The City of Brotherly Love, and Beantown

September 08, 2013

Fireworks explode over the Philadelphia Museum of Art during an Independence Day celebration, July 4, 2013, in Philadelphia.

Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

Almost all American cities have nicknames. They help establish a city’s identity. They can also spread unity and pride among its citizens.

Two east coast cities -- Philadelphia and Boston -- were both important in the early history of the United States. Philadelphia is best known as “The City of Brotherly Love.”

Fireworks explode over the Philadelphia Museum of Art during an Independence Day celebration, Thursday, July 4, 2013, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In 1681, King Charles the Second, of England, gave William Penn a large amount of land to establish a colony. The king named the colony Pennsylvania in honor of Penn’s father. William Penn was a Quaker. He brought his beliefs about equality, religious freedom and brotherly love to this new land. Penn was also an expert in Latin and Greek. He established a city and named it Philadelphia, which is Greek for “brotherly love.” An ancient city called Philadelphia was also noted in Christianity’s holy book, the Bible.

Philadelphia became the social, political and geographical center of the American colonies. In the late 1700s, many events that took place in Philadelphia gave birth to the American Revolution and independence. For example, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed in the city. Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the new nation from 1790 to 1800.