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Whiskey Rebellion

Whiskey Rebellion

The Whiskey Rebellion was an uprising that had its origins in 1791 and culminated in an insurrection in 1794 in the Monongahela Valley in western Pennsylvania by Appalachian settlers who fought against a federal tax on liquor and distilled drinks. [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/earlyrepub/Whisk.htm] These settlers were largely of Scots-Irish descent. The ineffective government of the United States under the Articles of Confederation had been replaced by a stronger federal government under the United States Constitution in 1788. This new government inherited a huge debt from the American Revolutionary War. One of the steps taken to pay down the debt was a tax imposed in 1791 on distilled spirits. Large producers were assessed a tax of six cents a gallon. However, smaller producers, most of whom were Scottish or Irish descent located in the more remote western areas, were taxed at a higher rate of nine cents a gallon. These Western settlers were short of cash to begin with, and lacked any practical means to get their grain to market other than fermenting and distilling it into relatively portable distilled spirits. From Pennsylvania to Georgia, the western counties engaged in a campaign of harassment of the federal tax collectors. "Whiskey Boys" also made violent protests in Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. [http://okok.essortment.com/whiskeyrebellio_pea.htm] In the summer of 1794, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, remembering Shays' Rebellion from just eight years before, decided to make Pennsylvania a testing ground for federal authority. Washington ordered federal marshals to serve court orders requiring the tax protesters to appear in federal district court. By the summer of 1794, the protests became a rebellion; one group disguised as women assaulted a collector, cropped his hair, coated him with tar and feathers, and stole his horse. Other forms of defiance included robbing the mail, stopping court proceedings, and threatening an assault on Pittsburgh. On August 7, 1794, Washington invoked the Militia Law of 1792 to summon the militias of Pennsylvania, Virginia and several states. The rebel force they sought was likewise composed of Pennsylvanians, Virginians, and possibly men from other states. [http://www.vahistorical.org/publications/abstract_barksdale.htm] The militia force of 13,000 men was organized, roughly the size of the entire army in the Revolutionary War. Under the personal command of Washington, Hamilton, and Revolutionary War hero Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee the army marched to Western Pennsylvania (to what is now Monongahela, Pennsylvania) and quickly suppressed the revolt. The rebels afterwards hid in the woods, but twenty barefoot civilians were captured and paraded down Market Street in Philadelphia. The men were imprisoned, where one died, while two were convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged. Washington however pardoned them on the grounds that one was a "simpleton" and the other "insane." This response marked the first time under the new Constitution that the federal government had used strong military force to exert authority over the nation's citizens. It also was one of only two times that a sitting President would personally command the military in the field; the other was after President James Madison fled the burning White House in the War of 1812. The suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion also had the unintended consequence of encouraging small whiskey producers and other settlers into the then frontier lands of Kentucky and Tennessee, outside the sphere of Federal control for many years. In these frontier areas they also found good corn growing country and smooth, limestone-filtered water, with which to make whiskey. [http://www.tastings.com/spirits/american_whiskey.html] The whiskey tax was repealed in 1802, having been largely unenforceable outside of Western Pennsylvania, and never having been collected with much success. [http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=206&sortorder=articledate] Category:Rebellions in the United States Category:Pennsylvania history

Reference


- Baldwin, Leland. Whiskey Rebels: The Story of a Frontier Uprising. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1939.
- Cooke, Jacob E. "The Whiskey Insurrection: A Re-Evaluation." Pennsylvania History, 30 (July 1963), pp. 316-364.
- Kohn, Richard H. "The Washington Administration's Decision to Crush the Whiskey Rebellion." Journal of American History, 59 (December 1972), pp. 567-584.
- Slaughter, Thomas P. The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution. Oxford University Press 1986. # ISBN: 0195051912

1791

1791 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events


- Unknown date - First American ship reaches Japan
- January 25 - The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791, splitting the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada
- March 4 - Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
- May 3 - The Polish Sejm (Parliament) proclaims the Constitution of third May, the first modern codified constitution in Europe
- July 14 - The Priestley Riots in Birmingham, England.
- June 20 - The French Royal Family is captured when they try to flee in disguise
- August 26 - John Fitch is granted a patent for the steamboat in the United States.
- December 4 - The first issue of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published.
- December 15 - Ratification by the states of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution is completed, creating the United States Bill of Rights. Two additional amendments remain pending, and one of these is finally ratified in 1992, becoming the Twenty-seventh Amendment.
- Slave rebellion in Haiti has begun
- Brandenburg Gate in Berlin finished

Ongoing events


- French Revolution (1789-1799)

Births


- January 15 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (d. 1872)
- January 28 - Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold, French composer (d. 1833)
- February 21 - Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d. 1857)
- Feburary 21 - John Mercer, chemist and industrialist (d. 1866)
- April 23 - James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
- April 27 - Samuel Morse, American inventor (d. 1872)
- July 26 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer and pianist (d. 1844)
- September 22 - Michael Faraday, British scientist (d. 1867)
- September 26 - Théodore Géricault, French writer (d. 1824)
- November 11 - Josef Munzinger, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1855)
- December 26 - Charles Babbage, British mathematician and inventor (d. 1871)

Deaths


- January 11 - William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh hymnist (b. 1717)
- March 2 - John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (b. 1703)
- March 14 - Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (b. 1725)
- April 19 - Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (b. 1723)
- May 9 - Francis Hopkinson, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1737)
- June 5 - Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-born British colonial governor (b. 1718)
- June 10 - Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte, French admiral (b. 1720)
- July 17 - Martin Dobrizhoffer, Austrian Jesuit missionary (b. 1717)
- July 25 - Isaac Low, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1735)
- August 16 - Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1719)
- September 25 - William Bradford, American printer (b. 1719)
- December 5 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (b. 1756) Category:1791 ko:1791년 ms:1791

1794

1794 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).

Events


- February 11 - 1st session of the United States Senate is open to the public.
- March 14 - Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
- March 27 - The United States Government authorized the building of the first six United States Navy vessels (in 1797 the first three frigates, USS United States, USS Constellation and USS Constitution went into service), not to be confused with October 13, 1775 which is observed as the [http://www.history.navy.mil/birthday.htm Navy's Birthday].
- April 5 - Execution of Georges Danton
- April 30 - Battle of Boulou between French and Spanish forces.
- May 8 - French chemist Antoine Lavoisier is executed by guillotine.
- May 18 - Battle of Tourcoing between French and British forces.
- May 28-June 1 - The Glorious First of June (Battle of Ushant), naval battle between British and French.
- June 4 - British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
- June 26 - Battle of Fleurus between French forces and those Austria.
- July 13 - Battle of the Vosges between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria
- July 27 - French Revolution: French Convention ousts Maximilien Robespierre - he is arrested when he encourages the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution."
- July 28 - Maximilien Robespierre is guillotined in front of a cheering crowd, for sending thousands of others to a similar fate during the French Revolution.
- August 7 - Whiskey Rebellion begins: Farmers in the Monongahela Valley of Pennsylvania rebel against the federal tax on liquor and distilled drinks.
- August 20 - Battle of Fallen Timbers - American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.
- October - Fort Wayne founded in what is now the U.S. state of Indiana.
- October 2 - Battle of Aldenhoven between French forces and those Austria.
- November 19 - The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to clear up some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.
- November 20 - Battle of St-Laurent-de-la-Muga fought between French and Spanish forces.

Unknown dates


- Horatio Nelson loses a right eye at Calvi in Corsica
- Coffee forbidden by royal decree in Sweden
- France occupies Aachen.

Ongoing events


- French Revolution (1789-1799)
- French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802)-First Coalition

Births


- February 20 - William Carleton, Irish novelist (d. 1869)
- February 21 - Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and President of Mexico (d. 1876)
- April 10 - Matthew Calbraith Perry, American commodore (d. 1858)
- May 17 - Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (d. 1860)
- May 27 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (d. 1877)
- July 5 - Sylvester Graham, American nutritionist and inventor (d. 1851)
- November 3 - William Cullen Bryant, American poet (d. 1878)
- Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1868)

Deaths


- January 4 - Nicolas Luckner, Marshal of France (executed) (b. 1722)
- January 6 - Louis d'Elbée, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1752)
- January 8 - Justus Möser, German statesman (b. 1720)
- January 16 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)
- January 28 - Henri de la Rochejaquelein, French Revolutionary leader (b. 1772)
- January 31 - Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
- March 24 - Jacques Hébert, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1757)
- March 28 - Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist (died in prison) (b. 1743)
- April 5 - Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1759)
- April 5 - Camille Desmoulins, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1760)
- April 5 - Marie Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1759)
- April 5 - Fabre d'Églantine, French dramatist and revolutionary (executed) (b. 1750)
- April 5 - François Joseph Westermann, French Revolutionary leader and general (executed)
- April 13 - Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1763)
- April 13 - Lucile Duplessis, wife of Camille Desmoulins (executed) (b. [1770]])
- April 18 - Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
- April 23 - Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (executed) (b. 1721)
- April 27 - Sir William Jones, British philologist (b. 1746)
- May 8 - Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (executed) (b. 1743)
- June 14 - Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, Viceroy of Ireland (b. 1718)
- June 17 - Marguerite-Élie Guadet, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1753)
- June 18 - François Nicolas Leonard Buzot, French Revolutionary leader (suicide) (b. 1760)
- June 18 - James Murray, British military officer and administrator
- June 27 - Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz, Austrian statesman (b. 1711)
- June 27 - Philippe de Noailles, duc de Mouchy, French soldier (executed) (b. 1715)
- June 27 - Charles-Louis-Victor, prince de Broglie, French soldier (executed) (b. 1756)
- July 17 - John Roebuck, English inventor (b. 1718)
- July 23 - Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais, French politician and general (executed) (b. 1760)
- July 25, André Chénier, French writer (executed) (b. 1762)
- July 28 - Maximilien Robespierre, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1758)
- July 28 - Augustin Robespierre, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1763)
- July 28 - Louis de Saint-Just, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1767)
- July 28 - François Hanriot, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1761)
- August 6 - Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, British politician (b. 1714)
- September 4 - John Hely-Hutchinson, Irish statesman (b. 1724)
- September 15 - Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1725)
- September 25 - Paul Rabaut, French Huguenot pastor (b. 1718)
- November 3 - François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1715)
- November 15 - John Witherspoon, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1723)
- November 16 - Jean-Baptiste Carrier, French Revolutionary leader (executed) (b. 1756)
- November 22 - John Alsop, American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)
- November 28 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian army officer (b. 1730) Category:1794 ko:1794년 ms:1794 simple:1794

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of four states of the United States of America that is called a commonwealth. It has given its name to the Pennsylvanian time period in geology. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State. Although Swedes and Dutch were the first European settlers, the Quaker William Penn named Pennsylvania for the Latin phrase meaning "Penn's Woods", in honor of his father. Today, two major cities dominate the state—Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and a thriving metropolitan area, and Pittsburgh, a busy inland river port and major center for educational and technological advances. The Pocono Mountains and the Delaware Water Gap provide popular recreational activities. Pennsylvania is one of the U.S.'s most historic states. Philadelphia is often called the cradle of the American Nation. It was here that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drawn up by the Founding Fathers. The so-called "Pennsylvania Dutch" region in south-central Pennsylvania is another favorite of sightseers. Pennsylvania Germans, including the Amish and the Mennonites, dominate the area around the cities of Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg, with smaller numbers extending northeast to the Lehigh Valley and up the Susquehanna River valley. Some of the Old Order Amish have left the area, but many Mennonites remain, particularly in Lancaster County. Some adherents eschew modern conveniences and use horse-drawn farming equipment and carriages, while others are virtually indistinguishable from non-Amish or Mennonites. (The term "Dutch" is a misnomer, since there were much fewer of Dutch origin; the adjective for "German", Deutsch, was misheard as "Dutch" and the name stuck.) The battleship USS Pennsylvania, damaged at Pearl Harbor, was named in honor of this state, as were several other naval vessels. It was repaired at the former Sun Ship Yard & Dry Dock in Chester City.

History

Before the state existed, the area was home to the Delaware (also known as Lenni Lenape), Susquehanna, Iroquois, Eriez, Shawnee, and other Native American tribes. In 1643, the southeastern portion of the state, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, was settled by Sweden, but control later passed to the Netherlands, and then to England (later Great Britain). On March 4 1681, Charles II of England granted a land charter to William Penn for the area that now includes Pennsylvania. Penn then founded a colony there as a place of religious freedom for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and named it for the Latin phrase meaning "Penn's woods". A large tract of land north and west of Philadelphia, in Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties, was settled by Welsh Quakers and called the "Welsh Tract". Even today many cities and towns in that area bear the names of Welsh municipalities. The western portions of Pennsylvania were among disputed territory between the colonial British and French during the French and Indian War. The French established numerous fortifications in the area, including the pivotal Fort Duquesne on top of which the city of Pittsburgh was built. The colony's reputation of religious freedom also attracted significant populations of German and Scots-Irish settlers who helped to shape colonial Pennsylvania and later went on to populate the neighboring states further west. In 1704 the "three lower counties" of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex gained a separate legislature, and in 1710 a separate executive council, to form the new colony Delaware. Pennsylvania and Delaware were two of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution of 1776. Pennsylvania became the second state on 12 December, 1787 (five days after Delaware became the first). Pennsylvania also saw the Battle of Gettysburg, near Gettysburg. Many historians consider this battle the major turning point of the American Civil War. Dead from this battle rest at Gettysburg National Cemetery, site of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. oil (kerosene) industry was born in western Pennsylvania, which supplied the vast majority of U.S. kerosene for years thereafter, and saw the rise and fall of oil boom towns. During the 20th century Pennsylvania's existing iron industries expanded into a major center of steel production. Shipbuilding and numerous other forms of manufacturing flourished in the eastern part of the state, and coal mining was also extremely important in many regions. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Pennsylvania received very large numbers of immigrants from Europe seeking work; dramatic, sometimes violent confrontations took place between organized labor and the state's industrial concerns. Pennsylvania was hard-hit by the decline of the steel industry and other heavy U.S. industries during the late 20th century.

Law and government

Like all American states, Pennsylvania has a government which is separated into an executive, a legislature, and a judiciary, the powers and duties of which are established by the Pennsylvania Constitution. The capital of Pennsylvania is in Harrisburg.

Executive branch

The head of the executive branch is the Governor, who is currently Democrat Edward G Rendell, a former mayor of Philadelphia. The other elected officials composing the executive branch are the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Auditor General, and State Treasurer. The Governor's cabinet consists of the eighteen appointed heads of Pennsylvania state agencies: the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Adjutant General, Secretary of Education, Insurance Commissioner, Secretary of Banking, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Health, State Police Commissioner, Secretary of Labor and Industry, Secretary of Public Welfare, Secretary of Revenue, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Community Affairs, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Environmental Resources, Secretary of General Services, Secretary of Aging, and the Secretary of Corrections.

Legislative branch

Pennsylvania has had a bicameral legislature since 1790. The Pennsylvania General Assembly consists of a Senate with 50 members and a House of Representatives with 203. Notable General Assembly members include Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer (R), Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R), Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow (D), Speaker of the House of Representatives John M. Perzel (R), House Majority Leader Samuel H. Smith (R), House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese (D), and Senate Minority Appropriations Chairman Vincent Fumo (D).

Judicial branch

Pennsylvania is divided into 60 judicial districts[http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/CommonPleas/Judicialdistricts.asp], most of which (save Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties) have district justices (formerly called justices of the peace), who preside mainly over minor criminal offenses and small civil claims. The Philadelphia Municipal Court and the Pittsburgh police magistrate court have similar jurisdiction, but are limited to those locations. As Philadelphia is coterminous with Philadelphia County, the Pittsburgh police magistrate court is the only true city-level court in the state. The general trial courts in which most criminal and civil cases originate are the Courts of Common Pleas. They also serve as appellate courts to the district justices and for local agency decisions. The Courts of Common Pleas serving the larger Pennsylvania counties are divided into specialized divisions. The state has two intermediate-level appellate courts: the Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court. The fifteen judges of the Superior Court hear all appeals from the Courts of Common Pleas not expressly designated to the Commonwealth Court or Supreme Court. It also has original jurisdiction to review warrants for wiretap surveillance. The jurisdiction of the nine-judge Commonwealth Court is limited to appeals from final orders of certain state agencies and certain designated cases from the Courts of Common Pleas. The Commonwealth Court also functions as a trial court in some civil suits, including cases that involve the state or its officers as parties, and cases regarding statewide elections. Pennsylvania's entire judicial system is under the supervision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which is also the final appellate court for both the Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court. It also hears appeals directly from the Courts of Common Pleas in certain cases, including from murder convictions in which the death penalty has been imposed, the right to public office, criminal contempt, and any case in which the Court of Common Pleas ruled that a state law was unconstitutional. Like all judges in Pennsylvania, the seven justices of the Supreme Court are chosen by public election; the chief justice is the justice with the most seniority.

Representation in the federal government

Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators are Rick Santorum (Republican) and Arlen Specter (Republican). Pennsylvania's 19 representatives in the House are Robert Brady (D, 1st District); Chaka Fattah (D, 2nd District); Phil English (R, 3rd District); Melissa Hart (R, 4th District); John E. Peterson (R, 5th District); Jim Gerlach (R, 6th District); Curt Weldon (R, 7th District); Michael Fitzpatrick (R, 8th District); Bill Shuster (R, 9th District); Don Sherwood (R, 10th District); Paul E. Kanjorski (D, 11th District); John Murtha (D, 12th District); Allyson Schwartz (D, 13th District); Mike Doyle (D, 14th District); Charlie Dent (R, 15th District); Joe Pitts (R, 16th District); Tim Holden (D, 17th District); Tim Murphy (R, 18th District); and Todd Russell Platts (R, 19th District).

Politics in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is considered a swing state as its politics are not dominated by any single party. As of 2005, the Republican Party holds both houses of the state legislature, both United States Senate seats and a majority of the state's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, but the Democratic Party holds the governor's seat and their candidate has won the state in the past four presidential elections. Bill Clinton carried the state twice, Al Gore won here in 2000 as did John Kerry in 2004 with a slim 50.9% of the vote. The state is divided into heavily left leaning areas along the sides. Democrats are the majority in the Philadelphia area, as well as around Allentown, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in the east, and in the southwestern part of the state, the Pittsburgh area in the west and Erie in the northwest. The northern and central part of the state, nicknamed the Republican 'T, is more rural and tends to be very conservative. James Carville, the outspoken Democratic strategist, summed up Pennsylvania politics as "Philadelphia on one end, Pittsburgh on the other, with Alabama in the middle."
- U.S. presidential election, 2004, in Pennsylvania

Geography

See: List of Pennsylvania counties List of Pennsylvania counties Pennsylvania's nickname "The Keystone State" is quite apt, as the state forms a geographic bridge both between the Northeastern states and the Southern states, and between the Atlantic seaboard and the Midwest. It is bordered on the north and northeast by New York, on the east, across the Delaware River by New Jersey, on the south by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, on the west by Ohio, and on the northwest by Lake Erie. The Delaware, Susquehanna, Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers are the major rivers of the state. The Youghiogheny River and Oil Creek are smaller rivers which have played an important role in the development of the state. The capital is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is 180 miles (290 km) north to south and 310 miles (500 km) east to west. The total land area is 44,817 square miles (119,283 km²), 739,200 acres (2,990 km²) of which are bodies of water. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States. The highest point of 3,213 feet (979 m) above sea level is at Mount Davis. Its lowest point is at sea level on the Delaware River. Pennsylvania is in the Eastern time zone. It sometimes helps to consider the western third of the state a separate large geophysical unit, which is so distinctive that it can often best be described on its own. Several important, complex factors set Western Pennsylvania apart in many respects from the east, such as the initial difficulty of access across the mountains, an orientation to the Mississippi drainage system of rivers, and above all, the complex economics involved in the rise and decline of the American steel industry centered around Pittsburgh. Other factors, such as a markedly different style of agriculture, the rise of the oil industry, timber exploitation and the old wood chemical industry, and even, in linguistics, the local dialect, all make this large area sometimes seem a virtual "state within a state". Pennsylvania is bisected diagonally by ridges of the Appalachian Mountains from southwest to northeast. To the northwest of the folded mountains is the Allegheny Plateau, which continues into southwestern and south central New York. This plateau is so dissected by valleys that it also seems mountainous. The Plateau is underlain by sedimentary rocks of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age, which bear abundant fossils, as well as natural gas and petroleum. In 1859 near Titusville Edwin L. Drake drilled the first oil well in the USA into these sediments. Similar rock layers also contain coal to the south and east of the oil and gas deposits. In the metamorphic (folded) belt, anthracite (hard coal) is mined near Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton. These fossil fuels have been an important resource to Pennsylvania. Timber and dairy farming are also sources of livelihood for midstate and western Pennsylvania. Along the shore of Lake Erie in the far northwest are orchards and vineyards. Lake Erie Pennsylvania has 89 miles of shoreline along the Delaware River estuary but is a landlocked state with no coastline bordering the Atlantic Ocean. (The difference between the coast (the shore of an ocean) and the shore (a protected bay, bayou, estuary, or sound) and how these concepts are measured is explained at length in an extended footnote under "Miscellaneous" in the article on New Hampshire.) Pennsylvania is the only truly landlocked state of the original thirteen states, although Connecticut, located on the Long Island Sound, also has no actual coastline. Pennsylvania has one of the largest seaports in the U.S. on its narrow shore, the Port of Philadelphia. In the west the Port of Pittsburgh is also very large and even exceeds Philadelphia in rank by annual tonnage, due to the large volume of bulk coal shipped by barge down the Ohio River. Chester, downstream from Philadelphia, and Erie, the Great Lakes outlet on Lake Erie in the Erie Triangle, are smaller but still important ports. Pennsylvania has been the site of some of the most horrendous ecological disasters experienced in the USA. In 1889 the South Fork Dam, impounding a recreational mountain lake for sportsmen, burst after a heavy rain and destroyed the downstream factory town of Johnstown, killing over 2,200 inhabitants in the notorious Johnstown Flood (the town was later rebuilt and is a reasonably large community today in the central mountains). In 1961 an exposed seam of coal at Centralia, Pennsylvania caught fire and forced eventually almost the entire community to abandon their settlement; the coal fire is still burning today and is estimated to last 100 years more. Finally, in 1979 the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Incident near the state capital of Harrisburg, while not as destructive to the community, nevertheless cost close to $1 billion to clean up and changed the national public perception of nuclear power to a much less favorable viewpoint.

Economy

Three Mile Island Pennsylvania's 1999 total gross state product was $383 billion, placing it 6th in the nation and its 2000 Per Capita Personal Income was $29,539, 18th in the nation. Its agricultural outputs are dairy products, poultry, cattle, nursery stock, mushrooms, hogs, and hay. Its industrial outputs are food processing, chemical products, machinery, electric equipment, and tourism. Pennsylvania has a large, diverse group of manufacturing companies and within this group are some whose products have come to be household words, symbolic of ordinary American life. Among these products are Hershey bars from the Hershey Chocolate Company in Hershey, Pennsylvania; Heinz ketchup and Heinz-57 sauce from the H. J. Heinz Company in Pittsburgh; Crayola products from Binney & Smith, Inc., in Easton; and Zippo lighters from Zippo Manufacturing in Bradford. Other corporations based in Pennsylvania are : Comcast, Sunoco, Pep Boys, Utz/ Herr's/ Wise Potato Chips, and many others, especially insurance, pharmaceutical, and steel corporations. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is well know for its quality wood products such as furniture, sheds, gazebos and play sets. Such items are shipped all over the country (and the world) out of Lancaster County. Most of these are produced by Amish and Mennonite craftsmen. On Lake Erie some freshwater commercial fishing exists, the principal catch being yellow perch.

Taxation

The two largest sources of state revenue are income taxes on individuals and businesses and the state sales tax. In addition, the state imposes other taxes and fees on businesses and collects fees for various licenses and permits. There is also an inheritance tax, taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and taxes and fees on certain other goods and services. There is also a tax on the transfer of real property. Pennsylvania is one of only five American states to employ a flat tax on personal income. Unlike the others, Pennsylvania's is a pure flat tax with no personal exemptions. As of 2005, the income tax rate for individuals is 3.07% of earned income. The state assesses a 6% sales tax on taxable goods and services. Counties may add additional sales tax charges, but as of 2005, only Philadelphia and Allegheny counties charge an additional sales tax rates. Items such as unprepared food (not ready-to-eat), most clothing, shoes, drugs, textbooks, and residential heating fuels are exempt from sales tax. The state government does not levy or collect taxes on real estate or personal property. Most counties, municipalities, and school districts do levy taxes on real estate. In addition, some local bodies assess a wage tax on personal income. Generally, the total wage tax rate is capped at 1% of income but some municipalities with home rule charters may charge more than 1%. Thirty-two of the state's sixty-seven counties levy a personal property tax on stocks, bonds, and similar holdings. In addition to taxes collected on liquor, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is the sole retail distributor of liquor in the state through its government owned Wine and Spirits Stores. Profits from these retail operations are used to fund a number of programs including the Pennsylvania State Police. (Source PA Dept. of Revenue)

Demographics

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2004, Pennsylvania's population was 12,406,292 placing it 6th in population in the country. The Commonwealth has one of the fastest growing Asian and Hispanic populations in the nation with percentage increases well over a 100%. Most of the Asian immigrants are Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Arab. The Hispanic immigration mostly consists of people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central and South America. During the 1970s and 1980s, Pennsylvania grew sluggishly. In the 1990s and into 2000, more people from other states (migrants) started moving to Pennsylvania. Foreign immigration has also picked up for the first time since World War II. Pennsylvania is mainly white in certain areas such as the far northeast, north central, and some areas around Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia Metro and the surrounding counties and the state as a whole are a true melting pot with large numbers of Blacks, Hispanics, South Asians, East Asians, and Arabs. Race and ancestry
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 84.1% White
- 10.0% Black
- 3.2% Hispanic
- 1.8% Asian
- 0.1% Native American
- 1.2% Mixed race Population estimates predict Pennsylvania's population to be around 77.2% White in 2010, or lower. This rapid decrease of the state's white population is due to huge growth in the state's non-white population. Most of this diversity growth is concentrated in the Philadelphia Metro, and the Lehigh Valley, but large non-white growth is statewide. The five largest ancestry groups in Pennsylvania are: German (25.4%), Irish (16.1%), Italian (11.5%), African American (10%), English (7.9%). Pennsylvanians of German ancestry live in most areas of the state outside of Philadelphia. Northeastern Pennsylvania has residents of British ancestry on the New York border and there are many Polish-Americans in the Scranton area. Philadelphia has a black plurality and smaller black populations are located in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Irish-Americans are the single largest ancestry group in Delaware county and the overall Philadelphia metropolitan area. Pennsylvania has more Slovaks and Welsh than any other state. Pennsylvania also has among the largest populations of Germans, Irish, Italians, and Russians of any state, and the most Ukrainians of any state besides New York. Also the state has one of the largest Asian Indian, Korean, Puerto Rican, and Vietnamese populations in the nation. 5.9% of Pennsylvania's population were reported as under 5, 23.8% under 18, and 15.6% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.7% of the population.

Religion

Historically, the Quakers pursued a policy of religious toleration at the founding of Penn's colony (Pennsylvania), which benefited other older groups, such as Lutherans from the New Sweden settlement, and which also attracted religious refugees from the European continent, such as Amish and Mennonites. Other groups also settled, including the Moravian Bretheren, who founded and named today's large city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who settled on the frontier. This was a fairly diverse group of denominations by Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century standards, and testifies to the benign administration of Penn. Later, after industrialization, immigrants from the Catholic countries of Europe started coming in large numbers to Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia today stands a shrine to and the burial place of Saint John Neumann, himself a Czech immigrant, who worked for the betterment of the new arrivals and who founded the American parochial school system. Pennsylvania has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country, with about 440,000. Immigration to Pennsylvania in the past 20 years has brought large numbers of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs to the state. The current religious affiliations of the people of Pennsylvania are:
- Christian – 83%
  - Protestant – 55%
    - Methodist – 10%
    - Baptist – 10%
    - Lutheran – 9%
    - Presbyterian – 5%
    - United Church of Christ – 2%
    - Amish/Pietist – 1%
    - Other Protestant or general Protestant – 18%
  - Roman Catholic – 27%
  - Other Christian – 1%
- Jewish (religious only) – 2%
- Other Religions – 2%
- Non-Religious – 13%

Important cities and municipalities

JewishPennsylvania has only one incorporated town, Bloomsburg, the county seat of Columbia County. All other municipalities are incorporated as cities, boroughs or townships. It is technically incorrect to refer to any municipality in Pennsylvania other than Bloomsburg as a town. Major cities and boroughs: The area including Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton is sometimes referred to as the "ABE tri-town area", from which derives the IATA airport code for Lehigh Valley International Airport. Top and bottom 10 locations by per capita income: per capita income

Education

Colleges and universities

State symbols


- State animal: Whitetail Deer
- State beverage: Milk
- State cookie: Chocolate Chip
- State bird: Ruffed Grouse
- State capital: Harrisburg
- State dog: Great Dane
- State fish: Brook Trout
- State flower: Mountain Laurel
- State fossil: the trilobite Phacops rana
- State insect: Firefly
- State song: Pennsylvania
- State tree: Hemlock
- State toy: Slinky
- State ship: United States Brig Niagara
- State electric locomotive: Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 #4849 Locomotive
- State steam locomotive: Pennsylvania Railroad K4s Locomotive
- State beautification plant: Crown vetch

Notable Pennsylvanians


- Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) one of the more important figures in Pennsylvania and United States history. Although he was born in Boston, Massachusetts he came to Philadelphia as a young man. He founded the University of Pennsylvania in 1742, had the distinction of signing both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and is buried with his wife Deborah in Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia.
- Stephen Foster was born in Pittsburgh on July 4, 1826. He was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of his era. Many of his songs, such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", and "Beautiful Dreamer", are still popular over 150 years after their composition.
- James Buchanan (1791–1868) was born and lived in Pennsylvania until his death. He was the 15th President of the United States and the only President from that state.
- George M. Dallas (1792–1864) of Philadelphia served as the 11th Vice President of the United States under James K. Polk and is the only Pennsylvanian to hold the office. He also served as U.S. Minister to Great Britain and Russia, as Mayor of Philadelphia and in the Senate.
- Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868) was a key Pennsylvania state legislator in establishing and maintaining Pennsylvania's early system of public education. As a U.S. Congressman and leading "Radical Republican", he helped draft the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing "equal protection of the laws" to all Americans.
- Rachel Carson (1907–1964) born near Springdale, was a pioneer environmentalist and author of Silent Spring
- Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–1886) was born in Montgomery Square. He commanded Union troops during the American Civil War, most notably during the Battle of Gettysburg.
- Ida Tarbell (1857–1944) was born in Erie and was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris. She was a pioneering "muckraker" journalist and one of the few female journalists in the country during her time. In 1906, she joined with Lincoln Steffens and Ray Stannard Baker to establish the radical American Magazine. She also wrote several books on the role of women including The Business of Being a Woman (1912) and The Ways of Women (1915).
- Smedley Butler (1880–1940) born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice during his career
- Pop artist Andy Warhol (1928–1987) was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh. The Andy Warhol Museum is located in Pittsburgh's North Side, and he is buried in nearby Bethel Park.
- Kurt Angle (1968—) was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Angle won the Gold Medal in freestyle Roman/Greco wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, before signing with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment, where he has won the WWE Championship on four different occasions. Angle is one of only two wrestlers in the WWE to have participated in the Olympics, and is the only one to have won gold medals.
- K. Leroy Irvis (1918—) was born near Albany, New York, but came to Pennsylvania to head Pittsburgh's Urban League in the 1940s. Fired under pressure after leading a successful boycott of Pittsburgh's department stores for discriminating against African-Americans, Irvis enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh law school, graduated with honors, became Pittsburgh's first black judicial law clerk, then an assistant district attorney, then a state legislator. Serving 30 years in the Pennsylvania House (1958–1988), 26 of them as an elected Democratic leader, Irvis became the first 20th Century African-American Speaker in 1977. He was a major force behind numerous successful efforts to expand educational opportunities in Pennsylvania.
- General of the Army George C. Marshall (1880–1959) of Uniontown, led the United States Army as Chief of Staff during the Second World War. He later served as Secretary of State and authored the Marshall Plan.
- Prince Demetrius Gallitzin (1770–1840) A Russian prince turned Roman Catholic missionary priest known as Apostle of the Alleghenies. He emigrated to the United States in 1792 and studied theology under Bishop John Carroll. In 1795, he became the first Catholic to receive all the orders of priesthood in the United States. In 1799 he used his own fortune to purchase 20,000 acres in Cambria County to form a Catholic community, the nucleus of the modern Roman Catholic Church west of the Allegheny Mountains. A prolific writer and apologist, he was declared a Servant of God in 2005, the first step on the road toward possible canonization.
- Tom Ridge, The former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (1945-), was Governor of Pennsylvania between 1995 and 2003. Prior to that, he was a US Representative from Erie between 1982 and 1995.
- Eugene W. Hickok, The former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education from 2004–2005, and prior to that, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Education from 1995–2001.
- Marian Anderson, of Philadelphia, world-reknowned contralto, who, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her sing at Constitution Hall because she was African-American, was famously invited to sing at the Lincoln Memorial by Eleanor Roosevelt.
- James J. Davis, U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1921 to 1932 and U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1946.

Movies set in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has been the setting for dozens of major films, including Rocky (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), All the Right Moves (1983), Flashdance (1983) and The Sixth Sense (1999).

Pennsylvania in popular music

Pennsylvania has given birth to some of the nation's leading popular and rock music groups, including Anti-Flag, Christina Aguilera, Bloodhound Gang, Boyz II Men, Vanessa Carlton, CKY, Coolio, Fuel, Hall & Oates, Joan Jett, Live, Patti LaBelle, Pink, Poison, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Rusted Root, The Roots, Jill Scott, Shanice, Will Smith, The Clarks, The Dead Milkmen, and The Juliana Theory to name a few.

Pennsylvanians in film, television, and theater

Many Pennsylvanians have found success in film, television, and the theater including:
- F. Murray Abraham - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Kevin Bacon - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- John Barrymore - Philadelphia
- Lionel Barrymore - Philadelphia
- Peter Boyle - Philadelphia
- Charles Bronson - Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania
- Bill Cosby - Philadelphia
- Tina Fey - Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
- Larry Fine - Philadelphia
- Scott Glenn - Pittsburgh
- Seth Green - Philadelphia
- Russell Johnson - Ashley, Pennsylvania
- Shirley Jones - Charleroi, Pennsylvania
- Gene Kelly - Pittsburgh
- Grace Kelly - Philadelphia
- Jamie Kennedy - Upper Darby
- Jayne Mansfield - Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
- Henry Mancini - Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
- Larry Mendte - Lansdowne, Pennsylvania
- Dennis Miller - Pittsburgh
- Bam Margera - West Chester, Pennsylvania
- Cheri Oteri - Upper Darby
- Jack Palance - Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania
- M. Night Shyamalan - Philadelphia (immigrated from India as a child)
- Jimmy Stewart - Indiana, Pennsylvania
- Mr. Rogers - Latrobe, Pennsylvania
- David O. Selznick - Pittsburgh
- Fritz Weaver - Pittsburgh
- Michael Keaton - Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
- Sharon Stone - Meadville, Pennsylvania
- Will Smith - Philadelphia

See also


- List of Pennsylvania-related topics
- List of people from Pennsylvania
- List of Pennsylvania counties
- List of hospitals in Pennsylvania

External links


- [http://www.state.pa.us Official state government site]
- [http://www.dot.state.pa.us Penna. Dept. of Transportation]
- [http://pittsburgh.about.com/library/weekly/aa_visit_pennsylvania.htm Pennsylvania Visitor's Guide]
- [http://obit.obitlinkspage.com/pa.htm Pennsylvania Obituary Links Page]
- [http://www.genealogybuff.com/pa/ GenealogyBuff.com - Pennsylvania Library Files]
- [http://www.HavenWorks.com/pennsylvania Pennsylvania News, Searches, Sources, and Reference.]
- [http://atlasworld.info/atlasfinder/Pennsylvania Road Atlases of Pennsylvania]
- [http://www.mapsofpa.com/home.htm Historical Maps of Pennsylvania]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- Category:States of the United States ko:펜실베이니아 주 ja:ペンシルバニア州 simple:Pennsylvania

Appalachian

The Appalachian Mountains are a vast system of North American mountains, partly in Canada, but mostly in the United States, extending as a zone, from 100 to 300 miles wide, running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, 1500 miles south-westward to central Alabama in the United States, although the northernmost mainland portion ends at the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. The system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3000 ft. The highest of the group is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina (2,040m, 6,684 ft.), which is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River as well as the second highest point in eastern North America.

Regions

North America North America North America The whole system may be divided into three great sections: the Northern, from Newfoundland to the Hudson river; the Central, from the Hudson Valley to that of New river (Great Kanawha), in Virginia and West Virginia; and the Southern, from New river onwards. The northern section includes the Shickshock Mountains and Notre Dame Range in Quebec, scattered elevations in Maine, the White Mountains and the Green Mountains; the central comprises, besides various minor groups, the Valley Ridges between the Front of the Allegheny Plateau and the Great Appalachian Valley, the New York-New Jersey Highlands and a large portion of the Blue Ridge; and the southern consists of the prolongation of the Blue Ridge, the Unaka Range, and the Valley Ridges adjoining the Cumberland Plateau, with some lesser ranges. The major ranges comprising the Appalachian system include the Long Range Mountains and Annieopsquotch Mountains in Newfoundland, the Notre Dame Mountains in New Brunswick and Quebec, the Longfellow Mountains in Maine, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, the Green Mountains in Vermont, the Taconic Mountains in New York and Massachusetts, the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts, the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, the Ridge-and-valley Appalachians in The Poconos Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, and the Blue Ridge Mountains that run from southern Pennsylvania to North Georgia. The Adirondack Mountains are sometimes considered part of the Appalachian chain but, geologically speaking, are a southern extension of the Laurentian Mountains of Canada. In addition to the true folded mountains, known as the ridge and valley province, the area of dissected plateau Blue Mountain (Pennsylvania) to the north and west of the mountains is usually grouped with them. This includes the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York, and the Allegheny Plateau of southwestern New York, western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. The plateau does not change character but changes name to the Cumberland Plateau in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, eastern Tennessee. The dissected plateau area is popularly called mountains, especially in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, and while the ridges are not high, the terrain is extremely rugged. In Ohio and New York, some of the plateau has been glaciated, which has rounded off the sharp ridges, and filled the valleys to some extent. The glaciated regions are usually referred to as hill country rather than mountains. The Appalachian region is generally considered the geographical dividing line between the eastern seaboard of the United States and the Midwest region of the country. The Eastern Continental Divide follows the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia. Before the French and Indian War, the Appalachian Mountains lay on the indeterminate boundary between Britain's colonies along the Atlantic and French areas centered in the Mississippi basin. After the French and Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763 limited settlement for Great Britain's thirteen original colonies in North America to east of the summit line of the mountains (except in the northern regions where the Great Lakes formed the boundary). This was highly disliked by the colonists and formed one of the grievances which led to the American Revolutionary War. With the formation of the United States of America, an important first phase of westward expansion in the late 18th century and early 19th century consisted of the migration of European-descended settlers westward across the mountains into the Ohio Valley through the Cumberland Gap and other mountain passes. The Erie Canal, finished in 1825, formed the first route through the Appalachians that was capable of large amounts of commerce. The Appalachian Trail is a 2,175 mile hiking trail that runs all the way from Mt. Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, passing over or past a large part of the Appalachian system.

The chief summits

The Appalachian belt includes, with the ranges enumerated above, the plateaus sloping southward to the Atlantic Ocean in New England, and south-eastward to the border of the coastal plain through the central and southern Atlantic states; and on the north-west, the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus declining toward the Great Lakes and the interior plains. A remarkable feature of the belt is the longitudinal chain of broad valleys--the Great Appalachian Valley--which, in the southerly sections divides the mountain system into two subequal portions, but in the northernmost lies west of all the ranges possessing typical Appalachian features, and separates them from the Adirondack group. The mountain system has no axis of dominating altitudes, but in every portion the summits rise to rather uniform heights, and, especially in the central section, the various ridges and intermontane valleys have the same trend as the system itself. None of the summits reaches the region of perpetual snow. Mountains of the Long Range in Newfoundland reach heights of nearly 2000 ft. In the Shickshocks the higher summits rise to about 4000 ft. elevation. In Maine four peaks exceed 3000 ft., including Katahdin (5200 ft.). In New Hampshire, many summits rise above 4000 feet, including Mount Washington, in the White Mountains (6298 ft.), Adams (5805), Jefferson (5725), Clay (5554), Monroe (5390), Madison (5380), Lafayette (5269. In the Green Mountains the highest point, Mansfield, is 4364 ft.; Lincoln (4078), Killington (4241), Camel Hump (4088); and a number of other heights exceed 3000 ft. The Catskills are not properly included in the system. The Blue Ridge, rising in southern Pennsylvania and there known as South Mountain, attains in that state elevations of about 2000 ft.; southward to the Potomac its altitudes diminish, but 30 m. beyond again reach 2000 ft. In the Virginia Blue Ridge the following are the highest peaks east of New river: Mount Weather (about 1850 ft.), Mary's Rock (3523), Peaks of Otter (4001 and 3875), Stony Man (4031), Hawks Bill (4066). In Pennsylvania the summits of the Valley Ridges rise generally to about 2000 ft., and in Maryland Eagle Rock and Dans Rock are conspicuous points reaching 3162 ft. and 2882 ft. above the sea. On the same side of the Great Valley, south of the Potomac, are the Pinnacle (3007 ft.) and Pidgeon Roost (3400 ft.). In the southern section of the Blue Ridge are Grandfather Mountain (5964 ft.), with three other summits above 5000, and a dozen more above 4000. The Unaka Ranges (including the Black and Smoky Mountains) have eighteen peaks higher than 5000 ft., and eight surpassing 6000 ft. In the Black Mountains, Mitchell (the culminating point of the whole system) attains an altitude of 6711 ft., Balsam Cone, 6645, Black Brothers, 6690, and 6620, and Hallback, 6403. In the Smoky Mountains we have Clingman's Peak (6611), Guyot (6636), Alexander (6447), Leconte (6612), Curtis (6588), with several others above 6000 and many higher than 5000. In spite of the existence of the Great Appalachian Valley, the master streams are transverse to the axis of the system. The main watershed follows a tortuous course which crosses the mountainous belt just north of New river in Virginia; south of this the rivers head in the Blue Ridge, cross the higher Unakas, receive important tributaries from the Great Valley, and traversing the Cumberland Plateau in spreading gorges, escape by way of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers to the Ohio and Mississippi, and thus to the Gulf of Mexico; in the central section the rivers, rising in or beyond the Valley Ridges, flow through great gorges (water gaps) to the Great Valley, and by south-easterly courses across the Blue Ridge to tidal estuaries penetrating the coastal plain; in the northern section the water-parting lies on the inland side of the mountainous belt, the main lines of drainage running from north to south.

Geology

Main article: Geology of the Appalachians The Appalachians are old mountains. A look at rocks exposed in today's Appalachian mountains reveals elongated belts of folded and thrust faulted marine sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and slivers of ancient ocean floor, which provides strong evidence that these rocks were deformed during plate collision. The birth of the Appalachian ranges, some 680 million years ago, marks the first of several mountain building plate collisions that culminated in the construction of the supercontinent Pangea with the Appalachians near the center. Because North America and Africa were connected, the Appalachians form part of the same mountain chain as the Atlas mountains in Morocco. Morocco During the middle Ordovician Period (about 495-440 million years ago), a change in plate motions set the stage for the first Paleozoic mountain building event (Taconic orogeny) in North America. The once-quiet Appalachian passive margin changed to a very active plate boundary when a neighboring oceanic plate, the Iapetus, collided with and began sinking beneath the North American craton. With the birth of this new subduction zone, the early Appalachians were born. Along the continental margin, volcanoes grew, coincident with the initiation of subduction. Thrust faulting uplifted and warped older sedimentary rock laid down on the passive margin. As mountains rose, erosion began to wear them down. Streams carried rock debris downslope to be deposited in nearby lowlands. The Taconic Orogeny was just the first of a series of mountain building plate collisions that contributed to the formation of the Appalachians (see Appalachian orogeny). By the end of the Mesozoic era, the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost flat plain. It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic Era that the distinctive topography of the present formed. Uplift rejuvenated the streams, which rapidly responded by cutting downward into the ancient bedrock. Some streams flowed along weak layers that define the folds and faults created many millions of years earlier. Other streams downcut so rapidly that they cut right across the resistant folded rocks of the mountain core, carving canyons across rock layers and geologic structures. The Appalachian Mountains contain major deposits of Anthracite coal as well as Bituminous coal. In the folded mountains the coal is in metamorphosed form as anthracite represented by the Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania and discovered by Necho Allen. The Bituminous coal fields of western Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia is the sedimentary form.

Flora and fauna

Much of the region is covered with forest yielding quantities of valuable timber, especially in Canada and northern New England. The most valuable trees for lumber are spruce, white pine, hemlock, cedar, white birch, ash, maple and basswood; all excepting pine and hemlock and poplar in addition are ground into wood pulp for the manufacture of paper. In the central and southern parts of the belt oak and hickory constitute valuable hard woods, and certain varieties of the former furnish quantities of tan bark. The tulip tree produces a good clear lumber known as white wood or poplar, and is also a source of pulp. In the south both white and yellow pine abounds. Many flowering and fruit-bearing shrubs of the heath family add to the beauty of the mountainous districts, rhododendron and kalmia often forming impenetrable thickets. Bears, mountain lions (pumas), wild cats (lynx) and wolves haunt the more remote fastnesses of the mountains; foxes abound; deer are found in many districts and moose in the north.

Influence on History

For a century the Appalachians were a barrier to the westward expansion of the British colonies; the continuity of the system, the bewildering multiplicity of its succeeding ridges, the tortuous courses and roughness of its transverse passes, a heavy forest and dense undergrowth all conspired to hold the settlers on the seaward-sloping plateaus and coastal plains. Only by way of the Hudson and Mohawk valleys, and round about the southern termination of the system were there easy routes to the interior of the country, and these were long closed by hostile aborigines and jealous French or Spanish colonists. In eastern Pennsylvania the Great Valley was accessible by reason of a broad gateway between the end of South Mountain and the Highlands, and here in the Lebanon Valley settled German Moravians, whose descendants even now retain the peculiar patois known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." These were late comers to the New World forced to the frontier to find unclaimed lands. With their followers of both German and Scotch-Irish origin, they worked their way southward and soon occupied all of the Virginia Valley and the upper reaches of the Great Valley tributaries of the Tennessee. By 1755 the obstacle to westward expansion had been thus reduced by half; outposts of the English colonists had penetrated the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus, threatening French monopoly in the transmontane region, and a conflict became inevitable. Making common cause against the French to determine the control of the Ohio valley, the unsuspected strength of the colonists was revealed, and the successful ending of the French and Indian War extended England's territory to the Mississippi. To this strength the geographic isolation enforced by the Appalachian mountains had been a prime contributor. The confinement of the colonies between an ocean and a mountain wall led to the fullest occupation of the coastal border of the continent, which was possible under existing conditions of agriculture, conducing to a community of purpose, a political and commercial solidarity, which would not otherwise have been developed. As early as 1700 it was possible to ride from Portland, Maine, to southern Virginia, sleeping each night at some considerable village. In contrast to this complete industrial occupation, the French territory was held by a small and very scattered population, its extent and openness adding materially to the difficulties of a disputed tenure. Bearing the brunt of this contest as they did, the colonies were undergoing preparation for the subsequent struggle with the home government. Unsupported by shipping, the American armies fought toward the sea with the mountains at their back protecting them against Indians leagued with the British. The few settlements beyond the Great Valley were free for self-defence because debarred from general participation in the conflict by reason of their position.

Name pronunciation and origin

The primary standard pronunciation of the range is with a long-A, as "app-uh-LAY-chan". The alternative pronunciation, with a short-A, "app-uh-LATCH-an" is often used east of the range in the Piedmont region, such as in North Carolina. The short-A pronunciation is used for Appalachian State University of Boone, North Carolina. It turns out that the short-A version, used by a minority, is arguably the correct way to say it. When the Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were exploring the Florida coast in 1528, they found a Native American town which they transliterated as Apalachen (ah-pah-LAH-chen). This name and its short-A pronunciation were applied to a nearby body of water, now spelled Apalachee Bay, to the Apalachicola River and the Apalachicola Bay, and to the city known as Apalachicola, Florida. The word "Apalachen" was also applied to an inland mountain range, and through the course of time it became applied to the entire range and its spelling was changed. Although the long-A pronunciation for the mountain range is standard, it is at odds with its origin.

See also


- Appalachian Trail
- Appalachia
- International Appalachian Trail
- Appalachian Mountain Club

References


- Topographic maps and Geologic Folios of the United States Geological Survey
- Bailey Willis, "The Northern Appalachians," and C. W. Hayes, "The Southern Appalachians," both in National Geographic Monographs, vol. i.
- chaps, iii., iv. and v. of Miss E. C. Semple's American History and its Geographic Conditions (Boston, 1903).
-

Further reading


- Weidensaul, Scott.; 2000, Mountains of the Heart: A Natural History of the Appalachians, Fulcrum Publishing, 288 pages, ISBN 1555911390 Category:Mountain ranges of Canada Category:Mountain ranges of the United States Category:Appalachian culture Category:Mountain ranges of Maine Category:Mountain ranges of New Hampshire Category:Mountain ranges of Vermont Category:Mountain ranges of Massachusetts Category:Mountain ranges of New York Category:Mountain ranges of New Jersey Category:Mountain ranges of Pennsylvania Category:Mountain ranges of Maryland Category:Mountain ranges of West Virginia Category:Mountain ranges of Virginia Category:Mountain ranges of Kentucky Category:Mountain ranges of North Carolina ja:アパラチア山脈

Tax

A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e.g., tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). Taxes could also be imposed by a subnational entity. Taxes may be part of a direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as corvée labor. In modern, capitalist taxation systems, taxes are levied in money, but in-kind and corvée taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents. The means of taxation, and the uses to which the funds raised through taxation should be put, are a matter of hot dispute in politics and economics, so discussions of taxation are frequently tendentious. Public finance is the field of political science / economics that deals with taxation.

A history of taxation

Political authority has been used to raise capital throughout history. In many pre-monetary societies, such as the Incan empire, taxes were owed in labor (see Mita). Taxation in labour was the basis of the Feudal system in medieval Europe. King Solomon of the Old Testament pointed to the need for taxes to be applied for civil purposes (1 Kings 4:7; 9:15; 12:4), and these amounts were increased during times of foreign occupation. In more sophisticated economies such as the Roman Empire, tax farming developed, as the central powers could not practically enforce their tax policy across a wide realm. The tax farmers were obligated to raise large sums for the government, but were allowed to keep whatever else they raised. Many Christians have understood the New Testament to support the payment of taxes, through Jesus's words "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's". It is even recognized as a duty whether as a "telos" on merchandise or travelers ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2017:25;&version=31 Matthew 17:25]), an annual "phoros" on property tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Luke%2020:22;23:2;&version=31 Luke 20:22;23:2]), a "kensos" or poll tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:17;&version=31 Matthew 22:17], [http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Mark%2012:14;&version=31 Mark 12:14]), or the tribute money of a temple-tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2017:24-27;&version=31 Matthew 17:24-27]). Other Christians, such as Christian anarchists, hold a contrary interpretation. There were certain times in the Middle Ages where the governments did not explicitly tax, since they were self supporting, owning their own land and creating their own products. The appearance of doing without taxes was however illusory, since the government's (usually the Crown's) independent income sources depended on labour enforced under the feudal system, which is a tax exacted in kind. Many taxes were originally introduced to fund wars and are still in place today, such as those raised by the American government during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the telephone tax instigated at the start of World War I (War Tax Revenue Act of 1914). Income tax was first introduced into Britain in 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars and into Canada in 1917 as a "temporary" tax under the Income War Tax Act to cover government expenses resulting from World War I. The current income tax in America was set up by Woodrow Wilson in 1913. It was called The Federal Income Tax and was deducted from incomes at rates varying from 1-7%. But, since then, the American Tax Code has been modified and new taxes have been added, especially over