You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution.

This week episode 235 Fort Wilson.

Philadelphia in 1779 was feeling the ravages of war.

A year after the British occupation had ended, locals were still struggling to clean up the city. The economy was still in a state of collapse.

Militia were sick of being called out continually for one action after another.

Goods were scarce and the poor were starving. I've covered

some of the divisions in Philadelphia between the radical Patriots who pushed

through the new Constitution in 1776 and the more moderate patriots who were reluctant to declare independence.

See episode 97. Over the next three years, the divisions continued to keep Philadelphia in separate camps.

Following the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1777 and 78

the radicals pushed for more punishment against collaborators who would work with the

British during the occupation.

To the radicals, these people were either loyalists or simply greedy enough to throw the Patriot cause under the bus if it served their personal interests.

After getting over the initial phase of wanting to hang all of these people, the radicals turned to the idea that the radical's

turned to the idea that many of these rich people needed to fork

over their wealth in order to support the war effort.

Traditionally, Quakers had controlled Pennsylvania.

The Patriots, however, had pushed out this group due to their loyalist nature and refusal to support the war.

Even so, many Patriot leaders, men like James Wilson or Robert Morris, both reluctant

signers of the Declaration of Independence, did not want the state to dissolve into what they saw as chaos and

anarchy as power in the state transitioned. These wealthier and more

conservative patriots formed the Republican Society in January of 1779.

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