The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was the second state, after Delaware, to ratify the Constitution of the United States and become a state on December 12, 1787. Philadelphia was the temporary seat of the federal government almost continuously from 1776 to 1790, when Washington DC became the capital.

William Penn established the Pennsylvania colony in 1682 and named it in honor of his father, Admiral Sir William Penn.In Dutch, Pennsylvania translate to “Penn's Woodland.”