Related Topics

Quakers: The Society of Friends
According to an old Quaker joke, the Holy Trinity consists of the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Volunteerism
The characteristic American behavior called volunteerism got its start with Benjamin Franklin's Junto, and has been a source of comment by foreign visitors ever since. It's still a very active force.

Indigents
With a long history of welcoming and assisting the poor, Philadelphia has always risked swamping the lifeboat by attracting more of them than it can handle.

Philadelphia Medicine
The first hospital, the first medical school, the first medical society, and abundant Civil War casualties, all combined to establish the most important medical center in the country. It's still the second largest industry in the city.

Medical Economics
Some Philadelphia physicians are contributors to current national debates on the financing of medical care.

Subcultures
A few reflections about the subcultures in and around Philadelphia.

America's Historic Square Mile (pre-1800)
Society Hill: Philadelphia's authentic colonial area, from the Delaware River west to 8th Street the limit of settlement in 1776, but for a while the center of America. The richest, most famous men in America lived within a few blocks of each other. Things happened here.

Health Insurance
Clinton Health Plan and its replacements.

Causes of the American Revolution
Britain and its colonies had outgrown Eighteenth Century techniques of governance. Unfortunately, both England and America also lacked the sophistication to make drastic changes smoothly.

Customs, Culture and Traditions
Abundant seafood made it easy to settle here. Agriculture takes longer.

Revolutionary Philadelphia's Patriots
Hotheads in the London Coffee House got stirred up about an inoffensive Tea Act, Scotch-Irish had come here to escape the British Crown, both the local artisan class and the local smuggler class had unexpectedly prospered under non-importation, and the local gentry were offended to be denied seats in Parliament like other Englishmen. But Pennsylvania wavered until the day Ben Franklin stepped off the boat from London with a grievance.

Philadelphia Physicians
Philadelphia dominated the medical profession so long that it's hard to distinguish between local traditions and national ones. The distinctive feature is that in Philadelphia you must be a real doctor before you become a mere specialist.

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