William Penn: Quaker Father of Pennsylvania
William Penn (1644-1718) of Pennsylvania was the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, established for religious freedom and just law, and the City of Philadelphia, and instituted a peace policy with Indian tribes in the region. He also introduced a plan for a united states of Europe.
William Penn: Quaker Father of Pennsylvania
William Penn (1644-1718) of Pennsylvania was the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, established for religious freedom and just law, and the City of Philadelphia, and instituted a peace policy with Indian tribes in the region. He also introduced a plan for a united states of Europe.
Born an Anglican in London, Penn joined the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, at age 22, and became good friends with Quaker founder George Fox. Penn's criticism of the Holy Trinity landed him in the Tower of London in 1668, and upon his release eight months later was arrested again, this time for speaking at a Quaker gathering.
A group of Quakers including Penn had a chance to form their own free territory in the New World by royal charter, and Penn drafted the Frame of Government in 1681. "Wherefore governments rather depend upon men, than men upon governments," it stated. "Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it." The document promised spiritual freedom, fair trials and a separation of powers for the new province. Charles II, who was glad to see the troublesome sect's followers leave England (and who also owed the Penns £16,000), dubbed the territory "Pennsylvania," in honor of Penn's father, a famous admiral. Pennsylvania was a "holy experiment" founded as a safe haven for all Christian minorities. "True spiritual liberty is one of the most glorious things in the world, but it is little understood and frequently abused by many," Penn wrote. "I beseech Almighty God to preserve you, His people, in the right knowledge and use of the liberty, which Jesus Christ is redeeming us into."
The province swelled with European settlers, but Pennsylvania never became profitable, as Penn had hoped. However, while Penn was in the New World from 1682-1684, he laid the groundwork for Philadelphia and built a positive rapport with local Indian tribes, including the 1682 "Great Treaty" with the Shackamaxon to fairly purchase Indian lands to settle rather than conquer them. Unfortunately, Penn's successors would treat the Indians much less justly.
In 1691, Penn was the first person to propose the idea of a European union of states to promote peace, or, as he called it, a "European Dyet, Parliament, or Estates." He returned to Pennsylvania in 1699 in an attempt to form a federation of all the American colonies. Although a slave owner, Penn always promoted humane treatment of slaves. Cheated out of his family's fortune in England and consumed with litigation to win it back, Penn died penniless after years of poor health caused by a stroke.
Voltaire wrote, "William Penn might, with reason, boast of having brought down upon earth the Golden Age, which in all probability, never had any real existence but in his dominions."
Penn became a United States citizen by presidential proclamation in 1984, a bronze statue of him sits atop City Hall in Philadelphia, and a sculptural fresco commemorating the "Great Treaty" can be seen in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
"Forgotten Founding Fathers" is a weekly series updated Saturdays on the lesser-known contributors to the Revolution and the seeds of American liberty. Click on the "forgotten founding fathers" tag for the whole series!