Additional resources for this issue of History Now Philadelphia New York City New Orleans San Antonio Detroit San Francisco

Books:

Recent general histories of Philadelphia and its special, iconic place in American history include:

Nash, Gary B. First City: Philadelphia and the Forging of Historical Memory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c2002.

Weigley, Russell F., et al., eds. Philadelphia: A 300 Year History. New York: W.W. Norton, c1982.

These authors examine the American Revolution as a struggle of common people, not generals and Founding Fathers. The first is by Ray Raphael, author of the " Philadelphia" article in this issue of History Now:

Raphael, Ray. A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2001.

Rosswurm, Steven. Arms, Country, and Class: The Philadelphia Militia and "Lower Sort" During the American Revolution, 1775-1783. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, c1987.

You may also want to read another book by Ray Raphael. It's a thought-provoking discussion of the legends and fictions that cloud our view of the founding of the nation:

Raphael, Ray. Founding Myths: Stories that Hide Our Patriotic Past. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2004.

If you want to learn more about the rediscovery and recreation of the historical past in Philadelphia, take a look at these books:

Cotter, John L ., et al. The Buried Past: An Archaeological History of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c1992.

Colimore, Edward. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Guide to Historic Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA: Camino Books, 2003.

Your best source for more information on Tom Paine is:

Foner, Eric. Tom Paine and Revolutionary America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Philadelphia 's taverns receive their due here:

Thompson, Peter. Rum Punch & Revolution: Taverngoing & Public Life in Eighteenth- Century Philadelphia. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c1999.

The longtime director of the Library Company of Philadelphia provided this brief, graceful history of the institution:

Wolf, Edwin "At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin": A Brief History of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1731-1976. Philadelphia, PA: The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1976.

Although the following book is nearly thirty years old, it's hard to beat this introduction to the workings of the Continental Congress:

Rakove, Jack N. The Beginnings of National Politics: An Interpretive History of the Continental Congress. New York: Knopf, 1979.

And of course Carol Berkin, the editor of History Now, provides a reliable, readable history of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in this book:

Berkin, Carol. A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution. New York: Harcourt, c2002.

Websites:

It's a little easier to discuss websites here site by site rather than by topic. I'll begin by recommending some of the better pages on Wikipedia. The article on Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence" is fine – good text, good links, good downloadable images, and even a key to the people portrayed in the painting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trumbull's_Declaration_of_Independence

Entries for the Declaration, Constitution, etc., are also reliable.

Now I'll turn to websites of more local interest. The largest one, ushistory.org, is mounted by the Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia. It includes a good "Philadelphia History" segment:

http://www.ushistory.org/Philadelphia/index.html

This site also provides good topical links to subjects such as the Declaration:

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/links.htm

and Penn's Landing (the waterfront):

http://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_landing.htm

An even better source for links to Philadelphia history sites is "Philly History," a website maintained by the City of Philadelphia Department of Records:

http://www.phillyhistory.org/PhotoArchive/Links.aspx

Here you can choose from dozens of topics. Be warned, though, that they aren't of uniformly high quality. Some (like the one for the Declaration of Independence) are very good. Others are just so-so. Worse still from our point of view, many don't have any materials for teachers. A notable exception is the website for Carpenters Hall. The teaching materials provided here should be consulted by anyone whose classes will study the American Revolution.

The National Park Service's website for Independence Hall does far better for educators. The Independence Park Institute has produced a solid lesson plan on Ben Franklin:

http://www.independenceparkinstitute.com/BenjaminFranklinLessonPlans
1-29-07.pdf

They also have a lesson plan on "Daily Life and Diversity in Philadelphia":

http://www.independenceparkinstitute.com/inp/index.htm

and a Historical Archaeology lesson plan that you'll want to bookmark for any occasion when you need to discuss this topic (or the field of material culture) with your students:

http://www.independenceparkinstitute.com/ArcheologyLessonPlans
1-16-07.pdf

The websites of local Philadelphia research libraries provide valuable material as well. The Library Company of Philadelphia has a very elegant online exhibit, "Benjamin Franklin Writer and Printer":

http://www.librarycompany.org/BFWriter/

For students who want to learn more about the way that working class children of the Revolutionary Era learned a trade, try the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's page on apprenticeship in the age of Franklin:

http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=844

From Ball State University's "Electronic Field Trip Series" (mounted by Apple), there's a field trip to Independence Hall and other historic Philadelphia sites. It's a little fussy to download, but worth the trouble. There are student guides and lesson plans available here as well:

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=824

These are promising sites for younger people who want to learn more about the Revolution and the First Continental Congress. They both have excellent external links:

http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/UsaHistory/AmericanRevolution/
FirstCongress.html

http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/INDEX2.HTM

The Library of Congress's "American Memory" comes to the rescue again for students or teachers who want to delve into the documentary record of the Revolution and early republic. "A Century of Lawmaking for the New Nation" provides the full text of the Journals of the Continental Congress:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwjc.html

All twenty-six volumes of the fully annotated Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 are here:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwdg.html

Elliott's Debates in state conventions that ratified the Constitution:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwed.html

Farrand's Records of the Federal Convention:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwfr.html

As well as individual "Documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention" (a series of broadside collections and early printings of the Declaration and the Constitution):

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/

To see other printings of the Declaration and Constitution, don't forget to explore the Gilder Lehrman Collection:

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search/search_results.php?