The Pennsylvania Revolution This piece was specially
commissioned in 1989 from Dr. Roland M. Baumann, an acknowledged
authority on early Pennsylvania political history. by Dr. Roland
M. Baumann, Oberlin College Pennsylvania's many contributions to
the American Revolution are well known.1 Less well known is that
the Revolution was different and, perhaps, more complicated in
Pennsylvania than in many other states. Pennsylvania's political
traditions — Particularly its proprietary government and its
Quaker-dominated assembly — insulated the colony from other
colonial spokespersons. This explains why in the weeks right
before the signing of the Declaration of Independence the colony
was so seriously divided over the extent of resistance to
Britain and the question of separation. Comments abounded that
politics were in a state of flux. "Our affairs have been in such
a fluctuating and disordered situation," Continental Congressman
James Wilson reported to Brigadier-General William Thompson,
"that it has been almost