Summary
Pennsylvania examines life in the early colony, including the growth of the colony under William Penn and the Quakers, the relationship with Native Americans, farming, printing presses, and the history of slavery in the colony. In engaging language, it discusses early explorers, the growth of European nation-states, and the American Indian civilizations that existed before the Europeans arrived, as well as exploration in Pennsylvania, the settlements of the Dutch, Swedish, and Germans, and the French and Indian War. The book closes with coverage of the battles and events of the Revolutionary War, such as the Battle of the Brandywine and the Battle of Germantown, and Pennsylvania's place as the second state to ratify the Constitution.
Sidebars include:
- The abolition of slavery
- The Albany Congress
- Benjamin Franklin
- Minutemen
- Paper and printing presses
- Pennsylvania "Dutch"
- The Pennsylvania rifle
- The Quakers
- The slave trade
- The Walking Purchase.