In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America

Episode 4 Overview: Common Ground (1790–1838)

Episode 4 of In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America explores the fragile effort to build a multiracial democracy in the early republic. As Philadelphia becomes the nation’s capital, the city stands at the center of a bold experiment in self-government. Yet the promise of independence is tested immediately by disease, deep political division, and the unresolved meaning of equality.

In the shadow of the federal government, free Black Philadelphians assert their rights and institutions. Richard Allen founds the African Methodist Episcopal Church after facing segregation, while Black leaders such as James Forten demand protection from fugitive slave laws and fight for full citizenship. Reformers expand public education and abolitionist activism grows louder, bringing women into political life in new ways.

But the pursuit of common ground proves perilous. Anti-abolitionist mobs burn Pennsylvania Hall to the ground, and voters strip Black men of their right to vote. In a city that helped launch a revolution for liberty, the episode asks: who truly belongs in American democracy and who has the power to decide?

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