William Penn
Penn, William (1644–1718), an English Quaker and the founder of Pennsylvania. He spent his life working for religious tolerance and civil liberties in England, and put his theories into practice in his American colony. Penn was noted also for his honorable dealings with the Indians. He made treaties with them on the fairest possible terms, and never broke his word.
Early LifeWilliam Penn was the son of Admiral Sir William Penn, who served both in the Commonwealth (1649–60) and under the Stuarts upon their restoration. Young Penn was first influenced by Puritan doctrine in 1660 at Oxford University, where he became acquainted with the Society of Friends (Quakers). After the Anglican Church had been reestablished as the state religion, Penn was expelled for nonconformity. His father was not sympathetic to his dissenting views, and sent him to travel on the Continent.
In 1665–66 Penn studied law in London, and then was sent to Ireland to manage his father's estate. There he became completely converted to the Quaker faith, and was imprisoned for defying the law by participating in a Quaker worship service. Returned to London, he began preaching and writing Quaker doctrine. In Sandy Foundation Shaken (1668) he assailed orthodox views so offensively that he was committed to the Tower of London. While there he wrote his most popular book, No Cross, No Crown (1669), in which he eloquently set forth Quaker beliefs.
Through his father's intercession with the Duke of York, Penn was released. His writing now took on a political flavor, as he pleaded for civil liberties, including religious freedom. He was briefly imprisoned again, but continued to preach and to combat persecution of Quakers.
Colonizing In AmericaIn 1674 English Quakers obtained rights to the western part of New Jersey, which became a separate colony in 1676 when New Jersey was divided into East Jersey and West Jersey. Penn, a trustee for West Jersey, was largely responsible for its charter, adopted in 1677, which gave it the most liberal government known to that time. In 1670 Penn inherited a large monetary claim against the monarchy for loans his father had made to the king. Wishing to establish additional Quaker refuges, Penn asked that the debt be resolved by granting him proprietorship of the area west of the Jerseys. Charles II made this grant in 1681, and named the colony Pennsylvania for Penn's father. Penn was also a member of the Quaker group that purchased East Jersey in 1682.
The Frame of Government, the constitution drawn up by Penn for Pennsylvania, emphasized religious and political freedom. Settlers came from the British Isles and the Continent. In 1682 the Duke of York deeded to Penn the area that was later Delaware, and this was added to Pennsylvania. Penn arrived in his new colony in 1682. He supervised the laying out of the capital, Philadelphia, and negotiated with the Indians for the purchase of land. Penn returned to England in 1684 to resolve a dispute with Lord Baltimore over the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.
Critical YearsIn 1685 Penn's old friend the Duke of York succeeded to the throne as James II. Using his influence with the king, Penn gained the release from prison of many Quakers. However, his close friendship with the Catholic king aroused suspicion against him. When James was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Penn was in a precarious situation. Several times he had to answer accusations of treason, and in 1692 he was deprived of his governorship of Pennsylvania.
The following year Penn published a book of religious maxims, Some Fruits of Solitude , and an essay on peace in which he suggested the establishment of an international parliament. Finally cleared of the charges against him, he was restored to his governorship. In 1697 he presented to the London Board of Trade a plan for uniting the American colonies.
Later ActivitiesIn 1699 Penn returned to America. He renewed his old treaties with the Indians and made new ones. In 1701 he helped prepare the Charter of Privileges, a revised constitution for Pennsylvania under which the colony was governed until the American Revolution. In 1701 the English Parliament moved to take over all privately held American colonies, and Penn returned to England to protect his proprietorship.
His final years, spent in England, were troubled. For a time he was confined in debtors' prison. In 1712, while preparing to transfer his colony to the British government, he suffered a disabling stroke. Upon his death the proprietorship of Pennsylvania passed to his widow and then to his sons.
In 1984, honorary citizenship was conferred upon Penn and his wife, Hannah, by the United States.