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IMO since the beginning of the U.S.A these three cities have been the most influential and even in the 21st century their presence is a center stone for America. Yes, in the U.S. there are other great cities and states in the south, west, midwest, southwest & northwest but those three are the orginals, agree or disagree?
If you look at the history of the US yes, today though sans NYC there are select few cities that exceed Boston/Philly influence and a few on the same level.
Inception not totally sure, DC has really ramped up in the last 100 years, even for years after its inception it was nothing like today, even in political clout. For many years it was considered swampy etc. Post the Civil war it got going and post WWI it really changed to become the even more significant power after WWII and likely not until the 80s and beyond that the city diversified to what it is today
If we look at every period of our nation's history as opposed to focusing solely on our colonial years, the 2 cities that remain constantly important and prominent on our national psyche since 1800 have been Washington DC and New York.
Pretty much the entire expansion of our country took place out of Washington. Most states were ratified into the union from DC. California, Texas, The Louisana Purchase etc, all of that, took place in Washington DC.
Slavery was abolished in DC, wars were declared in DC, presidents are sworn into office in DC and so on.
I think what we owe to Philadelphia and Boston is our ideals, our work ethic, maybe even a huge pat of our cultural identity.
Our desire for men to be free and have liberty, and be treated equal.
Our respect for the rule of law, I think stems from England and having lived in many other parts of the world, I really appreciate that firm respect Americans have for their laws.
I think of Philadelphia and Boston when I think of how America became that way.
I think what we owe to Philadelphia and Boston is our ideals, our work ethic, maybe even a huge pat of our cultural identity.
Our desire for men to be free and have liberty, and be treated equal.
Our respect for the rule of law, I think stems from England and having lived in many other parts of the world, I really appreciate that firm respect Americans have for their laws.
I think of Philadelphia and Boston when I think of how America became that way.
not to mention the cultural center of North America in the 16-1700s
I think you need to include Chicago and Washington, D.C. for it to be a little more realistic. Chicago was like a fire-breathing dragon in the 19th century and is of course one of the top cities even today. As for D.C., our nation's political, governmental and legal history has been based there for the past 220 years. So, I think that's self-explanatory.
But if you're saying that Philly, Boston and NYC are the most influential U.S. cities that stretch back the farthest into colonial history, then I agree.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 09-18-2011 at 05:46 PM..
I think you need to include Chicago and Washington, D.C. for it to be a little more realistic. Chicago was like a fire-breathing dragon in the 19th century. As for D.C., our nation's political, governmental and legal history has been based there for the past 220 years. So, I think that's self-explanatory.]
I agree Chicago and D.C. are truly great cities and are definately significant players in American History. We could debate Illinois was started by philadelphia businessmen and skyscrapers were by Boston engineers, etc.. D.C. created by those cities which were also capitals. No one man or place can run America, that's why we have reps. The list of firsts from those cities are forever and to this day, they may even be listed in the top 10 producing GMP/GNP cities in the world. Just too list a few.
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