 <unk> by the 42nd parallel north and 39th parallel north , Pennsylvania was bordered by the Delaware River and the colonies of New York , Maryland , and New Jersey . In <unk> , Dutch land given to Penn by the Duke of York was separated and once again became part of the Delaware Colony . From 1692 to 1694 , revolution in England deprived Penn of the governance of his colony . The Pennsylvania Assembly took this opportunity to request expanded power for elected officials , led by David Lloyd . Upon visiting the colony in 1669 and 1701 , Penn eventually agreed to allow their Charter of <unk> to be added to the constitution . When the British banned western expansion in 1764 , fighting among colonists and against the natives swelled . In 1773 , Arthur St. Clair ordered the arrest of a <unk> officer who was commanding troops against armed settlers loyal to Pennsylvania . Pennsylvanian revolutionary sentiment continued to grow , and Philadelphia , the largest city in America , soon became the meeting place of the Continental Congress . The publication of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 by locally elected revolutionaries concluded the history of the Colony , and began the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . 
