Early American Literature

Through a series of twelve short biographies, C. Dallett Hemphill's posthumously published book explores the lives of twelve Philadelphians who called the city home in the years between the late colonial period and the Civil War. Home to several significant heritage sites such as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, Philadelphia figures prominently in early American history, and its historic sites continue to draw visitors. William Penn's vision of a rectangular grid imposed on the site extending west from the Delaware River toward the Schuylkill River remains intact today and has earned Philadelphia a place among the most walkable cities in the United States. Many well-known historical events unfolded in the nine square blocks bounded by Vine, Cedar, Front, and Ninth Streets. Hemphill's book takes readers into these streets and its famous landmarks, going beyond Philadelphia's most-storied citizens to examine the lives of twelve of its lesser-known residents. What these stories reveal is the importance of networks to Philadelphia and the lives of its people. As much as the city's population expanded rapidly in this period, Hemphill reminds readers that "it remained a small town by today's standards, a place where inhabitants and visitors mostly encountered each other face-to-face" (3). These twelve biographies reveal the extent of the overlapping circles—social circles, religious circles, business circles, political circles—that shaped people and their places in Philadelphia.

As famous as Philadelphia's individual Founding Fathers, scientists, or artists of this period were, this was not a city of individuals living their lives in isolation. Hemphill contends that Philadelphians lived "enmeshed in groups, and traveling among the tight clusters of houses and public buildings plotted on the maps presented" throughout the book (3). These enmeshed networks made Philadelphia more than a city or what Benedict Anderson called an "imagined community" (Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism [Verso, 2016]). "When we look at life on the streets and in the homes of Philadelphia," Hemphill [End Page 759] maintains, "we can see that Philadelphia operated as a real community, as a web of personal relationships" (149). While the networks overlapped, the chapters clearly show the centrality of the household and the family at the center of each network. The private stories behind the public personas of the book's twelve subjects are central to its methodology. The stories are not all laudatory, despite the many accomplishments of Hemphill's subjects. As Hemphill insists, "To tell stories of domestic relations and personal shortcomings is not to degrade people, but to humanize them. These stories are what we all have in common, can relate to, and can learn from" (4).

Hemphill selected her twelve characters "because each is the subject of good stories that illustrate important aspects of America's political, social, economic, religious, and cultural history between the Revolutionary and Civil War eras. And each can be connected to visitable neighborhoods and spaces charted on [the book's] maps of Philadelphia and environs" (8). They are organized chronologically in each of the book's four parts. Part I, "For the Love of God: Three Colonial Men of Faith," presents the stories of Quaker Anthony Benezet (1713–84), Lutheran Henry Muhlenberg (1711–87), and Anglican/Episcopalian William White (1748–1836) whose lives show "how people built networks across religious and ethnic boundaries to create movements for civic progress" (11). In part II, "Declaring Independence: Three Revolutionary Wives," readers are introduced to Grace Growden Galloway (1727–82), Anne Shippen Livingston (1764–1841), and Deborah Norris Logan (1761–1839), whose lived experiences "drive home an important truth: The American Revolution was incomplete, even for elite white women" (81). The figure of the "self-made man" figures prominently in American archetypes, beginning with Benjamin Franklin, one of Philadelphia's most famous success stories. Because Franklin crafted his image as much as he made his fortune, part III, "Striving...