Welcome to the site of The Biographical Dictionary of Pennsylvania Legislators. We are an independent historical research project based at Temple University.   Our books offer a wealth of information for historians, genealogists, and other students of Pennsylvania's history.  We hope that you enjoy visiting our site.

Read about the Biographical Dictionary Project in the Monday, April 2, 2007, edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review! "Lawmaking and Legislators is the great toolbox of historians of colonial Pennsylvania.  It is a resource without any serious rival in the literature on colonial America and a monument to what may be accomplished through the collaboration of historians and institutions. . . . Priced at only $60, it is the greatest bargain in American historical writing." Jack Marietta, from Quaker History, (Spring 2007, forthcoming) Purchase your copy of Lawmaking and Legislators today!

   The Biographical Dictionary of Pennsylvania Legislators

   located at Temple University is proud to announce the

   publication of Volume Three of Lawmaking and Legislators

   in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary.

   This volume covers the Assembly terms from 1757

   through 1775, a period that witnessed the French and

   Indian War, the expansion of Pennsylvania with the

   addition of Bedford, Northumberland, and Westmoreland counties, the Stamp Act crisis, the development of extra-legal committees, the creation of county militias, and the eventual overthrow of the colonial government.  The legislators represent a wide variety of ethnic, religious, and occupational groups.

Among the legislators who are profiled in this volume are:

• 4 signers of the Declaration of Independence: Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Ross, and George Taylor.

• Numerous significant military figures including John Armstrong, James Ewing, Samuel Miles, James Potter, Daniel Roberdeau, and William Thompson.

 

• Prominent Loyalists: Andrew Allen, Joseph Galloway, James Rankin, and Samuel Shoemaker.

 

• Many notable civic leaders including Michael Hillegas, Henry Keppele, James Pemberton, David Rittenhouse, Samuel Rhoads, John Sellers, and David Twining.

 

To order your copy of Volume Three for only $60 please contact:

Penn State Press

1-800-326-9180

 

Volumes One and Two are still available from Boston Book Warehouse at (252)-478-6300. 

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