EXHIBITION | Philadelphia’s Radical Revolution: From the Stamp Act to the Federal Constitution

May 18 – October 9, 2026

Location | Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia’s Radical Revolution

In Philadelphia, artisans and tradesmen played a central role in the Revolution, pushing aside political elites and reshaping Pennsylvania’s wartime government with a radically democratic state constitution.

During the Revolution, these patriots demanded loyalty to the American cause, forcing citizens to swear allegiance or face imprisonment, confiscation of property, or worse.

After the war, political radicals remained influential, but by the 1780s Philadelphia moved toward greater moderation. This shift shaped the city’s delegates at the Constitutional Convention as they helped balance popular power with federal checks and restraints.

The exhibition traces Philadelphia’s journey from disaffection to radicalism to moderation through pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, and prints collected during the Revolution. At its heart are the collections of Swiss-born Pierre Eugène Du Simitière and John Dickinson, offering a remarkable record of Philadelphia’s revolutionary experiment in democracy.

Pierre Eugène Du Simitière (born in Geneva, Switzerland), a Genevan-American naturalist, artist, and patriot whose work made a significant contribution to the early visual identity of the United States.

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