The founding of Pennsylvania
In 1677, a group of prominent Quakers that included Penn received the colonial province of West New Jersey (half of the current state of
New Jersey). That same year, two hundred settlers from the towns of
Chorleywood and
Rickmansworth in
Hertfordshire and other towns in nearby
Buckinghamshire arrived, and founded the town of
Burlington. Penn, who was involved in the project but himself remained in
England, drafted a
charter of liberties for the settlement. He guaranteed free and fair
trial by jury, freedom of religion, freedom from unjust imprisonment and free elections.
King Charles II of England had a large loan from Penn's father, after whose death, King Charles settled by granting Penn a large area west and south of New Jersey on
March 4, 1681. Penn called the area
Sylvania (Latin for
woods), which Charles changed to
Pennsylvania in honor of the elder Penn. Perhaps the king was glad to have a place where religious and political outsiders (like the Quakers, or the Whigs, who wanted more influence for the people's representatives) could have their own place, far away from England. One of the first counties of Pennsylvania was called
Bucks County, named after Buckinghamshire (Bucks) in England, the Penn family seat and original home of many of the first settlers.
Although Penn's authority over the colony was officially subject only to that of the king, through his
Frame of Government he implemented a democratic system with full freedom of religion, fair trials, elected representatives of the people in power, and a
separation of powers— ideas that would later form the basis of the American constitution. The freedom of religion in Pennsylvania (complete freedom of religion for everybody who believed in God) brought not only English, Welsh, German and Dutch Quakers to the colony, but also
Huguenots (French
Protestants), Mennonites, Amish,
Lutherans from Catholic German states, and
Jews. His ideas were later studied by
Benjamin Franklin as well as the pamphleteer of the
American Revolution, Thomas Paine, whose father was a Quaker. Among Penn's legacies is the unwillingness to force a Quaker majority upon Pennsylvania; he may have wished it but his officials (including in the first Provincial Assembly) were representative of the Dutch, German, Finnish and Swede settlers as much as of the members of the Society of Friends (Quakers).
Penn had hoped that Pennsylvania would be a profitable venture for himself and his family. Penn marketed the colony throughout Europe in various languages and, as a result, settlers flocked to Pennsylvania. Despite Pennsylvania's rapid growth and diversity, the colony never turned a profit for Penn or his family. In fact, Penn would later be imprisoned in England for debt and, at the time of his death in 1718, he was penniless.
From 1682 to 1684 Penn lived in the Province of Pennsylvania. Penn designed
Philadelphia ("Brotherly Love") and conceived of it as a "greene Country Towne". His design for the city was in a rectangular grid with large lots, dividing the city into four quadrants. After the building plans for the city had been completed, and Penn's political ideas had been put into a workable form, Penn explored the interior. He befriended the local Indians (primarily of the Lenni
Lenape, which Europeans referred to as the 'Delaware' tribe), and ensured that they were paid fairly for their lands. Penn even learned several different Indian dialects in order to communicate in negotiations without interpreters. Penn introduced laws saying that if a European did an Indian wrong, there would be a fair trial, with an equal number of people from both groups deciding the matter. His measures in this matter proved successful: even though later colonists did not treat the Indians as fairly as Penn and his first group of colonists had done, colonists and Indians remained at
peace in Pennsylvania much longer than in the other English colonies.
Penn began construction of
Pennsbury Manor, his intended country estate in
Bucks County on the right bank of the
Delaware River, in 1683.
Penn also made a treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon (near Kensington in Philadelphia) under an elm tree. Penn chose to acquire lands for his colony through business rather than conquest. He paid the Indians 1200 pounds for their land under the treaty, an amount considered fair.
Voltaire praised this "Great Treaty" as "the only treaty between those people [Indians and Europeans] that was not ratified by an oath, and that was never infringed." Many regard the Great Treaty as a myth that sprung up around Penn. However, the story has had enduring power. The event has taken iconic status and is commemorated in a frieze on the
United States Capitol (see image at right).
Penn visited America once more, in 1699. In those years, he put forward a plan to make a federation of all English colonies in America. There have been claims that he also fought
slavery, but that seems unlikely, as he owned and even traded slaves himself. However, he did promote good treatment for slaves, and other Pennsylvania Quakers were among the earliest fighters against slavery.
Penn had wished to settle in Philadelphia himself, but financial problems forced him back to England in 1701. His financial advisor, Philip Ford, had cheated him out of thousands of pounds, and he had nearly lost Pennsylvania through Ford's machinations. The next decade of Penn's life was mainly filled with various court cases against Ford. He tried to sell Pennsylvania back to the English Crown, but, while the deal was still being discussed, Penn suffered a
stroke, in 1712, after which he was unable to speak or take care of himself.
Penn died, in 1718, at his home in
Ruscombe, near
Twyford in
Berkshire, and was buried next to his first wife in the cemetery of the
Jordans Quaker meeting house near
Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire in England.
His family retained ownership of the colony of Pennsylvania until the
American Revolution.
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