Pennsylvania: A Place Marked by Democracy
While studying American communities, I think a lot about the characters of places — how formative is this uniqueness, and how can we contribute to progress where we live?
During the pandemic, I moved back to my bucolic hometown of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a place known for its pioneers, activists, and creatives, like Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein, and Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Pearl S. Buck and James Michener.
Lately, polarizing politics has put my part of the world out front. Journalists and pundits are saying the future of American democracy rests with what happens in Pennsylvania this election season. That may be true. Many times, southeastern Pennsylvania has been the fork in the road — and fertile ground for progress in America. It’s where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed and where the capital of the United States once was.
Democracy’s pillars — liberty and equality — are deeply rooted in Pennsylvania, and in Bucks County specifically. Going back to 1681, William Penn, an English Quaker leader persecuted for his beliefs, established Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers and other religious minorities to practice their religions freely. For a time, the Penn family lived along the Delaware River in Falls Township, Bucks County.
Quaker values, like community and equality, still run deep in this Philadelphia exurb. The metro area is home to many Quaker schools and meeting houses dating back more than a century…or three. In 1689, Penn issued the first charter of a Quaker school — William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia is still thriving today. My Quaker high school in Bucks County graduated former NAACP leader Julian Bond and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, among other trailblazers.
I grew up surrounded by signs of liberty, most notably Washington’s Crossing, a seminal point in the American Revolution. At this spot on Christmas Day in 1776, General George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River to New Jersey and launched a surprise attack on the German Hessians fighting for the British. This Christmas will mark the 70th annual reenactment at Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County.
Several Bucks County towns — Bensalem, Bristol, Buckingham, Langhorne, New Hope, Newtown, Quakertown, and Yardley — were pivotal stops on the Underground Railroad during the 18th and 19th centuries. Young Harriet Tubman found her freedom in nearby Philadelphia, and 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of her birth.
In their new book The Flag and the Cross, author-sociologists Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry pay tribute to the Commonwealth’s history. They single out three prominent Pennsylvanians who hated slavery: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Benjamin Rush. Beyond these leaders, the authors portray Pennsylvania as a hopeful model of democratic governance in America. The two write: "What Roger Williams's Providence Colony had been to the 17th century, William Penn's Colony had been to the 18th: an early experiment in multiracial, multireligious democracy.”
All places reflect the values of longtime residents and newcomers. The pandemic has prompted many of us to migrate and establish homes in different places. Consider the character of the place where you live now. Where are the inclusionary points? How can you use them to help your community flourish now and tomorrow?