Many neighboring residents may feel it is presumptuous to claim that Philadelphia's spirit extends over most of three states. Indeed many residents of even center city Philadelphia would resist a claim that Philadelphia is dominated by a Quaker heritage. But that is what will gradually emerge from this website. Perhaps it helps to state right out that at one time William Penn the Quaker owned the whole area. Furthermore, Penn was a dominant figure in the Quaker religion, playing a spiritual role rather like that of St. Paul in the early Christian Church, only lots richer and a friend of the King. Although the Penn proprietorship was extinguished by the Revolutionary War, it lasted in partial form from 1675 to 1787, during the period when Philadelphia was the largest and most prosperous city in the colonies. Even at the end, only a quarter of Penn's land had been sold off; the rest was essentially expropriated in a forced sale at fifteen cents per acre. Without arguing the fairness o
It seems a useful question for history students to be asked to name the six times that Pennsylvania has been invaded in a serious way. Serious, in the sense that the invaders might very well have conquered the state, and serious in the sense that thousands of people died in the attacks. You could add the Whiskey Rebellion, if you wish, when it was Washington himself who was leading the Federal Army against the Scottish settlers. Or various Indian uprisings. Or the boundary disputes with Delaware and Maryland, which were settled peacefully. But we're talking here about real wars.
The first was called King George's War, where French and Spanish privateers ravished the Delaware Bay, and Benjamin Franklin achieved fame for creating the militia. Then the French invaded from the North, down the Appalachian chain of mountains, with the main goal of the forks of the Ohio at what is now Pittsburgh. Then, George Washington no less started the French and Indian War at the same place; in
William Penn called his real estate management company the "Society of Free Traders". Very early, the high ground to the south of Dock Creek (now Dock Street) was called Society Hill and became residential. The commercial and shipping businesses tended to settle on the north side of Dock Creek. Eventually, Spruce, Pine and Locust Streets were residential, Walnut Street had the lawyers, Chestnut Street the banks, and Market Street the stores. With the building of the Quaker meetinghouse at 4th and Arch, the Quakers tended to settle along Arch Street. As the city built westward, these patterns persisted. The more prosperous and ostentatious residents tended to live along Spruce Street, while the simpler but not necessarily poorer Quakers lived "North of Market".
When Charles Peterson the architectural historian moved his own house into the deteriorated slum of Spruce Street
...Stephen Girard once personally financed the War of 1812, and J.P. Morgan the Spanish-American War. Since then, American finance has become world finance, immense and too politically sensitive to entrust to bankers, even if their systems could handle the volume. Restoring control of the money supply "to the People" was what the 1913 Federal Reserve was all about. Unfortunately, the monetary system then just grew even bigger and more complex. A mistake might destroy civilization, and in 1929 it seemed it might do it right then. Instead of politicians, we think we need financial experts who never make mistakes, but unfortunately in 1929 many mistakes were made by both bankers and experts. We think we have learned a lot about the monetary system since then, and we think Nobel Prize winners have devised a workable system. For twenty years it has indeed seemed to work, because we haven't had another depression; bad inflation is what Austrians had, so they fear it most, and that's the oth
Haddonfield sits right on the PATCO High Speed Line into Philadelphia, so it's perfectly convenient for commuting and culture. Haddonfield has blocks and blocks of magnificent houses dating from before the Revolution to the present with Queen Victoria's era well represented.
Founded by the Quaker Elizabeth Haddon shortly after her arrival from England in 1701. The Quaker meeting continues in operation to this day and Haddonfield Friends School has taught hundreds of students over the years.
Two centuries after the narrow ratification of our Constitution, it is finally possible to see its most impressive achievement. Thirteen sovereign states voluntarily gave up their sovereignty peacefully, in order to form a more perfect union. They did it by a narrow margin and only with George Washington's vigorous leadership. We fought a bloody civil war eighty years later to make clear it was permanent. But we did that, and it endures. Meanwhile, many other statelets have tried to unite and failed. Only the conquering sword achieved unification elsewhere, and most such unifications have since dissolved. No wonder we express such tenacious reluctance to tamper with it. Many of the words of the Constitution are relics, designed to address ancient situations. Much of the language is quaint, hence ambiguous. Much of the original intent is obscure, some of it perhaps reprehensible. But it has endured when every other such attempt has failed; our country has prospered while others have
Quakers, or the Society of Friends, originated as a dissenting religion during the Sixteenth Century. George Fox founded the religion in the region near Manchester, England. Interestingly, the Industrial Revolution began in the same place, at about the same time or only slighly later. Quakerism borrowed some features of German Mennonites, particularly pacifism and simplicity of speech and dress. Quietism, with totally silent meetings as a religious experience, may have been centuries older in monastaries, but it is fair to surmise that it came to the Quakers from the Mennonites. It is still common to hear Mennonites referred to as German Quakers. Fox was an evangelist among the poorly educated classes of society, many of them made newly-aware of their own ideas by translations of the Bible. A handful of well-educated and well-born converts to the religion, led by William Penn, wrote down, softened, and intellectually strengthened the ideas of the quietist movement into
Philadelphians are a trifle irked that most visitors to the city don't even stay overnight, reflecting the unspoken belief that everything worth seeing is clustered around the Liberty Bell. That's like saying you have seen London if you see Big Ben on Westminster, or that the Empire State Building is all there is to New York. Grr.
On the other hand, you haven't seen anything at all unless you do see Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the old Eighteenth Century buildings in Society Hill. We've here put together a walking tour of the Olde Towne, intending to show the most notable attractions in the shortest possible route. It will take all day, and your feet will be sore by the time you are done. But at least you will have seen -- and possibly photographed -- the real essence of the place the founding fathers saw, in one day's brisk walk.
If you are from out of town, you will have to park the car and ransom it at the end of the day. The new Constitution Center has
Although Carl von Clausewitz wrote his book On War in 1832, the British in 1776 anticipated his doctrine of winning a war by invading the enemy's heartland and capturing his capital. Using that reasoning, Admiral Howe and his brother General Howe circled and centered on capturing Philadelphia, always hoping that loyal British subjects among the Americans would regain power from the rebels. George Washington, on the other hand, seemingly anticipated all future guerilla warfare. You win by not losing, because the enemy eventually loses by not winning.
Philadelphia at that time was a village of 30,000 inhabitants, surrounded by at least a hundred miles of wilderness in all directions. With vastly superior naval power, the British first unsuccessfully tried to attack Philadelphia from New York harbor down the narrow waist of New Jersey. Then they tried but abandoned getting their ships up the shallow Delaware River, filled with underwater obstructions. Finally
Or perhaps not, but this sort of comprehensive collection of varying interpretations is in the spirit of the Variorum Shakespeare, which was the crowning achievement of this society.
We begin with Shakspere's last will and testament, in order to justify t
The present trip strikes a compromise between following a historical theme, and simply seeing what's appealing in your path between early breakfast and five o'clock cocktail; it's a little of both. We propose you start by driving for an hour to Princeton. In the course of wandering around what must be the world's most charming place to live, do notice the Revolutionary battlefield and the University. Then look reflectively northeast up Route 1 along the Raritan River to New Brunswick and Perth Amboy. On this trip there isn't time to go there, but nevertheless recall that is the valley the British swaggered down as far as Trenton on their way to Philadelphia, and back up which they retreated in a panic when http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/topic/78.htm
IN lifting a billion people from desperate poverty to moderate prosperity, economic globalization has been a premier good thing for the world. Globalization however made many financial stumbles in developing countries; in 2007 even America finally stumbled, badly. Few people now dispute three basic facts: huge new wealth was dumped on the globalized monetary system. Somehow this caused a housing bubble in America. And somehow this bubble toppled Wall Street. Two years after its sudden explosion, opinion about cause is divided into two main camps. One maintains a house of cards is certain to collapse; it's futile to play blame-game when it does. The other viewpoint is that responsible people know enough not to sneeze near a house of cards, so it matters who did sneeze. This article examines the two propositions, concludes that still a third theory is more likely, and propounds it. Fixing a mess this complex so it never happens again, is a project too large to succee
The state of Connecticut absolutely loathes the idea that it is influenced by neighboring New York City. But Greenwich is full of hedge funds escaping high taxes while nevertheless bringing them home for dinner. New Caanan is what Greenwich used to be, a snooty New York suburb. And Litchfield seems destined to be next in line, but still able to deny it. It's charming, neatly manicured, but still affordable. Young investment bankers think of buying a weekend home there, which will become New Caanan or Greenwich by the time they can fully retire there. Meanwhile, the restaurants struggle to present an up-scale appearance. The local law school claims to be the first in America. In spite of civil appearances, however, this is the town that decided to invade Pennsylvania on three different occasions, provoking massacres of several hundred people. Litchfield was once Lichtfeld, a place where heretics were burned. The borders of Litchfield once extended west to Wil
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| Hammurabi |
One of the central attractions of Roman citizenship was the set of rights afforded the citizens, and definitely not afforded to other people. St. Paul made good use of the rights of a Roman citizen, available to those who could announce civis Romani sum . These were, however, the gift of the Roman Senate, which for a long time Emperors feared to tamper with.
Chip Kelly of the Right Angle Club points out that Hammurabi intended the right of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye as a limitation of rights. If someone offended you or your family, you were definitely not entitled to overreact by massacring his whole tribe, but limited to exact equality of
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| Gene Terruso |
In the Elizabethan era, London experienced a remarkable burst of legitimate theater; Shakespeare was only one part of it. There were fifty-five theaters in London at a time when only two were open in Paris; no one is certain why it happened. Similarly, no one is sure why Philadelphia has decided to have a flourishing theater scene, but if you look around it is true. After 1929, Philadelphia became a "try-out town" for plays hoping to go to New York; we were in a class with New Haven CN and Washington DC. Home-grown talent languishes in competition for audiences who would rather see famous visiting stars. The try-out image must disappear before local talent can
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| Union School founded in 1759 |
The region of Philadelphia defined as Germantown is recorded by the last census as having about 50,000 inhabitants today, 40,000 of whom are of the black race. Germantown has always had an unusual concentration of schools of the highest quality, and here on one street alone there are four. School House Lane runs off to the West of Germantown Avenue, and was originally right at the center of town, the center of action during the Revolutionary War. The most historic of the schools, the http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/1059.htm
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| 1804 Rittenhouse Sq |
George Washington had two hundred slaves, Benjamin Chew had five hundred. It wasn't lack of wealth that restrained the size and opulence of their mansions, particularly the ones in the center of town. The lack of central heating forced even the richest of them to keep the windows small, the fireplaces drafty and numerous, the ceilings low. Small windows in a big room make it a dark cave, even with a lot of candles; a low ceiling in a big room is oppressive. Sweeping staircases are grand, but a lot of heat goes up that opening; sweeping staircases are for Natchez and Atlanta perhaps, but up north around here they aren't terribly practical. B
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| Delware Water Gap |
When we think of water gaps, we tend to think of Harrisburg or Pittsburgh, with a wide river turning abruptly to run through a sharp cleft in a single mountain ridge. West Point on the Hudson might be a third well known example. But the frontal ridge of the Alleghenies, variously called Blue Mountain, Blue Ridge Mountain, South Mountain, or Kennesaw Mountains, is several ridges wide. A gap in that sort of complex mountain range must be crooked and several miles wide to let a river of any size find its way through it. Presumably this gap at Stroudsburg was formed by some huge volcanic action, because thick sedimentary layers are upended and exposed at
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| The Library Company of Philadelphia |
John C. Van Horne, the current director of the Library Company of Philadelphia recently told the Right Angle Club of the history of his institution. It was an interesting description of an important evolution from Ben Franklin's original idea to what it is today: a non-circulating research library, with a focus on 18th and 19th Century books, particularly those dealing with the founding of
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Handheld/mobile devices have been exploding in popularity and with the advent of the iPhone they have become the device of choice. The Blackberry was a lovely device but once you try an iPhone you will never want a Blackberry again. Of course, all of this will change as each new device comes out but what won't change is the fact that mobile devices are supplanting PCs for everything but the most keyboard- or large-screen-intensive work.
Therefore, the popularity of a website/blog/whatever depends on making it accessible to mobile devices. Step one is knowing when you've been visited by such a thing.
iPhones
» Articles
The iPhone is very well-behaved with respect to CSS. Simply include the following meta tag in an otherwise-ordinary web page:
<!--[if !IE]>--> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="on
Philosophical Hall
February 5th 1835, 3 1/2 PM
A special meeting of the Kappa Lambda was convened this afternoon by order of the President, Dr. Otto, at the request of Drs. Bache, Bond and Wood for the purpose of settling and closing the concerns of the institution ....
Resolved that the Secretary be requested to transfer to the College of Physicians, for safe keeping, With the consent of that body, Journal of Proceedings and other manuscript documents of the Kappa Lambda Society to be deposited in the Archives of the College ....
Philosophical Hall
February l Sth 1835, 3 1/2 PM
.... Resolved that from and after the termination of this meeting the Kappa Lambda Society of Philadelphia be held to be dissolved.
Resolved that
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Elias Boudinot, last president of Continental Congress, had a mansion in Burlington that Bill Taylor bought and is restoring
Stephen Girard and wife ran a general store in Mount Holly before he moved across the river and got rich.
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| The Andrea Doria Wreck |
Robert J. Burns, who runs clinical trials of medical instruments at Boston Scientific, on July 25,2008 told the Right Angle Club about what he does on weekends. It seems to amount to coming within an inch of getting killed, scuba diving. His favorite place to visit is the http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/1499.htm
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| Jerry Leon |
Once every year or two, a speaker at the Right Angle Club fails to show up. That happened recently, and as usually happens, one of the members stood up to the microphone and gave an impromptu speech. The volunteer was Jerry, who surprised us all by announcing he spent thirteen years in the Marines as a fighter pilot on aircraft carriers. You would never guess that from his behavior as a successful local businessman, and to some extent that was his whole point.
In the first place, he volunteered as a Marine during the Korean War, and worked his way through boot camp and all that, until one day an officer brought them all to attention asking for volunteers to f
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| Blood and Honor |
After two decades of seemingly endless dominance of Philadelphia headlines by the Mafia, the underworld has been absent from the news in the first decade of the 21st century. That's very welcome to everybody including the Mafia itself, and there are three main popular explanations. First, after 27 informal mob executions and four dozen convictions with lengthy prison terms, perhaps the mob has been eradicated. Or, possibly the immigrant population has been assimilated, now looking to quieter occupations for a source of income. And finally, mayb
Because America had recently revolted to rid itself of King George III, the Constitutional framers of 1787 sought to construct a government forever free from one-man rule. Inefficiency could be accepted but dictatorial central power, never. Pursuing many good ideas then turned out to be surprisingly more productive than marching single file, so the nation rallied behind the governing document which laid out what the plan is, and has loved it ever since. It is unrealistic however to expect a wind-up toy to keep working forever, and the Constitution is no different. After two centuries, some chinks have appeared, and in particular the recent behavior of the 111th Congress has revived some old worries about authoritarian leadership.
Political parties existed in 18th Century England and Europe, but the founding fathers seem not to have worried about them much. Within ten years, however, Thomas Jefferson had created a really partisan party which provoked the crea
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| Question Mark |
Because otherwise everyone would plead ignorance, ignorance of the law has been dismissed as a defense for thousands of years. Furthermore, there are only two types of court proceedings: civil cases, in which one citizen pleads for the court to remedy action by another citizen, and criminal cases, in which the government asks the court to punish a citizen for violation of a statute. What, then, is the situation when a statute itself is accused of being unjustly offensive? Here, a group of citizens accuse the government of enacting vague laws, perhaps because of slovenliness, but conceivably with malicious intent: to give government officers a
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| Junk Yard |
Let's look at the economics of a junkyard in a business-school way. Derelict auto bodies worth $80 a ton at current prices can be profitably converted into $235 worth of scrap metal, provided the cost of doing so can be kept below $155 a ton. The Camden Iron and Metal company is able to do so for $115 in expenses, and so reaps a profit of $40 a ton . That's not to mention the relief the owner of a useless car feels when the derelict hulk is taken off his hands, or the relief the City feels in ridding itself of thousands of vehicles abandoned in various alleys and public places. Or the worth to the steel mills of being able to produce new metal at a reduced price compared with starting with iron ore and limestone. Or the benefit to our balance of trade from being a
Since the nation was only formed in 1776, and the only memorable war before that was the French and Indian War of 1754, the origin in 1747 of the Pennsylvania 28th Division of Infantry needs a little explaining. The 28th is a National Guard reserve unit, taking its present organizational form 138 years ago. Even counting from that moment makes it the oldest (and third largest) division in the Army, but there are another 123 years of history before that.
A few people remember that Ben Franklin made his first step into politics during King George's War, when French and Spanish privateers were suddenly roaming Delaw
THE MEDICAL CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA
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"THERE is no man who has greater need for occasional relaxation, or a keener relish for the social enjoyments of life than the active practitioner." Dr. John H. W. Chestnut was speaking to a group of physicians assembled in the Upper Hall of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia on May 2, l892 [then located at 13th and Locust Streets]. ''While there are numerous societies in the profession for scientific purposes, there is no large professional organization for purely social purposes; and it is my opinion that the time is ripe for the formation of such a society." He went on to propose:
That the club be for social purposes and restricted in its membership to members of the regular profession of medicine in Philadelphia. A modest clubhouse in a central location should be provided. Fitted up with chess tables, billiard
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A breezy summary of European geopolitics, including many rough inaccuracies, will probably irritate residents of that region, but may help Americans understand the history and composition of the Germantown area of Philadelphia.
The Western World was long defined as a province of Rome, and all roads led there. At the top of the Italian boot can be found the Swiss Alps, forcing Romans to go around through what is now Provence in France. An old jingle defines the river system of Switzerland as "The Rhine, the Rhone, Danube and Po-- a rise in the Alps, and away th
We need to photograph and then write a blog of the Japanese pavilion in Fairmont Park.
876: Germantown and French and Indian War: extract the last paragraph, perhaps bridge and context it, rename as new blog for this Topic only.
848:Making Money (5): extract anecdote
840: Paying Bills electronically: extract anecdote
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| The Phillies Logo |
The Phillies. Founded in 1884, the team is over a hundred years old, making it the fifth oldest team in the MLB. The Phillies also has the distinction of having more losses than any other Major League Sports team. While there have been a number of triumphant rises from the standings cellar over their history, these have served only to make the returns to mediocrity all the more bitter for the fans, and have certainly not aided the Phillies' long term reputation in any meaningful way
 http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/1508.htm
Like everyone else, I had two grandfathers and two grandmothers. However, I can only remember seeing one grandmother on a single occasion when I was three or four years old, and the other three died before I gathered any recollection of them at all. Essentially, I never knew my grandparents. If they ever knew me, it was as a puking infant, don't he look sweet.
One of the many unexpected consequences of the introduction of penicillin, polio vaccine and the like, is that my generation has had to invent the role of grandparent, without any models to follow. My grandchildren are all in college or beyond, with reasonable expectations of
The Capital of southern New Jersey alternated between Salem and Burlington, and the King's Highway ran between them atop a clay ridge
The Revolutionary War had been raging for a year in New England before the Declaration of Independence, a point that never ceased to bother John Adams whenever Thomas Jefferson or his devotees took credit for starting the Revolution with a piece of paper nailed to a lamp post a year after Lexington and Concord. This interval nevertheless allowed for the organization of the Continental Army, and Washington's maturing military background by the su
Any fair discussion of Quaker relations with the Indians must emphasize that almost all other colonists of the time regarded Indians as subhuman components of the wilderness. Only William Penn was careful to treat the Indians as fellow human beings, entitled to fair play, dignity, and respect. Like a good politician, he entered into their games with enthusiasm, and definitely earned their respect by outdoing them all in the broad jump contests. Even though he had bought the land from King Charles II, he took
It would be only honest to say that Atlantic City was a rundown mess after World War II, cheap, sleasey and dispirited. But for academic medicine, for thirty or forty years one small nook of it was the most exciting place in the whole world, but only during several days at the beginning of May. And the reason it was so attractive to scientists was that beach hotels were cheap and dilapidated in the spring, Atlantic City probably the worst on the East Coast or nearly so. The Haddon Hall was an exception, rather elegant and far too expensive for most physicians in training; research is a young doctor's game. But the annual beauty contest for medical resear
Helis the beluga whale, male, 12 feet long, said to be 30 years old in a species with a life expectancy of about 35, made an appearance in the upper Delaware River in the spring of 2005. A scar on his back was recognized as having been seen on the St. Lawrence River, where Beluga whales are more commonly observed. Needless to say, there was a local sensation, with crowds of whale-watchers along the banks of the river, sharing binoculars, and buying special whale cookies, t-shirts and the like from opportunistic vendors. Helis arrived April 14, 2005 in time to pay income taxes, go to Trenton, cruising Trenton
It will be recalled that La Fayette was 19 years old at Valley Forge, spoke no English, had no previous military experience. He nevertheless demanded, and got, a commission as Major General on the prudent condition that he have no troops under his command, at least for a while. Washington had been strongly reminded by various people that this young Frenchman was one of the richest men in France, a personal friend of the Queen, and thus critical to the project of enlisting French assistance in the war. Unde
Once you notice the oddity of salt water in the lower reaches of the Delaware and Hudson rivers, it gets easier to understand current theory that southern New Jersey was once an island. Like Long Island, it was separated from the mainland by a sound, but in the Jersey case the sound silted up from Trenton to New Brunswick, creating a new peninsula of "West" Jersey by uniting the island with the mainland. The colony was named after the island of Jersey off the coast of England, a gesture for Sir George Carteret, who was given the American area out of gratitude for once sheltering the exil
Just about the cutest baseball park anywhere is Campbell's Field, best seen out the windows of the PATCO highspeed train as it crosses over the Ben Franklin Bridge into New Jersey. It's a regulation-size playing field with gleaming green grass, but comparatively small seating capacity. It's a great novelty to sit in the front row and have the umpire come over to chat, or to scold one of the players for spitting chewing tobacco. As told by http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/1416.htm
For a century or more, Haddonfield has had a railroad. Both the Reading and the Pennsylvania railroads ran through Haddonfield on their way from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, and later on they were combined in the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line. In 1950, the coal-fired steam locomotives still made a grade crossing on Kings Highway, and tooted at the outskirts of town. A little awkward, dirty and dangerous, perhaps, but it had to be admitted that regular train service to the Shore was
The RiverLine, a sort of diesel-powered overgrown trolley car line, has just opened on the Conrail tracks from Camden to Trenton. It runs every 30 minutes in both directions, but unfortunately stops at 10 PM to let Conrail run freight trains at night. That's almost a perfect fit for the two operations, although it can leave baseball fans stranded at a night game at Campbell Park, or concert goers at the Tweeter Center. The trains are running fairly full, partly because of their novelty, and partly because of the initial decision not to collect the $1.10 fare on Sunday, but mostly because the Riverline proved to be a better idea than anyo
As the American Revolution drew to an end, the time arrived to settle the inter-state grievance of Pennsylvania and Connecticut over King Charles II's ambiguity about who owned Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley, including the city of Wilkes-Barre. If they were all going to be United States citizens, it didn't matter much whether the residents of Wilkes-Barre (as it was now known) were governed by the laws of Connecticut or Pennsylvania. But bloody grievances die hard, and slowly. The genteel debates envisioned by the Articles of Confederation were not not equal to settling blood My father in law, a prominent obstetrician in Binghamton, New York, regularly took his family to New York City sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The three-day junket was described as a visit to do Christmas shopping. Another relative made similar trips from home in Tyler, Texas. Several of my patients made such visits to Philadelphia from their homes in West Virginia, stopping by to make a medical visit to me during the same trip. From the seasonal crowds in Penn Station and in the shops on Chestnut Street, it was clear that an annual visit to the big city was a common custom in the upper crust of small to medium-sized cities, for whom the more expensive shops of the bigger city provided big ticket items bought infrequently, and the distinctive luxuries which made them stand out from the socially less-enlightened back home. These shopping visits were not confined to purchasing, although that was the main focus. It was a time to go to the theater,
At the lunch table of the Franklin Inn Club recently, the Monday Morning Quarterbacks listened to a debate about Guantanamo Bay, prisoner torture and police brutality; all of which centered on the Supreme Court decision known as Miranda v Arizona. Ernesto Arturo Miranda was convicted without being warned of his right to remain silent, sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison in 1966. Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court, with Chief Justice Earl Warren writing a 5-4 decision, overturned the conviction, because Miranda had not been officially warned of hi William Penn became interested in the Colonies when he acquired New Jersey as an investor in what started out as the bankruptcy proceedings of a client. Unlike his spoiled children and grandchildren, he was sincerely interested in helping the persecuted members of his new religion, and those who later totalled up his lifetime finances found that overall he lost money on his real estate ventures. His descendants however were mainly concerned with selling real estate, and immediately reverted to the Anglican church. When William Penn later received Pennsylvania and Delaware from the King of England (Charles II, the Stuart King restored with the help of his Admiral father), he not only owned these territories but for practical reasons was offered the right to rule them. By then Penn's main future intention was to found a refuge for Quakers and other religious dissenters, so becoming a vassal
Some day a shrewd observer of the passing scene will notice the peculiar quality which attracts some businesses to the state of Delaware, and coin a catchy phrase like Delaware Attractiveness to describe it in a nutshell. It surely underlies the way major national corporations predominantly incorporate under the laws of Delaware; other states don't like that. It probably accounts for the unusual accumulation of national credit card companies in that little state. Right now, it must be surmised to account for 24% of American hedge funds locating in Delaware. Just what is
Once you step off the Cape May-Lewes ferry in Delaware, you can still find an occasional old soul who remembers when "the road" was
It is difficult but not impossible to have a coherent view of the mind of John Dickinson. He was seriously offended by the Townshend Acts, which he rightly perceived to be the work of a few malignant personalities in high places who were soon replaced. Later on, he refused to be troubled by the inconsequential Tea Act, which he correctly assessed as a face-saving gesture of reconciliation. Unfortunately, Dickinson could not comprehend reckless hotheads among his own neighbors, and reckless hotheads seldom comprehend the measured behavior of Quakers. In t
Georgetown, Delaware is a pretty small town, but it's the county seat so it has a courthouse on the town square, with little roads running off in several directions. The courthouse is surprisingly large and imposing, even more surprising when you wander through cornfields for miles before you suddenly come upon it. The county seat of most counties has a few stores and amenities, but on one occasion I hunted for a barbershop and couldn't find one in Georgetown. This little town square is just about the last place you would expect to run into Sidney Pottier and all the top executives of Walt Disney. But they were there, all right, because this was where the Delaware Court of Ch Captain John Smith of Virginia, sometime friend of Pocahontas, wrote a letter to Captain Henry Hudson that he understood there was a big gap in the continent to the North of the Virginia Capes, and maybe this was the Northwest Passage to China. Hudson set out to look for it.
Smith's misjudgment now seems like a credible story if you take the ferry from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey. You are out of sight of land for half an hou
When the First Congress convened in 1789, it confronted more than a hundred proposed amendments to the Constitution, largely stirred up by supporters of Thomas Jefferson who feared a strong central government would be too similar to the monarchy we had just discarded. Essentially, Congress dumped these noisy dissatisfactions into the lap of James Madison who had largely written the Constitution, constituting a committee with Madison as its chairman. The first ten amendments thus emerged together as a package, enabling trade-offs and compromises between them; all subsequent amendm
The Society of Friends had never promulgated articles of religion to be subscribed, or a catechism to be taught." In this curious manner, a lack of doctrine has become the doctrine. Still more unexpectedly, a religion dedicated to peace and non-violence has mostly defined itself by resisting some proposals so violently that schism was the result. The central propositions can now be best deduced by observing the reasons why dissenters departed the Society, or why agitators were invited to depart. It can be questioned whether the early Quakers who shaped the Society really intended for non-members to define it. And so, eligibilit
Soon after coal, Pennsylvania discovered it also had oil in Bradford County. Pennsylvania's oil was particularly "sweet", with a low sulfur content. Long after much cheaper oil (cheaper to extract, that is) was found in Texas and http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/1814.htm
What we now call Arch Street in Philadelphia was originally named Mulberry Street. Just when that change officially occurred could be argued about, but it took its new name from the fact that a road was cut through the high river bank for easier access to riverside shipping, and an overhead arch connected the two cut ends of Front Street at the point of crossing. A model which is still on display in the Friends Meetinghouse at 4th and Arch depicts this arch in place in 1684. The model displays Thomas Holme, Penn's surveyor and map-maker, pointing up at the arch. It is a matter of record that Th The prevailing notion of the Constitutional Convention once depicted James Madison, seized with merging the former colonies into a nation, selling that concept to George Washington. The General, by this account, was known to be humiliated by the way the Continental Congress mistreated his troops with worthless pay. But recent scholarship emphasizes that many other patriots were disappointed with the government they had sacrificed to create. Madison had led protests within Congress itself. A generation younger than the General and not at all charismatic, Madison's political effectiveness first came before Washington's attention as a skillful leader of committees and legislatures. Washington was particularly upset by Shay's Rebellion in western Massachusetts, which actually threatened to topple the Massachusetts government, but Shay's frontier disorder was merely an extreme example of more general restlessness. There was a long background of repeated Indian rebellion
shrewdly observed that people could and would restrain state taxation by moving to a neighboring state. The founding fathers never contemplated health insurance or Medicaid, of course, but the same principle applies there in reverse. If one state gets too generous with health and welfare benefits, people in neighboring states will nowadays hear of it and get on a bus to relocate advantageously. A flood of new low-income citizens may or may not be what a particular state wants, depending on local economic conditions. Fo
The Revolutionary War had been raging for a year in New England before the Declaration of Independence, a point that never ceased to bother John Adams whenever Thomas Jefferson or his devotees took credit for "starting" the Revolution -- a year after the Battle of Lexington and Concord -- with a piece of paper nailed to a lamp post. To be fair, this interval of a year allowed for the organization of the Continental Army, and Washington's growing military maturity by the summer of '76. But it also explains the landing of Sir William Howe's army on Staten Island at the e
As the whole world evolves from an agricultural economy to something else we call modern, one country after another finds wealth accumulating faster than its rudimentary banking system can handle. Until the banking system matures, the result is usually a severe inflation in the price of real estate. For an easy illustration, pick up one of those Nineteenth Century Russian novels, replete with the familiar figure of a rich Russian nobleman who owns vast estates, losing it all for lack of ready cash. In our century, the illustration would be the whole Chinese populace, forced by lack of alternatives to buy U.S. Treasury bonds whic
In 1940, the Barnes Foundation disturbed its Philadelphia's Main Line neighborhood in a way that had nothing to do with art. Dr. Barnes was still alive and running the place at that time, so there can be no question about the testamentary intentions of the donor. He hired Bertrand Russell for a five-year contract to teach philosophy at the Foundation, under highly lurid circumstances. By doing so, he put his thumb in the eye of religions generally but especially the Roman Catholic Church, into the eye of a Main Line neighborhood that prized its privacy, and
January 17, 1706 Born in Boston, the thirteenth child of a candle maker; only went through 2nd Grade, Apprenticed to his brother as a printer, ran away to Philadelphia age 17 . 1725-26 First trip to England. Researched printing equipment, but probably lived a riotous life. 1726-1748 Returned to Philadelphia to found his own print shop and bookstore. Wrote and printed Poor Richard's Almanack, organized local trademen into the Junto, formed pa A. Techniques of rebalancing. Three directions to take this, occur to me. 1. Purchase 60/40 mutual funds and let them do the rebalancing. This would offhand seem the easiest way to do it, but what are the results? Do you think it would be practical to construct a 60/40 mutual fund by combining and rebalancing a world-wide index fund with a bond fund? Since bond funds are dubious, how about a mutual fund that contained the equity index fund and did its own bond juggling? How about a family of funds, mixing 50/50, 55/45, 60/40, 65/35, 70/30, 75/25. 80/20, as the investor chooses? Since this would probably amount to a pool that sold virtual shares, almost any combination seems feasible. But is it legal? At one time the fund of funds was illegal for whatever reason; possibly Vanguard has a right to object to such a secondary use of its funds. By getting a fund together, there should be enough volume to consider real-time rebalancing. When you consider doi And him the said William Penn his heires and As-signes Wee doe by this our Royall Charter for us our heires and successors make, create and constitute the true and absolute Proprie�taries of the countryes aforesaid and of all other the premisses, saveing alwayes {to us our heirs and successors} the Faith and allegiance of the said William Penn, his heires and Assignes, and of all other {proprietaries, tenants and inhabitants that are, or shall be, within the Territories and precincts aforesaid, and {saving alsoe every unto us our Heirs and successors, the soveraignty of the aforsd country} the sovcrcigncty Dominion thereof due unto us our heires and suc�cessors, To have, hold, possesse and enjoy the said Tract of Land, Coun�try, Isle Although it has older origins, Roberts Rules of Order provide a place in every meeting for remarks "for the good of the order", suggesting there should always be an opportunity to deviate from strict germaneness to speak about something which is clearly worth talking about. Although meetings for business usually appoint a chairman, speaker or clerk to preserve order and germaneness, the truth is that most meetings which lose the opportunity to introduce something worthwhile which is a little off the subject, do so because of habit and tradition rather than devotion to focus. In recent years, remarks for the good of the Order have become so uncommon that speakers tend to rise on "a point of personal privilege", although provision for this had in mind birthday greetings and the like. I suggest it might be a useful and entertaining thing to devote some meetings of the Franklin Inn to discussions of ways we could improve the club, and if the club has seem Sending a kml or kmz disk file is as easy as clicking on it. But different browsers react differently, some asking you which program to use others storing the file on your desk top, etc. Preprocessing the file through PHP can reduce some of these annoyances. <?php // // reads and sends a kml or kmz file // located in /whatever/kml/ // // calling protocol: // this-program.php?file=somefile.kml // // read the input and check that it's a kmz or kml file // .................................................... $kml_file = $_GET['file']; if (($kml_file === NULL) or ($kml_file == "")) {exit ("error message");} if ((substr($kml_file, -4) != ".kmz") AND (substr($kml_file, -4) != ".kml")) { exit ("error message"); } // prepend the file path information to the file name and check that it exists // ........................................................................... $kml_file_name = "/whatever/kml/" . $kml_file; if
A breezy summary of European geopolitics, including many rough inaccuracies, will possibly irritate residents of that region who read it, but may help Americans understand the history and composition of the Germantown area of Philadelphia. The Western World was defined as a province of Rome, and all roads led there. A better unifying concept would be, the Alps are the center of Europe and all roads had to go around those mountains. At the northern end of the Italian boot are the Swiss Alps, forcing even Romans to go through what is now Provence in France to
In 1920, the University of Pennsylvania graduated 34 students with B.A. degrees, and 134 with M.D. degrees. Today, the campus is a little self-contained city of 50,000 inhabitants. The transformation of the campus during that period is an outward expression of that revolutionary expansion of the student body, involving demolitions, restorations, new construction. And nearly constant shortage of parking space.
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