Editing Act of Consolidation of 1854 (section)

== Consequences ==

The Act of Consolidation transformed Philadelphia in ways that continue to shape the city today. The consolidated municipality was briefly the largest city by area in the United States, though its population did not immediately match its territory. The inclusion of largely rural areas in the northern and western portions of the county meant that Philadelphia's municipal boundaries encompassed farmland, forests, and tiny villages alongside the dense urban core—a characteristic that persists today in the city's more suburban-feeling neighborhoods. The consolidation created a city of extraordinary diversity, incorporating communities with distinct ethnic, religious, and economic characteristics that retained their identities even within the larger municipal framework.<ref name="warner"/>

The political consequences were significant. The consolidated city shifted power away from the old commercial elite toward a broader electorate that included working-class voters from the absorbed districts. The Republican Party, newly formed in the mid-1850s, quickly established dominance in the consolidated city and maintained control through the political machine that would characterize Philadelphia politics for nearly a century. Consolidation also established the unusual arrangement that persists today: Philadelphia is coterminous with Philadelphia County, making them effectively the same governmental entity. This arrangement has both advantages (simplified governance, no city-county conflicts) and disadvantages (no suburban tax base, limited ability to annex growing areas). The Act of Consolidation created the Philadelphia we know today—a vast, diverse city whose neighborhoods often feel like separate communities, reflecting the independent municipalities they once were.<ref name="weigley"/>