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Philadelphia. The reason the Constitutional Congress was called there was because it was the largest city in the Colonies.
Geography had a hand in it's decline. Pennsylvania had a hard time competing with the Erie Canal because of the hilly terrain. It was too inland compared to New York City. It still sits in the shadow of New York City. The greatness of New York could have belonged to Philadelphia. Can you imagine Center City being the place to be instead of Manhattan? The same could be said about San Francisco over Los Angeles.
In 1790 Philaldephia was the financial,cultural, and political capital of the country. DC wasn't even on the map yet, it was nothing but farmland. The plan was to build the permanent capital in NW Philadelphia(Germantown) to replace the temporary US capital being housed in the Pa. state house(Independence Hall)
NY and Va. were very wary of Philaldephia having so much power and they basically stole the capital from Philaldephia. george washington (Va) Thomas Jefferson (Va.), James Madison (Va.) and alexander hamilton(NY) hatched a plan which would see Philadlephias banking industry end up in NYC, and the political machine end up on a Maryland farm.. You scratch my back..... They were kind enough to leave Philaldephia some theaters/concert halls etc. but of course inevitably NYC became the cultural center as well.
After Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris(wealthiest person in all of america at that time) passed Philadlephia lost alot of its luster and power.If those two could have held on for another decade or so the capital of the US most likely would have been in Philadelphia.
90% of the senate + congress wanted to make Philadlephia the capital.Viewed as the best city of the US at that time. The problem was that the 4 head honchos at the time didn't. Washington,Jefferson(Sec of State) Alexander Hamilton(Sec of Treasury) James Madsion(Father of the Constitution)
In 1790 Philaldephia was the financial,cultural, and political capital of the country. DC wasn't even on the map yet, it was nothing but farmland. The plan was to build the permanent capital in NW Philadelphia(Germantown) to replace the temporary US capital being housed in the Pa. state house(Independence Hall)
NY and Va. were very wary of Philaldephia having so much power and they basically stole the capital from Philaldephia. george washington (Va) Thomas Jefferson (Va.), James Madison (Va.) and alexander hamilton(NY) hatched a plan which would see Philadlephias banking industry end up in NYC, and the political machine end up on a Maryland farm.. You scratch my back..... They were kind enough to leave Philaldephia some theaters/concert halls etc. but of course inevitably NYC became the cultural center as well.
After Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris(wealthiest person in all of america at that time) passed Philadlephia lost alot of its luster and power.If those two could have held on for another decade or so the capital of the US most likely would have been in Philadelphia.
90% of the senate + congress wanted to make Philadlephia the capital.Viewed as the best city of the US at that time. The problem was that the 4 head honchos at the time didn't. Washington,Jefferson(Sec of State) Alexander Hamilton(Sec of Treasury) James Madsion(Father of the Constitution)
Well, no doubt that Philly isn't as important as it was in colonial times. It is still a pretty important city though. The only thing that hurts it is being overshadowed by NYC. Maybe if we ever build a bullet train between Philly and NYC, Philly can truly benefit from being so close to the capital of the Western hemisphere,.
I would still rank it way behind Charleston though. New York, Philly, Boston, and Charleston were all in the same league and look what happened in the last 200 years. Philadelphia population 1800-41,000 Charleston population 1800- 20,000
Philadelphia population 2007-1.5 Million Charleston- 100,000
Philly metro area- 5.8 million Charleston- 600,000
Last edited by destinedtodave; 10-24-2007 at 12:41 AM..
How about Centralia, PA. OK...maybe it never reached the height of power, but you have to admit it has taken quite a nose dive since an underground fire has been burning underneath the town for 45 years.
How about Centralia, PA. OK...maybe it never reached the height of power, but you have to admit it has taken quite a nose dive since an underground fire has been burning underneath the town for 45 years.
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