In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

Quaker upbringing. Known as the “Fighting
Quaker,” he later supplied the Continental
Army with cloth, dye, and other materials
during its historic encampment at Valley
Forge, just outside Philadelphia.
In February 1776 the Second Continental
Congress, meeting again in Philadelphia,
appointed a committee “to contract for the
making of muskets and bayonets for the use
of the United Colonies, and to consider of
farther ways and means of promoting and
encouraging the manufacture of fire arms in
all parts of the United Colonies.” Five months
later, in July 1776, the Congress adopted the
Declaration of Independence, severing ties
with England once and for all and further
heightening the need for local manufacturing.
Some 4,000 Philadelphia-area women made
textiles in their homes in the summer of
1776 in support of the war effort. Among
them was former upholsterer’s apprentice
Betsy Ross, who would become America’s
most famous seamstress. She may or may not
have actually made the first American flag,
but her home and shop on Arch Street in
Old City is widely celebrated for this reason.
Other manufacturers stepped up production
in support of the war effort as well, from
iron forges to tent and wagon makers. The
defunct Bonnin & Morris porcelain factory
was converted to a foundry for casting brass
cannons. Philadelphia’s renowned shipyards
were particularly busy, converting existing
merchant ships for military use or building
new armed vessels for the fledgling
Continental and Pennsylvania navies that
were created in 1775. (Both the U.S. Navy
and the Marine Corps were founded in
Philadelphia at this time.) The Pennsylvania
Assembly appointed a Committee for Safety
and Defense, from which a subcommittee for
“Construction of Boats and Machines” was
formed. The subcommittee was headed by
several prominent Philadelphia shipbuilders
who organized an accelerated program of
building fighting vessels on the Delaware
River. Veteran Kensington shipbuilder
Emanuel Eyre made gun boats, while young
Philadelphia ship builder Joshua Humphreys
gained valuable experience designing and
building military vessels at this time. Another
young Philadelphian in the maritime trades,
James Forten, son of a free African American
sailmaker, gained experience during the
War that he would later use in running his
successful sail making business.
All of this manufacturing activity came
to a grinding halt in September 1777 as
the British army approached to occupy
Philadelphia, the colonial capital. Local
artisans and manufacturers were among the
thousands of residents who fled the city in
advance of the occupation, taking what
equipment and supplies they could and
destroying the rest so the British could not
make use of them. Several vessels under
construction in the city’s ship yards were
sunk or burned as well. The British stayed for
almost nine months and when they left in
June 1778 they returned the favor, destroying
materials and burning ships. The artisans and
manufacturers who returned to Philadelphia
along with the other evacuees in mid-1778
came back to a largely decimated city and
had to rebuild their industries.
The end of the Revolutionary War in 1782
brought victory for the American cause,
but also a severe economic downturn as
wartime manufacturing activities ceased and
a backlog of European-made goods flooded
American markets. Compounding the situation
was the ineffectiveness of the federal
government under the new nation’s first
constitution, the Articles of Confederation. It
was a difficult time for local manufacturers,
but the post-war economic upheavals
eventually subsided and industry began to
grow again in Philadelphia. When the
new U.S. Constitution was adopted in
Philadelphia in the fall of 1787, the nation
finally had a stable and effective government
and was poised for major growth. The
ensuing years would witness the beginning
of the Industrial Revolution in America and
the United States’ rise as a manufacturing
giant, with Philadelphia as one of its chief
industrial centers.
@
Opposite: Notices in the January 2, 1750
edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette
(published by Benjamin Franklin) of
ship arrivals and departures between
Philadelphia and its two main trading
partners, England and the Caribbean.
Most finished goods were imported rather
than made locally in the colonial period.
Imported items listed for sale in these 1750
notices include clothing, textiles, kitchen
ware, tools, and other products.
NEWSPAPER COLLECTION, HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Above: Wetherill & Brothers’ White Lead
Manufactory & Chemical Works. Corner
of 12th and Cherry Streets, Philadelphia,
1831. White lead was the primary
ingredient in paint in early America and
paint manufacturers were often called
“white lead works.” Samuel Wetherill began
making pigments and dyes in the 1760s and
the company he founded remained a familyowned
Philadelphia firm into the 1930s.
LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA.
Below: A notice of a “Plan of an American
Manufactory” was published in the
March 6, 1775 Pennsylvania Packet.
In introducing the plan, the subscribers state
that “As the establishing of manufactories
among ourselves must undoubtedly be of
great advantage to the public, it is hoped
that every friend to his country will
endeavor to promote the following plan.”
NEWSPAPER COLLECTION, HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF PENNSYLVANIA.
CHAPTER TWO
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