Pennsylvania, With Philadelphia For Its Capital, Was Once The
Leading State Of The Union, Leading By A Long Distance.
At the end
of the last century it beat all the other States in population, but
has since been surpassed by New York in all respects - in
population, commerce, wealth, and general activity.
Of course it
is known that Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, the Quaker,
by Charles II. I cannot completely understand what was the meaning
of such grants - how far they implied absolute possession in the
territory, or how far they confirmed simply the power of settling
and governing a colony. In this case a very considerable property
was confirmed; as the claim made by Penn's children, after Penn's
death, was bought up by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for
130,000l., which, in those days, was a large price for almost any
landed estate on the other side of the Atlantic.
Pennsylvania lies directly on the borders of slave land, being
immediately north of Maryland. Mason and Dixon's line, of which we
hear so often, and which was first established as the division
between slave soil and free soil, runs between Pennsylvania and
Maryland. The little State of Delaware, which lies between
Maryland and the Atlantic, is also tainted with slavery, but the
stain is not heavy nor indelible. In a population of a hundred and
twelve thousand, there are not two thousand slaves, and of these
the owners generally would willingly rid themselves if they could.
It is, however, a point of honor with these owners, as it is also
in Maryland, not to sell their slaves; and a man who cannot sell
his slaves must keep them.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 517 of 538
Words from 137643 to 137923
of 143277
