Best city for American History - Boston or Philly? (Philadelphia: neighborhood, school)

[Muinteoir]

Originally Posted by Wordsmith12

I would imagine that for American Revolution junkies, Boston is king. But for people looking for something less specialized, Philly fits the bill.

I don't even know about this. We have the entire Valley Forge National Park with replications, reenactments, and some as-close-to-original buildings, including an original dwelling of George Washington.

For whatever reason, your "average, everyday American" associates Boston with the Boston Tea Party, but everyone forgets that Philadelphia is the "Birthplace of America." I was just telling an out of towner about it, and he didn't even believe me until he looked it up himself.

[Frihed89]

Boston voices were critical from 1763-1776. Other colonies, with the exception of Georgia and to some extent Rhode Island, joined in along the way.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by Frihed89

Boston voices were critical from 1763-1776. Other colonies, with the exception of Georgia and to some extent Rhode Island, joined in along the way.

There were also the Regulators in North Carolina.

There were revolts popping up along the eastern seaboard. It all coalesced in Philadelphia.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

I don't even know about this. We have the entire Valley Forge National Park with replications, reenactments, and some as-close-to-original buildings, including an original dwelling of George Washington.

For whatever reason, your "average, everyday American" associates Boston with the Boston Tea Party, but everyone forgets that Philadelphia is the "Birthplace of America." I was just telling an out of towner about it, and he didn't even believe me until he looked it up himself.

Yep, but as far as the Revolution itself is concerned, we also have Boston beat.

Boston: Concord, Lexington, Bunker Hill, and that's it.
Philadelphia: Brandywine Battlefield, Valley Forge encampment, Washington Crossing, Cliveden and the Battle of Germantown, re-enacted annually. And now we have that museum too.

The way I phrase it is something like this:

Boston is where the fuse leading to America's birth was lit. Philadelphia was where the explosion occurred.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Yep, but as far as the Revolution itself is concerned, we also have Boston beat.

Boston: Concord, Lexington, Bunker Hill, and that's it.
Philadelphia: Brandywine Battlefield, Valley Forge encampment, Washington Crossing, Cliveden and the Battle of Germantown, re-enacted annually. And now we have that museum too.

The way I phrase it is something like this:

Boston is where the fuse leading to America's birth was lit. Philadelphia was where the explosion occurred.

Don't forget Fort Mifflin and the Battle of Redbank.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

For whatever reason, your "average, everyday American" associates Boston with the Boston Tea Party, but everyone forgets that Philadelphia is the "Birthplace of America." I was just telling an out of towner about it, and he didn't even believe me until he looked it up himself.

To be honest, that's the person's own ignorance. If it was called the "Tea Party Revolt" instead of the "Boston Tea Party", they wouldn't know where that took place either. You know the whole "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?" question.

[maf763]

If you want to be a literalist or history nerd, you could say that Boston has played a minor role in American history - its heyday was colonial times. The revolution was over in Boston by the time of the Declaration, which can be considered the birth of America. Philadelphia has played a much larger role than Boston since then.

[Chinese French Italian]

I like Boston more because I like the history of the early Puritans over the revolutionaries. I think they had a better more pure culture than the revolutionary mid-Atlantic colonies that led to the mess of modern day America. Also I did not like American history class so that's playing into my response. As a Chinese American I prefer to cherry pick America for the parts I like and abandon the rest of the country.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Chinese French Italian

I like Boston more because I like the history of the early Puritans over the revolutionaries. I think they had a better more pure culture than the revolutionary mid-Atlantic colonies that led to the mess of modern day America. Also I did not like American history class so that's playing into my response. As a Chinese American I prefer to cherry pick America for the parts I like and let the rest of the country rot in its own mess.

It's a package deal, for the most part.

You can adjust some aspects of living in America to suit your particular tastes, but there are fundamentals that aren't negotiable.

But I am curious about what you consider messy about America today.

The Puritans IMO were a little too rigid and intolerant for my tastes. Of which speaking:

A statue of the same woman sits on the grounds of the Massachusetts State House in Boston and the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting/Friends Center in Philadelphia. Can you name her? Why is she memorialized in both places?

[Chinese French Italian]

I know there's a statue of a woman who was hanged in Boston Common for preaching her version of puritanism above the common interpretation. I forgot her name maybe it was Ann or something.

I consider modern America an insane mess because it continues to wage war over hyper ideology like "democracy" or "freedom" when literally millions of it's own people are uneducated and impoverished. Taking care of a country as big as America is already a big job and still the government is building bases and interfering in the rest of the world's business as if it can't be satiated. I just think it's insane. Of course I'm not white, I didn't grow up on a farm in Wyoming punching my way to the White House like Dick Cheney or what have you. So for those people the myth of America works but for a child of immigrants like me America is just an insane religion but of course I'll try to live peacefully with it's adherents...