The United States of America was born at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution, drafted in September 1787, laid the framework for the nation's future.
William Penn, a socially prominent convert to the persecuted Society of Friends (Quakers), resolved early to provide an atmosphere in which all beliefs could flourish. His opportunity arrived when he asked the king to repay a crown debt to his father with a land grant in the Colonies. Charles II, who was delighted with the prospect of easy payment while ridding the land of an embarrassing rebel, compiled.
Penn's vision was simple, but revolutionary - men of all faiths living in harmony and freedom. Even in the Colonies, many of which were founded to foster religious tolerance, freedom of worship was limited to the majority sect. Penn guaranteed personal freedom by allowing every taxpayer a vote, a prison a right to be heard, the accused a trial by jury and taxation only by law. The city Penn founded became known as Philadelphia, Greek for "city of brotherly love."
Rising resentment against England reached its high point in Philadelphia, where Colonial representatives met to vent their grievances. The fruit of their wrath was the Declaration of Independence, an open break with England and a justification for war that was essentially in progress. After the war Philadelphia became a rallying point for the bankrupt independent Colonies. In 1787 representatives meeting in the Pennsylvania State House produced the Constitution and chose Philadelphia as the capital of the independent Colonies.
In 1790, Philadelphia became the temporary capital of the new United States. However, Philadelphia's star began to fade in 1800. The seat of government was moved to Washington D.C., a crude, muddy little settlement that had been recently hewn from the swamps. Though cultural involvement, commerce, and shipbuilding continued, the city was eventually eclipsed by New York as an intellectual, commercial and industrial stimulator.