't exist? and if it wasn't the capital it wouldn't.

[Billiam]

The Bal/wash metro area would only be Baltimore, so the Bal-wash metro wouldn't exist, just the Baltimore metro would.

I don't think Baltimore would be in better shape if DC didn't exist at all. Where's the logic there?

[MN55]

Alexandria would be much more of an actual city and would be quite larger. Richmond would also be drastically larger and Baltimore would be nicer and more prominent. Scranton/Wilkes-Barres would be larger. The town of George would be where DC currently is. George/Alexandria would be like Pittsburgh because of its important location on the Potomac.

[Billiam]

And what would economically feed Alexandria?

Still not understanding how Baltimore would be any nicer. In fact, i think it would be worse off Explicame por favor