William Penn - Wikipedia

William Penn - Wikipedia
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Springett Penn (I)
English writer and religious thinker (1644–1718)
"Billy Penn" redirects here. For the magazine, see
WHYY-FM § Billy Penn
For other uses, see
William Penn (disambiguation)
William Penn
An 18th-century illustration of Penn
Born
14 October 1644
Tower Hill
, London, England
Died
10 August 1718 (aged 73)
Ruscombe
, Berkshire, England
Alma mater
Christ Church, Oxford
Occupations
Nobleman, writer, colonial proprietor of
Pennsylvania
, founder of
Philadelphia
Spouse(s)
Gulielma Penn
Hannah Margaret Callowhill
Children
17, including
William Jr.
John
Thomas
, and
Richard
Parent(s)
Admiral Sir William Penn
Margaret Jasper
Signature
William Penn
(24 October [
O.S.
14 October] 1644 – 10 August [
O.S.
30 July] 1718) was an English
writer
theologian
, religious thinker, and influential
Quaker
who founded the
Province of Pennsylvania
. An advocate of
democracy
and
religious freedom
, Penn was known for his amicable relations and successful treaties with the
Lenape
native peoples who had resided in present-day
Pennsylvania
before
European colonisation
there.
In 1681,
King Charles II
granted an area of land corresponding to the present-day
U.S. states
of Pennsylvania and
Delaware
to Penn to offset debts he owed Penn's father, the admiral and politician
Sir William Penn
. The following year, Penn left
England
and sailed up
Delaware Bay
and the
Delaware River
, where he founded
Philadelphia
on the river's western bank. Penn's Quaker government was not viewed favorably by the
Dutch
Swedish
and
settlers in what is now Delaware, and the land was also claimed by the
Calverts
, proprietors of the neighbouring
Province of Maryland
. In 1704, the three southernmost counties of the province of Pennsylvania were granted permission to form a new, semi-autonomous
Delaware Colony
As one of the earliest supporters of colonial unification, Penn wrote and urged the union of all the British colonies into what would later become the United States. The democratic principles that he included in the
West Jersey Concessions
and outlined in the
Pennsylvania Frame of Government
inspired delegates to the 1787
Constitutional Convention
in Philadelphia when they came to write the
Constitution of the United States
A man of deep religious conviction, Penn authored numerous works, exhorting believers to adhere to the spirit of
Primitive Christianity
Penn was imprisoned several times in the
Tower of London
due to his faith. His book
No Cross, No Crown
, published in 1669 while he was in jail, has become a classic of
Christian
theological literature.
Early life
edit
All Hallows-by-the Tower Church
in London, where Penn was baptized in 1644
Penn's
coat of arms
, which reads,
Arms:
Argent, on a fess sable three
bezants
of the field;
Crest:
A demi-lion rampant, collared with the fess of the arms;
Motto:
Dum clavum rectum teneam
(While holding to glory, let me hold to right)
A 1666 portrait of Penn at age 22
Penn was born on 24 October 1644 at
Tower Hill
London
, the son of
English naval
officer
Sir William Penn
, and Dutchwoman Margaret Jasper, who was widow of a Dutch sea captain and the daughter of a rich merchant from
Rotterdam
Through the Pletjes-Jasper family, Penn is also said to have been a cousin of the
Op den Graeff family
, who were important
Mennonites
in
Krefeld
and Quakers in Pennsylvania.
Admiral Penn served in the
Commonwealth
Navy during the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
and was rewarded by
Oliver Cromwell
with estates in Ireland. The lands given to Penn had been confiscated from
Irish Confederates
who had participated in the
Irish Rebellion of 1641
. Admiral Penn took part in the
restoration
of
King Charles II
and was eventually knighted and served in the
Royal Navy
. At the time of his son's birth, then-Captain Penn was twenty-three and an ambitious naval officer in charge of blockading ports held by Confederate forces.
Penn grew up during the rule of
Oliver Cromwell
, who succeeded in leading a
Puritan
rebellion against
King Charles I
; the king was beheaded when Penn was four years old.
10
Penn's father was often at sea. Young William caught
smallpox
, and lost his hair from the disease; he wore wigs for much of his life.
11
Penn's smallpox also prompted his parents to move from the suburbs to an estate in
Essex
12
The country life made a lasting impression on young Penn, and kindled in him a love of
horticulture
13
Their neighbour was the diarist
Samuel Pepys
, who was friendly at first but later secretly hostile to the Admiral, perhaps embittered in part by his failed seductions of both Penn's mother and his sister Peggy.
14
After a failed mission to the
Caribbean
, Admiral Penn and his family were exiled to his lands in
Ireland
when Penn was about 15 years old. During this time, Penn met Thomas Loe, a Quaker
missionary
who was maligned by both
Catholics
and
Protestants
. Loe was admitted to the Penn household, and during his discourses on the
Inward Light
, young Penn recalled later that "the
Lord
visited me and gave me divine Impressions of Himself."
15
A year later, Cromwell was dead, the
Royalists
were resurging, and the Penn family returned to England. The middle class aligned itself with the Royalists and Admiral Penn was sent on a secret mission to bring back exiled
Prince Charles
. For his role in restoring the monarchy, Admiral Penn was knighted and gained a powerful position as
Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty
16
Education
edit
Penn was first educated at
Chigwell School
, then by private tutors in
Ireland
, and later at
Christ Church
at the
University of Oxford
in
Oxford
17
At the time, there were no state schools and nearly all educational institutions were affiliated with the
Anglican Church
. Children from poorer families had to have a wealthy sponsor to get an education. Penn's education leaned heavily on the classical authors and "no novelties or conceited modern writers" were allowed, including
Shakespeare
18
Running
was Penn's favorite sport, and he often ran more than three miles (5 km) from his home to the school, which was cast in an Anglican model and was strict, humorless, and somber. The school's teachers had to be pillars of virtue and provide sterling examples to their pupils.
19
Penn later opposed Anglicanism on religious grounds, but he absorbed many
Puritan
behaviors, and was known later for his own serious demeanor, strict behavior, and lack of humor.
10
In 1660, Penn arrived at the University of Oxford, where he was enrolled as a gentleman scholar with an assigned servant. The student body was a volatile mix of
Cavaliers
, sober Puritans, and non-conforming
Quakers
. The new British government's discouragement of religious dissent gave the Cavaliers license to harass the minority groups. Because of his father's high position and social status, young Penn was firmly a Cavalier but his sympathies lay with the persecuted Quakers. To avoid conflict, Penn withdrew from the fray and became a reclusive scholar.
20
During this time, Penn developed his individuality and philosophy of life. He found that he was not sympathetic with either his father's martial view of the world or his mother's society-oriented sensibilities. "I had no relations that inclined to so solitary and spiritual way; I was a child alone. A child was given to musing, occasionally feeling the divine presence," he later said.
21
Penn returned home as a guest of honour at the King's lavish restoration ceremony alongside his father, who received a highly unusual royal salute for his services to
The Crown
20
Penn's father had great hopes for his son's career under the favor of the King.
Back at Oxford, Penn considered a medical career and took some dissecting classes. Rational thought began to spread into science, politics, and economics, which he took a liking to. When theologian
John Owen
was fired from his deanery, Penn and other open-minded students rallied to his side and attended seminars at the dean's house, where intellectual discussions covered the gamut of new thought.
22
Penn learned the valuable skills of forming ideas into theory, discussing theory through reasoned debate, and testing the theories in the real world.
At this time he also faced his first moral dilemma. After Owen was fired, he was again censured and students were threatened with punishment for associating with him. However, Penn stood by the dean, thereby gaining a fine and reprimand from the university.
23
The Admiral, despairing of the charges, pulled young Penn away from Oxford, hoping to distract him from the heretical influences of the university.
24
The attempt had no effect and father and son struggled to understand each other.
Back at school, the administration imposed stricter religious requirements including daily chapel attendance and required dress. Penn rebelled against enforced worship and was expelled. His father, in a rage, attacked young Penn with a cane and forced him from their home.
25
Penn's mother made peace in the family, which allowed her son to return home but she quickly concluded that both her social standing and her husband's career were being threatened by their son's behavior. So at age 18, young Penn was sent to
Paris
to get him out of view, improve his manners, and expose him to another culture.
26
In Paris, at the court of young
Louis XIV
, Penn found French manners far more refined than the coarse manners of his countrymen, but he did not like the extravagant display of wealth and privilege he saw in the French.
27
Though impressed by
Notre Dame
and the Catholic ritual, he felt uncomfortable with it. Instead, he sought out spiritual direction from French Protestant theologian
Moise Amyraut
, who invited Penn to stay with him in
Saumur
for a year.
28
The undogmatic Christian humanist talked of a tolerant, adapting view of religion which appealed to Penn, who later stated, "I never had any other religion in my life than what I felt."
29
By adapting his mentor's belief in free will, Penn felt unburdened of Puritanical guilt and rigid beliefs and was inspired to search out his own religious path.
30
Upon returning to England after two years abroad, he presented to his parents a mature, sophisticated, well mannered, modish gentleman, though Samuel Pepys noted young Penn's "vanity of the French".
31
Penn had developed a taste for fine clothes, and for the rest of his life would pay somewhat more attention to his dress than most Quakers. The Admiral had great hopes that his son then had the practical sense and the ambition necessary to succeed as an aristocrat. He had young Penn enroll in law school but soon his studies were interrupted.
With war with the
Dutch
imminent, young Penn decided to shadow his father at work and join him at sea.
32
Penn functioned as an emissary between his father and the King, then returned to his law studies. Worrying about his father in battle he wrote, "I never knew what a father was till I had wisdom enough to prize him... I pray God... that you come home secure."
33
The Admiral returned triumphantly, but London was in the grip of the
Great Plague
of 1665. Young Penn reflected on the suffering and the deaths, and the way humans reacted to the epidemic. He wrote that the scourge "gave me a deep sense of the vanity of this World, of the Irreligiousness of the Religions in it."
34
Further he observed how Quakers on errands of mercy were arrested by the police and demonized by other religions, even accused of causing the plague.
35
With his father laid low by
gout
, young Penn was sent to
Ireland
in 1666 to manage the family landholdings. While there, he became a soldier and took part in suppressing a local Irish rebellion. Swelling with pride, he had his portrait painted wearing a suit of armor, his most authentic likeness.
36
His first experience of warfare gave him the sudden idea of pursuing a military career, but the fever of battle soon wore off after his father discouraged him, "I can say nothing but advise to sobriety...I wish your youthful desires mayn't outrun your discretion."
37
While Penn was abroad, the
Great Fire of 1666
consumed central London. As with the plague, the Penn family was spared.
38
But after returning to the city, Penn was depressed by the mood of the city and his ailing father, so he went back to the family estate in Ireland to contemplate his future. The reign of King Charles had further tightened restrictions against all religious sects other than the Anglican Church, making the penalty for unauthorized worship imprisonment or deportation. The
"Five Mile Act"
prohibited dissenting teachers and preachers to come within that distance of any borough.
39
The Quakers were especially targeted and their meetings were deemed undesirable.
Career
edit
Religious conversion
edit
Despite the dangers, Penn began to attend
Quaker
meetings near
Cork
. A chance re-meeting with Thomas Loe confirmed Penn's rising attraction to
Quakerism
40
Soon Penn was arrested for attending Quaker meetings. Rather than state that he was not a Quaker and thereby avoid any charges, he publicly declared himself a member and finally joined the Quakers at the age of 22
41
In pleading his case, Penn stated that since the Quakers, unlike the Puritans, had no political agenda, they should not be subject to laws that restricted political action by minority religions and other groups.
Released from jail because of his family's rank rather than his argument, Penn was immediately recalled to London by his father. The Admiral was severely distressed by his son's actions and took the conversion as a personal affront.
42
His father's hopes that Penn's charisma and intelligence would win him favor at the court were crushed.
43
Though enraged, the Admiral tried his best to reason with his son but to no avail. His father not only feared for his own position but that his son seemed bent on a dangerous confrontation with the Crown.
44
In the end, young Penn was more determined than ever, and the Admiral felt he had no option but to order his son out of the house and to withhold his inheritance.
45
As Penn became homeless, he began to live with Quaker families.
45
Quakers were relatively strict Christians in the 17th century. They refused to bow or take off their hats to social superiors, believing all men were equal under God, a belief antithetical to an absolute monarchy that believed the monarch was divinely appointed by God. As a result, Quakers were treated as heretics because of their principles and their failure to pay tithes. They also refused to swear oaths of loyalty to the King believing that this was following the command of Jesus not to swear.
The basic ceremony of Quakerism was silent worship in a meeting house, conducted in a group.
40
There was no ritual and no professional clergy, and many Quakers disavowed the concept of
original sin
. God's communication came to each individual directly, and if so moved, the individual shared his revelations, thoughts, or opinions with the group. Penn found all these tenets to sit well with his conscience and his heart.
Penn became a close friend of
George Fox
, the founder of the Quakers, whose movement started in the 1650s during the tumult of the Cromwellian revolution. The times sprouted many new sects besides Quakers, including
Seekers
Ranters
Antinomians
Seventh Day Baptists
Soul sleepers
Adamites
Diggers
Levellers
Behmenists
Muggletonians
, and others, as the Puritans were more tolerant than the monarchy had been.
46
47
Following Oliver Cromwell's death, however, the Crown was re-established and the King responded with harassment and persecution of all religions and sects other than Anglicanism. Fox risked his life, wandering from town to town, and he attracted followers who likewise believed that the "God who made the world did not dwell in temples made with hands."
48
By abolishing the church's authority over the congregation, Fox not only extended the Protestant Reformation more radically, but he helped extend the most important principle of modern political history – the rights of the individual – upon which modern democracies were later founded.
49
Penn travelled frequently with Fox, through Europe and England. He also wrote a comprehensive, detailed explanation of Quakerism along with a testimony to the character of George Fox, in his introduction to the autobiographical
Journal of George Fox
50
In effect, Penn became the first theologian, theorist, and legal defender of Quakerism, providing its written doctrine and helping to establish its public standing.
51
Ireland (1669–1670)
edit
In 1669,
52
Penn travelled to
Ireland
to deal with his father's estates. While there, he attended many meetings and stayed with leading Quaker families. He became a great friend of William Morris, a leading Quaker figure in
Cork
, and often stayed with Morris at
Castle Salem
near
Rosscarbery
Germany (1671–1677)
edit
Between 1671 and 1677, Penn visited
Germany
on behalf of the
Quaker
faith, resulting in a
German
settlement in the
Province of Pennsylvania
that was symbolic in two ways: It was a
German
-speaking congregation, and it included religious dissenters. During the
colonial era
, Pennsylvania was the heartland for various branches of
Anabaptists
, like the
Ephrata Cloister
and the
Brethren
, and groups that later became the
Old Order Amish
and the
Old Order Mennonites
Pennsylvania quickly emerged as the home for many
Lutheran
refugees
from
Catholic
provinces, such as
Salzburg
, and for
German Catholics
, who were facing discrimination in their home country.
In
Philadelphia
Francis Daniel Pastorius
negotiated the purchase of 15,000
acres
(61
km
) from his friend William Penn, the
proprietor
of the province of Pennsylvania, and laid out the settlement of what is the present-day
Germantown
section of Philadelphia. In 1764, the
German Society of Pennsylvania
was established, which still functions to this day from its headquarters in Philadelphia.
Persecutions and imprisonments
edit
A plaque memorializing Penn's trial at
Old Bailey
; in 1688, Penn was imprisoned and held in solitary confinement in the
Tower of London
following his publication criticizing the practices of the
Catholic Church
and
Church of England
In 1668, Penn published the first of many pamphlets,
Truth Exalted: To Princes, Priests, and People
. He was a critic of all religious groups, except
Quakers
, which he saw as the only true
Christian
group at that time in England. He branded the
Catholic Church
"the
Whore of Babylon
", defied the
Church of England
, and called the
Puritans
"hypocrites and revelers in God". He lambasted all "false prophets, tithe mongers, and opposers of
perfection
".
53
Pepys thought it a "ridiculous nonsensical book" that he was "ashamed to read".
54
In 1668, after writing a follow-up tract,
The Sandy Foundation Shaken
, Penn was imprisoned in the
Tower of London
. The Bishop of London ordered that Penn be held indefinitely until he publicly recanted his written statements. The official charge was publication without a license, but the real crime was
blasphemy
, as signed in a warrant by King Charles II.
55
Placed in solitary confinement in an unheated cell and threatened with a life sentence, Penn was accused of denying the
Trinity
, though this was a misinterpretation Penn himself refuted in the essay
Innocency with her open face, presented by way of Apology for the book entitled The Sandy Foundation Shaken
, where he sought to prove the Godhead of Christ.
56
Penn said the rumor had been "maliciously insinuated" by detractors who wanted to create a bad reputation to Quakers.
57
Penn later said that what he really denied were the Catholic interpretations of this theological topic, and the use of unbiblical concepts to explain it.
58
59
60
Penn expressly confessed he believed in the Holy Three and the
divinity of Christ
61
In 1668, in a letter to the anti-Quaker minister Jonathan Clapham, Penn wrote: "Thou must not, reader, from my querying thus, conclude we do deny (as he hath falsely charged us) those glorious Three, which bear record in heaven, the Father, Word, and Spirit; neither the infinity, eternity and divinity of Jesus Christ; for that we know he is the mighty God."
62
63
Given writing materials in the hope that he would put on paper his retraction, Penn wrote another inflammatory treatise,
No Cross, No Crown
In it, Penn exhorted believers to adhere to the spirit of
Primitive Christianity
. This work was remarkable for its historical analysis and citation of 68 authors whose quotations and commentary he had committed to memory and was able to summon without any reference material at hand.
64
Penn petitioned for an audience with the King, which was denied but which led to negotiations on his behalf by one of the royal chaplains. Penn declared, "My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot: for I owe my conscience to no mortal man."
55
He was released after eight months of imprisonment.
65
Penn demonstrated no remorse for his aggressive stance and vowed to keep fighting against the wrongs of the Church and the King. For its part, the Crown continued to confiscate Quaker property and jailed thousands of Quakers. From then on, Penn's religious views effectively exiled him from English society; he was expelled from
Christ Church
, a college at the University of Oxford, for being a Quaker, and was arrested several times. In 1670, he and
William Mead
were arrested. Penn was accused of preaching before a gathering in the street, which Penn deliberately provoked to test the validity of the 1664 Conventicle Act, just
renewed in 1670
, which denied the right of assembly to "more than five persons in addition to members of the family, for any religious purpose not according to the rules of the Church of England".
66
Penn was assisted by his solicitor,
Thomas Rudyard
, an eminent London Quaker lawyer,
67
and pleaded for his right to see a copy of the charges laid against him and the laws he had supposedly broken, but the
Recorder of London
, Sir John Howel, on the bench as chief judge, refused, although this was a right guaranteed by law. Furthermore, the Recorder directed the jury to come to a verdict without hearing the defense.
68
69
Despite heavy pressure from Howel to convict Penn, the jury returned a verdict of "not guilty". When invited by the Recorder to reconsider their verdict and to select a new foreman, they refused and were sent to a cell over several nights to mull over their decision. The
Lord Mayor of London
, Sir Samuel Starling, also on the bench, then told the jury, "You shall go together and bring in another verdict, or you shall starve", and not only had Penn sent to jail in
Newgate Prison
(on a charge of contempt of court for refusing to remove his hat), but the full jury followed him, and they were additionally fined the equivalent of a year's wages each.
70
71
The members of the jury, fighting their case from prison in what became known as
Bushel's Case
, managed to win the right for all English juries to be free from the control of judges.
72
This case was one of the more important trials that shaped the concept of
jury nullification
73
and was a victory for the use of the writ of
habeas corpus
as a means of freeing those unlawfully detained.
With his father dying, Penn wanted to see him one more time and patch up their differences. But he urged his father not to pay his fine and free him, "I entreat thee not to purchase my liberty." But the Admiral refused to let the opportunity pass and he paid the fine, releasing his son.
His father had gained respect for his son's integrity and courage and told him, "Let nothing in this world tempt you to wrong your conscience."
74
The Admiral also knew that after his death young Penn would become more vulnerable in his pursuit of justice. In an act which not only secured his son's protection but also set the conditions for the founding of Pennsylvania, the Admiral wrote to the
Duke of York
, the heir to the throne.
The Duke and the King, in return for the Admiral's lifetime of service to the Crown, promised to protect young Penn and make him a royal counsellor.
75
Penn inherited a large fortune, but found himself in jail again for six months. In April 1672, after being released, he married
Gulielma Springett
following a four-year engagement filled with frequent separations. Penn remained close to home but continued writing his tracts, espousing religious tolerance and railing against discriminatory laws.
76
A minor split developed in the Quaker community between those who favored Penn's analytical formulations and those who preferred Fox's simple precepts.
77
But the persecution of Quakers had accelerated and the differences were overridden; Penn again resumed missionary work in Holland and Germany.
78
Founding of Pennsylvania
edit
Further information:
Province of Pennsylvania
The Birth of Pennsylvania
, a 1680 portrait by
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
, featuring Penn facing
King Charles II
The belt of
wampum
delivered to Penn by
Native Americans
at the signing of the
Great Treaty
in 1682
Seeing conditions deteriorating, Penn appealed directly to the King and the Duke, proposing a mass emigration of English
Quakers
. Some Quakers had already moved to North America, but the
New England
Puritans
, especially, were as hostile towards Quakers as Anglicans in England were, and some of the Quakers had been banished to the
Caribbean
79
In 1677, a group of prominent Quakers that included Penn purchased the colonial province of
West Jersey
, comprising the western half of present-day
New Jersey
80
The same year, 200 settlers from
Chorleywood
and
Rickmansworth
in
Hertfordshire
, and other towns in nearby
Buckinghamshire
arrived, and founded the town of
Burlington
. Fox made a journey to America to verify the potential of further expansion of the early Quaker settlements.
81
In 1682,
East Jersey
was also purchased by Quakers.
82
83
With the
Province of New Jersey
in place, Penn pressed his case to extend the Quaker region. Whether from personal sympathy or political expediency, to Penn's surprise, the King granted an extraordinarily generous charter which made Penn the world's largest private non-royal landowner, with over 45,000 square miles (120,000 km
).
84
: 64
Penn became the sole proprietor of a huge tract of land west of New Jersey and north of the
Province of Maryland
belonging to
Lord Baltimore
, and gained sovereign rule of the territory with all rights and privileges with the exception of the power to declare war. The land of Pennsylvania had belonged to the
Duke of York
, but he retained the
Province of New York
and the area around present-day
New Castle, Delaware
, and the eastern portion of the
Delmarva Peninsula
85
In return, one-fifth of all gold and silver mined in the province, which had virtually none, was to be remitted to the King, and the
Crown
was freed of a debt to the Admiral of £16,000, equal to roughly £2,952,623 in 2025.
86
Penn first called the area "New Wales", then "Sylvania", which is
Latin
for "forests" or "woods", which King
Charles II
changed to "Pennsylvania" in honour of the elder Penn.
87
On 4 March 1681, the King signed the charter and the following day Penn jubilantly wrote, "It is a clear and just thing, and my God who has given it to me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation."
88
Penn then travelled to America and while there, he negotiated Pennsylvania's first land-purchase survey with the tribe of the Lenape people. Penn purchased the first tract of land under a white oak tree at
Graystones
in 1682.
89
Penn drafted a
charter of liberties
for the settlement creating a political
utopia
guaranteeing free and fair
trial by jury
freedom of religion
, freedom from unjust imprisonment and free elections.
90
The first draft of the
Frame of Government of Pennsylvania
, written by Penn in England in 1681
Having proved himself an influential scholar and theoretician, Penn now had to demonstrate the practical skills of a real estate promoter, city planner, and governor for his "
Holy Experiment
", the province of Pennsylvania.
91
In addition to his religious goals, Penn had hoped that Pennsylvania would be a profitable venture for himself and his family, with the caveat that he would not exploit either the natives or the immigrants, "I would not abuse His love, nor act unworthy of His providence, and so defile what came to me clean."
92
To that end, Penn's land purchase from the Lenape included the latter party's retained right to traverse the sold lands for purposes of hunting, fishing, and gathering.
93
Though thoroughly oppressed, getting Quakers to leave England and make the dangerous journey to the
New World
was his first commercial challenge. Some Quaker families had already arrived in Maryland and New Jersey but the numbers were small. To attract settlers in large numbers, he wrote a glowing prospectus, considered honest and well-researched for the time, promising religious freedom as well as material advantage, which he marketed throughout Europe in various languages. Within six months, he parceled out 300,000 acres (1,200 km
) to over 250 prospective settlers, mostly rich London Quakers.
94
Eventually he attracted other persecuted minorities including
Huguenots
Mennonites
Amish
Catholics
Lutherans
, and
Jews
from England, France, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and Wales.
95
Penn then began establishing the legal framework for an ethical society where power was derived from the people, from "open discourse", in much the same way as a Quaker Meeting was run. Notably, as the sovereign, Penn thought it important to limit his own power as well.
96
The new government would have two houses, safeguard the rights of private property and free enterprise, and impose taxes fairly. It called for death for only two crimes, treason and murder, rather than the
two hundred crimes
under English law, and all cases were to be tried before a jury.
97
Prisons would be progressive, attempting to correct through "workshops" rather than through hellish confinement.
98
The laws of behavior he laid out were rather Puritanical: swearing, lying, and drunkenness were forbidden as well as "idle amusements" such as stage plays, gambling, revels,
masques
cock-fighting
, and
bear-baiting
99
All this was a radical departure from the laws and the lawmaking of European monarchs and elites. Over 20 drafts, Penn labored to create his "Framework of Government", with the assistance of
Thomas Rudyard
, the London Quaker lawyer who assisted Penn in his defense during the
Penn-Mead case
in 1670, and was later deputy-governor of East New Jersey.
67
He borrowed liberally from
John Locke
who later had a similar influence on
Thomas Jefferson
, but added his own revolutionary idea – the use of amendments – to enable a written framework that could evolve with the changing times.
100
He stated, "Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them."
101
Penn hoped that an amendable constitution would accommodate dissent and new ideas and also allow meaningful societal change without resorting to violent uprisings or revolution.
102
Remarkably, though the Crown reserved the right to override any law it wished, Penn's skillful stewardship did not provoke any government reaction while Penn remained in his province.
103
Despite criticism by some Quaker friends that Penn was setting himself above them by taking on this powerful position, and by his enemies who thought he was a fraud and "falsest villain upon earth", Penn was ready to begin the "Holy Experiment".
104
Bidding goodbye to his wife and children, he reminded them to "avoid pride, avarice, and luxury".
105
Under Penn's direction,
Philadelphia
was planned and developed and emerged as the largest and most influential city in the
Thirteen Colonies
. Philadelphia was planned out to be grid-like with its streets and be very easy to navigate, unlike
London
. The streets are named with numbers and tree names.
In December 1683 (Julian calendar), Penn presided over the trial of Margaret Mattson, a Swedish-Finnish settler accused of witchcraft in Chester County. The proceedings took place in Philadelphia. The jury found her guilty only of having the “common fame” of a witch, but not guilty of practicing witchcraft, which was the extent of the charge that could be legally sustained at the time. While the case has often been highlighted as an example of Penn's procedural fairness, it has also been argued that the trial functioned as a political tool, used to subjugate dissenting Swedish-Finnish settlers and to facilitate a land seizure connected to disputes over Matson family property.
106
107
Return to England
edit
Frederick S. Lamb's portrait of Penn now on display at the
Brooklyn Museum
In 1684, Penn returned to England to see his family and to try to resolve a territorial dispute with Lord Baltimore.
108
Penn did not always pay attention to details and had not taken the fairly simple step of determining where the 40th degree of latitude (the southern boundary of his land under the charter) actually was. After he sent letters to several landowners in Maryland advising the recipients that they were probably in Pennsylvania and not to pay any more taxes to Lord Baltimore, trouble arose between the two proprietors.
109
This led to an eighty-year
legal dispute
between the two families.
Political conditions at home had stiffened since Penn left. To his dismay, he found Bridewell and Newgate prisons filled with Quakers. Internal political conflicts even threatened to undo the Pennsylvania charter. Penn withheld his political writings from publication as "The times are too rough for print."
110
In 1685 King Charles died, and the Duke of York was crowned
James II
. The new king resolved the border dispute in Penn's favor. But King James, a Catholic with a largely Protestant parliament, proved a poor ruler, stubborn and inflexible.
111
Penn supported James'
Declaration of Indulgence
, which granted toleration to Quakers, and went on a "preaching tour through England to promote the King's Indulgence".
112
His proposal at the London Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in June 1688 to establish an "advisory committee that might offer counsel to individual Quakers deciding whether to take up public office" under James II was rebuffed by
George Fox
, who argued that it was "not safe to conclude such things in a Yearly Meeting".
113
Penn offered some assistance to James II's campaign to regulate the parliamentary constituencies by sending a letter to a friend in Huntingdon asking him to identify men who could be trusted to support the king's campaign for liberty of conscience.
114
Penn faced serious problems in the colonies due to his sloppy business practices. Apparently, he could not be bothered with administrative details, and his business manager, fellow Quaker Philip Ford, embezzled substantial sums from Penn's estates. Ford capitalized on Penn's habit of signing papers without reading them. One such paper turned out to be a deed transferring ownership of Pennsylvania to Ford who then demanded a rent beyond Penn's ability to pay.
Return to America
edit
Slate Roof House
in
Philadelphia
, one of two homes Penn used during his second stay in America, fell into disrepair; in 1867, it was demolished.
Pennsbury Manor
in
Tullytown, Pennsylvania
, built in 1683, Penn's home from 1699 to 1701
After agreeing to let Ford keep all his Irish rents in exchange for remaining quiet about Ford's legal title to Pennsylvania, Penn felt his situation sufficiently improved to return to Pennsylvania with the intention of staying.
115
Accompanied by his second wife Hannah, daughter Letitia and secretary
James Logan
, Penn sailed from the
Isle of Wight
on the
Canterbury
, reaching
Philadelphia
in December 1699.
116
Penn received a hearty welcome upon his arrival and found his province much changed in the intervening 18 years. Pennsylvania grew rapidly. It had nearly 18,100 inhabitants, and Philadelphia had over 3,000.
117
His tree plantings were providing the green urban spaces he had envisioned. Shops were full of imported merchandise, satisfying the wealthier citizens and proving America to be a viable market for English goods. Most importantly, religious diversity was succeeding.
118
Despite the protests of fundamentalists and farmers, Penn's insistence that Quaker grammar schools be open to all citizens was producing a relatively educated workforce. High literacy and open intellectual discourse led to Philadelphia becoming a leader in science and medicine.
119
Quakers were especially modern in their treatment of mental illness, decriminalizing insanity and turning away from punishment and confinement.
120
One attempt at prison reform, solitary confinement, was later found to be less humane than originally hoped.
121
The tolerant Penn transformed himself almost into a Puritan, in an attempt to control the fractiousness that had developed in his absence, tightening up some laws.
122
Another change was found in Penn's writings, which had mostly lost their boldness and vision. In those years, he did 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 and his writings do not support that idea. However, he promoted some policies that would seem to provide more humane treatment for slaves, including marriage among slaves, though rejected by the council. Other Pennsylvania Quakers were more outspoken and proactive, being among the earliest fighters against slavery in America, led by
Francis Daniel Pastorius
and
Abraham op den Graeff
, founders of
Germantown, Pennsylvania
. Pastorius, Op den Graeff, his brother
Derick op den Graeff
, both of whom were Penn's cousins, and
Garret Hendericks
, signed the
1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery
. Many Quakers pledged to release their slaves upon their death, including Penn, and some sold their slaves to non-Quakers.
123
The Penns lived comfortably at
Pennsbury Manor
and had all intentions of living out their lives there. They also had a residence in Philadelphia. Their only American child, John, had been born and was thriving. Penn was commuting to Philadelphia on a six-man barge, which he admitted he prized above "all dead things".
James Logan
, his secretary, kept him acquainted with all the news. Penn had plenty of time to spend with his family and still attend to affairs of state, though delegations and official visitors were frequent. His wife, however, did not enjoy life as a governor's wife and hostess and preferred the simple life she led in England. When new threats by France again put Penn's charter in jeopardy, Penn decided to return to England with his family, in 1701.
124
Later years
edit
Friends' Meeting House in
Jordans, Buckinghamshire
, where Penn is buried
Penn returned to England and immediately became embroiled in financial and family troubles. His eldest son
William Jr.
was leading a dissolute life, neglecting his wife and two children, and running up gambling debts. Penn had hoped to have William succeed him in America.
125
Now he could not even pay his son's debts. His own finances were in turmoil. He had sunk over £30,000 (equal to £5,898,872 today) in America and received little back except for some bartered goods. He had made many generous loans which he failed to press.
126
Philip Ford, Penn's financial advisor, cheated Penn out of thousands of pounds by concealing and diverting rents from Penn's
Irish
lands, claiming losses, then extracting loans from Penn to cover the shortfall. When Ford died in 1702, his widow Bridget threatened to sell Pennsylvania, to which she claimed title.
127
Penn sent William to America to manage affairs, but he proved just as unreliable as he had been in England. There were considerable discussions about scrapping his constitution.
128
In desperation, Penn tried to sell Pennsylvania to
The Crown
before Bridget Ford got wind of his plan, but by insisting that the Crown uphold the civil liberties that had been achieved, he could not strike a deal. Ford took her case to court. At age 62, Penn landed in debtors' prison; however, a rush of sympathy reduced Penn's punishment to house arrest, and Bridget Ford was finally denied her claim to Pennsylvania. A group of Quakers arranged for Ford to receive payment for back rents and Penn was released.
129
In 1712, Berkeley Codd, Esq. of
Sussex County, Delaware
disputed some of the rights of Penn's grant from the Duke of York. Some of William Penn's agents hired lawyer
Andrew Hamilton
to represent the Penn family in this
replevin
case. Hamilton's success led to an established relationship of goodwill between the Penn family and Andrew Hamilton.
130
Penn had grown weary of the politicking back in Pennsylvania and the restlessness with his governance, but Logan implored him not to forsake his colony, for fear that Pennsylvania might fall into the hands of an opportunist who would undo all the good that had been accomplished.
131
During his second attempt to sell Pennsylvania back to the Crown in 1712, Penn suffered a stroke. A second stroke several months later left him unable to speak or take care of himself. He slowly lost his memory.
125
Death
edit
In 1718, at age 73, Penn died penniless, at his home in
Ruscombe
, near
Twyford
in Berkshire, and is buried in a grave next to his first wife, Gulielma, in the cemetery of the
Jordans
Quaker meeting house near
Chalfont St Giles
in Buckinghamshire. His second wife, Hannah, as sole executor, became the de facto proprietor until she died in 1726.
132
Family
edit
Penn's second wife,
Hannah Callowhill Penn
Penn first married Gulielma Posthuma Springett (1644–1694), daughter of William S. Springett and Lady Mary Proude Penington. (The
Posthuma
in her name indicates that her father had died prior to her birth.) They had three sons and five daughters:
133
Gulielma Maria (23 January 1673 – 17 May 1673)
William and Mary (or Maria Margaret) (twins) (born February 1674 and died May 1674 and December 1674)
Springett (25 January 1675 – 10 April 1696)
Letitia (1 March 1678 – 6 April 1746), who married William Awbrey (Aubrey)
William Jr.
(14 March 1681 – 23 June 1720)
Unnamed child (born March 1683 and died April 1683)
Gulielma Maria (November 1685–November 1689)
Two years after Gulielma's death he married
Hannah Margaret Callowhill
(1671–1726), daughter of Thomas Callowhill and Anna (Hannah) Hollister. William Penn married Hannah when she was 25 and he was 52. They had nine children in twelve years:
Unnamed daughter (born and died 1697)
John Penn
(28 January 1700 – 25 October 1746), who never married
Thomas Penn
(20 March 1702 – 21 March 1775), married
Lady Juliana Fermor
, fourth daughter of
Thomas, first Earl of Pomfret
Hannah Penn (1703–1706)
Margaret Penn (7 November 1704–February 1751), married Thomas Freame (1701/02–1746) nephew of
John Freame
, founder of
Barclays Bank
Richard Penn Sr.
(17 January 1706 – 4 February 1771)
Dennis Penn (26 February 1707 – 1723)
Hannah Margarita Penn (1708–March 1708)
Louis Penn
Legacy
edit
The Treaty of Penn with the Indians
, an 1847 portrait depicting Penn and his groups mostly amicable interactions with the Native Americans
According to American historian
Mary Maples Dunn
Penn liked money and although he was certainly sincere about his ambitions for a "holy experiment" in Pennsylvania, he also expected to get rich. He was, however, extravagant, a bad manager and businessman, and not very astute in judging people and making appointments... Penn was gregarious, had many friends, and was good at developing the useful connections which protected him through many crises. Both his marriages were happy, and he would describe himself as a family man, all the public affairs took him away from home a great deal and he was disappointed in those children whom he knew as adults.
134
After Penn's death, the
Province of Pennsylvania
in the
Thirteen Colonies
slowly drifted away from a colony founded by religion to a secular state dominated by commerce. Many of Penn's legal and political innovations took root, however, as did the Quaker school in
Philadelphia
for which Penn issued two charters (1689 and 1701). The institution, a notable secondary school and the world's oldest
Quaker
school, was later renamed the
William Penn Charter School
in Penn's honour.
citation needed
Voltaire
praised Pennsylvania as the only government in the world that responds to the people and is respectful of minority rights. Penn's "Frame of Government" and his other ideas were later studied by
Benjamin Franklin
and
Thomas Paine
, whose father was a Quaker. Among Penn's legacies was his unwillingness to force a Quaker majority upon Pennsylvania, allowing his state to develop into a successful melting pot, with multiple religions.
Thomas Jefferson
and other multiple
Founding Fathers
adopted Penn's theory of an amendable
constitution
and his vision that "all Persons are equal under God", as he informed the
federal government
following the American Revolution. In addition to his extensive political and religious treatises, Penn also authored nearly 1,000 maxims, full of observations about human nature and morality.
135
Penn's family retained ownership of the province of Pennsylvania until the end of the
American Revolution
and
Revolutionary War
. However, William's son and successor,
Thomas Penn
, and his brother
John
, renounced their father's faith, and fought to restrict religious freedom (particularly for Catholics and later
Quakers
as well). Thomas weakened or eliminated the elected assembly's power, and ran Pennsylvania instead through governors who he appointed. He was a bitter opponent of
Benjamin Franklin
, and Franklin's push for greater democracy in the years leading up to the American Revolution. Through the
Walking Purchase
in 1737, the Penns cheated the Lenape out of their lands in the
Lehigh Valley
136
As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems of war and peace deeply. He developed a proposal for a
United States of Europe
through the creation of a European Assembly made of deputies who could discuss and adjudicate controversies peacefully. He is considered the first intellectual to suggest the creation of a
European Parliament
and what became the present-day
European Union
in the late 20th century.
137
Penn was seen by later Quakers as a theologian in his own right, on the same level as founder
George Fox
and apologist
Isaac Penington
. During the Gurneyite-Wilburite schism in 1840s American Quakerism, the heads of the conflicting parties,
Joseph John Gurney
and
John Wilbur
, both used Penn's writings in the defense of their religious views.
138
139
Quakers began publicly questioning Penn's legacy after the
murder of George Floyd
, with much of the concern being about Penn's active involvement in the slave trade. It was reported in January 2021, for example, that Friends Committee on National Legislation was changing the name of the William Penn House in Washington, D.C., citing his slave ownership as the reason.
140
The building underwent renovations and was reopened as Friends Place in January 2022.
141
Some, such as Kathleen Bell, have broadened the scope of inquiry to include the power he had over society more broadly. Bell wrote a 2022 article about Friends House, a Quaker-run building in London, removing Penn's name from a room. While most of her article is devoted to debunking reasons others had given for retaining the name, she also wrote, "Quaker businesses tended to succeed through a family's slow accumulation of wealth. Many Quaker business owners took advantage of the huge wealth gap between rich and poor; it enabled them to display their benevolence and also to control many aspects of their workers' lives."
142
Posthumous honours
edit
William Penn 3-cent issue of 1932
Penn on the seal of the defunct
Strawbridge & Clothier
department store, representing Penn's exchange with the
Lenape
; the Quaker Oats standing "Quaker Man" logo, identified at one time as William Penn
On 24 October 1932, the US Post Office issued a 3-cent postage stamp to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Penn's arrival to the British-American colonies.
143
On 28 November 1984, then
US President
Ronald Reagan
issued a presidential proclamation declaring Penn and his second wife
Hannah Callowhill Penn
both
honorary citizens of the United States
144
A bronze statue of William Penn by
Alexander Milne Calder
stands atop
Philadelphia City Hall
. When installed in 1894, the statue represented the highest point in the city, as City Hall was then the tallest building in Philadelphia. Urban designer
Edmund Bacon
was known to have said that no gentleman would build taller than the "brim of Billy Penn's hat". This agreement existed for almost 100 years until the city decided to allow taller skyscrapers to be built. In March 1987, the completion of
One Liberty Place
was the first building to do that. This resulted in a "
curse
" which lasted from that year on until 2008 when a small statue of William Penn was put on top of the newly built
Comcast Center
. The
Philadelphia Phillies
went on to win the
2008 World Series
that year.
A lesser-known statue of Penn is located at
Penn Treaty Park
, on the site where Penn entered into his
treaty with the Lenape
, which is famously commemorated in the painting
Penn's Treaty with the Indians
. In 1893, Hajoca Corporation, the nation's largest privately held wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating, and industrial supplies, adopted the statue as its trademark symbol.
145
The
Quaker Oats
cereal brand standing "Quaker man" logo, dating back to 1877, was identified in their advertising after 1909 as William Penn, and referred to him as "standard bearer of the Quakers and of Quaker Oats".
146
147
In 1946, the logo was changed into a head-and-shoulders portrait of the smiling Quaker Man. The Quaker Oats Company's website currently claims their logo is not a depiction of William Penn.
148
Bil Keane
created the comic
Silly Philly
for the
Philadelphia Bulletin
, a juvenile version of Penn, that ran from 1947 to 1961.
Penn was depicted in the 1941 film
Penn of Pennsylvania
by
Clifford Evans
William Penn High School for Girls
was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
in 1986.
149
The William Penn House – a Quaker hostel and seminar center – was named in honour of William Penn when it opened in 1966 to house Quakers visiting Washington, D.C. to partake in the many protests, events and social movements of the era.
150
It has since been renamed Friends Place due to increasing discomfort with having a Quaker building named after someone who actively engaged in the slave trade.
151
Chigwell School
, the school he attended, has named one of their four houses after him and now owns several letters and documents in his handwriting.
William Penn Primary School, and the successor Penn Wood Primary and Nursery School, in Manor Park,
Slough
, near to
Stoke Park
, is named after William Penn.
152
A pub in Rickmansworth, where Penn lived for a time, is named the Pennsylvanian in his honour, and a picture of him is used as the pub sign.
153
The Friends' School, Hobart
has named one of their seven six-year classes after him.
The William Penn Society of
Whittier College
has existed since 1934 as a society on the college campus of Whittier College and continues to this day.
William Penn University in
Oskaloosa, Iowa
, which was founded by Quaker settlers in 1873, was named in his honour.
Penn Mutual
, a life insurance company established in 1847, also bears his name.
Streets named after William Penn include William Penn Ave in
Johnstown
; Penn Avenue, a major arterial street in
Pittsburgh
and
Wilkinsburg
; Penn Avenue in
Scranton
; Penn Street in
Bristol, Pennsylvania
; and Pennfields in
Twyford, Berkshire
See also
edit
Penn–Calvert boundary dispute
Nicholas More
Old Kennett Meetinghouse
References
edit
Murphy, Andrew R. (2019).
William Penn : a life
. New York. pp.
117–
118.
ISBN
978-0190234249
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
See his work
Primitive Christianity Revived
(1696)
Thomas Nelson (2009). "NKJV American Patriot's Bible." Thomas Nelson Inc. p. 1358.
Burke, John (1836).
"Penn, of Stoke Park"
A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain, Volume 3
. p. 491.
Hans Fantel,
William Penn: Apostle of Dissent
, William Morrow & Co., New York, 1974, p. 6,
ISBN
0-688-00310-9
"History of the Op Den Graeff/Updegraff family", June Shaull Lutz, 1988, S. 1
Mennonite World Review - More than our family tree
The Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Volume 103, number 4, Winter 2001-2002. "The Ancestors and Descendants of John Cope, Son of Caleb and Mary Cope", by Thomas R. Kellog, p 193
Fantel, p. 6
Fantel, p. 15
"William Penn (U.S. National Park Service)"
www.nps.gov
. Retrieved
25 June
2025
Bonamy Dobrée,
William Penn: Quaker and Pioneer
, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1932, New York, p. 3
Fantel, p. 12
Fantel, p. 16
Fantel, p. 23
Fantel, pp. 25, 32
"William Penn", Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
Fantel, p. 13
Fantel, p. 14
Fantel, p. 29
Dobrée, p. 9
Fantel, p. 35
Fantel, p. 37
Fantel, p. 38
Fantel, p. 43
Fantel, p. 45
Fantel, p. 49
Fantel, p. 51
Fantel, p. 52
Fantel, p. 53
Fantel, p. 54
Fantel, p. 57
Fantel, p. 59
Fantel, p. 60
Fantel, p. 61
Dobrée, p. 23
Fantel, p. 63
Fantel, p. 64
Dobrée, p. 21
Fantel, p. 69
Fantel, p. 72
Fantel, p. 75
Fantel, p. 76
Fantel, p. 77
Fantel, p. 79
Fantel, p. 83
Dobrée, p. 63
Fantel, pp. 80–81
Fantel, p. 84
Journal of George Fox
Archived
3 July 2007 at the
Wayback Machine
(retrieved 25 September 2007)
Fantel, p. 88
William Penn (1669–1670) My Irish Journal, edited by
Isabel Grubb
, Longmans, 1952
Fantel, p. 97
Dobrée, p. 43
Fantel, p. 101
Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature
Archived
22 May 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
, Volume 19, (1823). p. 543
Hicks, Elias. "
A Defence of the Christian doctrines of the Society of Friends: being a reply to the charge of denying the three that bear record in heaven
" (1825), pp. 35–37: "This conclusive argument for the proof of Christ, the Saviour's, being God, should certainly persuade all sober persons of my innocence, and my adversaries malice. He that is the everlasting Wisdom, Divine Power, the true Light, the only Saviour, the creating Word of all things, whether visible or invisible, and their upholder, by his own power, is, without contradiction God – but all these qualifications, and divine properties, arc by the concurrent testimonies of Scripture, ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, without a scruple, I call and believe him, really to be, the mighty God.
"A Brief Answer to a False and Foolish Libel called The Quakers Opinions for their Sakes that Writ it and Read it"
(1678). Sect. V, "
-Perversion 9-
: 'The Quakers deny the Trinity'. -Principle-: Nothing less. They believe in the
Holy Three
, or
Trinity
of
Father
Word
, and
Spirit
, according to Scripture. And that these Three are Truly and Properly Oe: Of
One Nature
as well as Will. But they are very tender of quitting
Scripture Terms
and ¿¿Phrases for
Schoolmen's
, such as
distinct and separate Persons
and
Substances
, etc. are, from whence People are apt to entertain gross Ideas and Notions of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
Penn, William. (1726).
A Collection of the Works of William Penn
, Vol. 2. J. Sowle. p. 783.
Themis Papaioannou.
"Early Quakers and the Trinity
Archived
28 January 2019 at the
Wayback Machine
." Christian Quaker.
Penn, William. (1726).
A Collection of the Works of William Penn
, Vol. 2. J. Sowle. p. 783: Sect. VI. "Of the Divinity of Christ. -Perversion- 10. 'The Quakers deny Christ to be God'. -'Principle'-: "A most Untrue and Unreasonable Censure: For their Great and
Characteristics
principle being this, That
Christ, as the Divine Word, Lighten the Souls of all Men that come into the World, with a Spiritual and Saving Light
, according to
John
1. 9. ch. 8.12 (which nothing but the Creator of Souls can do) it does sufficiently shew they believe him to be God, for they
truly
and
expressly
own him to be so, according to Scripture,
viz: 'In him was Life, and that Life the Light of Men, and He is God over all, blessed forever.
Richardson, John (1829),
The Friend: A Religious and Literary Journal, Volume 2
. p. 77
Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme. (1817).
The Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature, Volume 12
. p. 348
Fantel, p. 105
Fantel, p. 108
Dixon, William (1851).
William Penn: An Historical Biography
. Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea. pp. 75, 76.
Soderlund, Jean R. (1983).
William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania
(1st ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 113.
ISBN
0-8122-1131-6
Fantel, pp. 117–120
Duhaime, Lloyd.
"1670: The Jury Earns Its Independence (Bushel's case)"
duhaime.org
. Lloyd Duhaime.
Archived
from the original on 12 March 2016
. Retrieved
16 February
2016
Fantel, p. 124
Dobrée, p. 71
Lehman, Godfrey (1996).
The Ordeal of Edward Bushell
. Lexicon.
ISBN
978-1-879563-04-9
Abramson, Jeffrey (1994).
We, The Jury
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp.
68–
72.
ISBN
978-0-674-00430-6
Fantel, p. 126
Fantel, p. 127
Fantel, pp. 139–140
Fantel, p. 143
Fantel, p. 145
See, for example, the story of
Jan Claus
, a gold- and silversmith who was arrested under the English
Conventicle Act 1664
, convicted and sentenced to ship to Jamaica, survived an on-board plague that killed half the passengers, was captured by a
privateer
, was taken back to the Netherlands and imprisoned, and finally saved by Friends who took him to settle in Amsterdam.
Dobrée, p. 102
Fantel, p. 147
Dobrée, p. 117
"Brief Biography of William Penn"
www.ushistory.org
Archived
from the original on 10 June 2017
. Retrieved
12 June
2017
Randall M. Miller and William Pencak, ed.,
Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth
, Penn State University Press, 2002, p. 59,
ISBN
0-271-02213-2
Dobrée, p. 119
Fantel, pp. 147–148.
Dobrée, p. 120
Fantel, p. 149
Graystones ~ The Treaty for Pennsylvania
Archived
9 September 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
, buckscountyintime blog, accessed 25 November 2015
"William Penn (English Quaker leader and colonist)"
. Britannica.
Archived
from the original on 31 December 2008
. Retrieved
27 June
2009
In 1682 (England), he drew up a Frame of Government for the Pennsylvania colony. Freedom of worship in the colony was to be absolute, and all the traditional rights of Englishmen were carefully safeguarded
Fantel, p. 150
Dobrée, p. 128
Suzan Shown Harjo, ed.,
Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States & American Indian Nations
, Smithsonian Institution, 2014, p. 61
Fantel, pp. 152–153
Fantel, p. 194
Fantel, p. 159
Fantel, p. 161
Dobrée, p. 148
Dobrée, p. 149
Fantel, p. 156
Dobrée, p. 131
Fantel, p. 157
Dobrée, p. 150
Dobrée, p. 135
Dobrée, p. 138
Cooper, Kenny (29 October 2021).
"Before Salem, Pennsylvania's First and Only Witch Trial Involved a Delco Woman"
WHYY
. Retrieved
12 September
2025
Welsh, Carla (2025).
The Push of Power: Reexamining the Pennsylvania Witchcraft Trial of Margaret Matson
. Amazon KDP.
ISBN
9798298313261
Fantel, p. 199
Soderlund, Jean R. (ed.)
William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania
Univ. Penn. Press (1983), p. 79
Fantel, p. 203
Fantel, p. 209
Harris, Tim
Revolution:The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy 1685–1720
Allen Lane (2006) p. 218
Sowerby, Scott,
Making Toleration: The Repealers and the Glorious Revolution
Harvard University Press (2013), p. 144
Sowerby, p. 140.
Fantel, p. 237
Scharf, John Thomas and Thompson Wescott (1884),
History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884
, Volume II, Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., p. 1686: "In December 1699, when William Penn made his second visit to Pennsylvania, he brought with him his second wife, Hannah Callowhill Penn, and Letitia Penn, his daughter by his first wife."
Miller and Pencak, p. 61
Fantel, p. 240
Fantel, p. 242
Fantel, p. 244
"A "Noble Experiment": How Solitary Came to America"
FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site | Documentary Series
. Retrieved
22 December
2025
Fantel, p. 246
Fantel, p. 251
Fantel, p. 253
Fantel, p. 254
Fantel, pp. 255–266
Fantel, p. 258
Dobrée, p. 286
Fantel, pp. 260–261
Fisher, Joshua Francis; French, John; Cadwalader, John; Sharpas, William; Alexander, J.; Smith, W. (April 1892). "Andrew Hamilton, Esq., of Pennsylvania".
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
16
(1): 2.
Dobrée, p. 313
Miller and Pencak, p. 70
"Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families"
John A. Garraty, ed. ‘’Encyclopedia of American Biography (1974) p. 847.
William Penn Tercentenary Committee,
Remember William Penn
, 1944
Miller and Pencak, p. 76
See
Daniele Archibugi
William Penn, the Englishman who invented the European Parliament
Archived
31 August 2017 at the
Wayback Machine
openDemocracy, 28 May 2014.
Wilbur, John.
A Narrative and Exposition of the Late Proceedings of New England Yearly Meeting...
New York: Piercy & Reed, Printers, 1854, pages 277-325.
The British Friend, Vol. V, No. 5 (5th month, 1847,) pages 132-137.
Journal, Friends (14 January 2021).
"William Penn House to be renamed"
Friends Journal
. Retrieved
22 December
2025
Journal, Friends (10 November 2021).
"Friends Place on Capitol Hill to open in January 2022"
Friends Journal
. Retrieved
22 December
2025
Journal, Friends (1 January 2022).
"Flawed Quaker Heroes"
Friends Journal
. Retrieved
22 December
2025
Scott Specialized catalogue of U.S. Postage Stamps, 1982, p. 94
Proclamation of Honorary US Citizenship for William and Hannah Penn
Archived
17 April 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
by President Ronald Reagan (1984)
"Hajoca Lancaster"
. Hajoca Lancaster.
Archived
from the original on 26 October 2015
. Retrieved
13 October
2015
"If it walks like William Penn, talks like William Penn and looks like William Penn …"
. 18 March 2013.
Archived
from the original on 6 October 2014
. Retrieved
3 January
2015
"Quaker Oats box label, circa 1920s"
crystalradio.net
Archived
from the original on 10 January 2017
. Retrieved
20 April
2017
"About Quaker – Quaker FAQ"
Quaker Oats Company
Archived
from the original on 25 October 2018
. Retrieved
4 March
2010
"National Register Information System"
National Register of Historic Places
National Park Service
. 9 July 2010.
History
Archived
27 January 2013 at the
Wayback Machine
. William Penn House. Retrieved on 23 July 2013.
Journal, Friends (10 November 2021).
"Friends Place on Capitol Hill to open in January 2022"
Friends Journal
. Retrieved
22 December
2025
"Home – Penn Wood Primary and Nursery School"
www.pennwood.slough.sch.uk
Archived
from the original on 2 July 2017
. Retrieved
23 June
2017
"The Pennsylvanian Rickmansworth – J D Wetherspoon"
www.jdwetherspoon.com
Further reading
edit
Dunn, Mary Maples.
William Penn: Politics and Conscience
(1967)
Dunn, Richard S. and Mary Maples Dunn, eds.
The World of William Penn
(1986), essays by scholars
Endy, Melvin B. Jr.
William Penn and Early Quakerism
(1973)
Geiter, Mary K.
William Penn
(2000)
Moretta, John.
William Penn and the Quaker Legacy
(2006)
Morgan, Edmund S. "The World and William Penn",
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
(1983) 127#5 pp. 291–315
JSTOR
986499
Murphy, Andrew R.
William Penn: A Life
(2018)
Nash, Gary B.
Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1681–1726
(1968)
Peare, Catherine O.
William Penn
(1957), a standard biography
Soderlund, Jean R. "Penn, William" in
American National Biography Online
(2000) Access Date: Nov 04 2013
Vulliamy, C.E.
William Penn
(1933)
Primary sources
edit
Dunn, Mary Maples, and Richard S. Dunn et al., eds.
The Papers of William Penn
(5 vols., 1981–1987)
Soderlund, Jean R. et al., eds.
William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania, 1680–1684: A Documentary History
(1983)
Seitz, Don Carlos, ed. (1919).
The tryal of William Penn & William Mead for causing a tumult, at the sessions held at the Old Bailey in London the 1st, 3d, 4th, and 5th of September 1670
. Boston: Marshall Jones Company.
External links
edit
Wikisource
has original works by or about:
William Penn
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
William Penn
Wikiquote has quotations related to
William Penn
Lesson Plan: William Penn's Peaceable Kingdom
Archived
12 October 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
William Penn Appleton and Klos Biography
The Life of William Penn
by M. L. Weems, 1829. Full-text free to read and search version of Tim Unterreiner biography from 1829 original published in Philadelphia.
William Penn, Visionary Proprietor
by Tuomi J. Forrest, at the University of Virginia
William Penn, America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace
by Jim Powell
William Penn
by Bill Samuel
Penn's Holy Experiment: The Seed of a Nation
Archived
11 October 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
Penn in the Tower of London
Archived
31 March 2020 at the
Wayback Machine
Hidden London
Penn in the Tower
original version of this article
(copied with permission)
"Pennsylvania's Anarchist Experiment: 1681–1690"
, Prof. Murray N. Rothbard, excerpt from
Conceived in Liberty
, Vol. 1 (Auburn, Alabama: The
Ludwig von Mises Institute
, 1999)
William Penn
at
Find a Grave
Penn Treaty Museum
Penn's works
edit
Works by William Penn
at
Project Gutenberg
Works by or about William Penn
at the
Internet Archive
Works by William Penn
at
LibriVox
(public domain audiobooks)
No Cross, No Crown
(1669). 2nd edition published in 1682. Written during his imprisonment in the Tower of London.
The Christian Quaker, and his divine testimony vindicated by Scripture, reason, and authorities, against the injurious attempts ... lately made ... to render him odiously inconsistent with Christianity and Civil Society. In II. Parts., (1674).(part one written by Penn; Part two by George Whitehead, 1673).
True Spiritual Liberty
(1681)
Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims
(1682)
Frame Of Government Of Pennsylvania
(1682) From the Avalon Project, Yale Law School.
Letter to his wife, Gulielma
(1682)
Early Quaker writings
contains several documents by Penn and his wife.
A Key
Archived
28 February 2017 at the
Wayback Machine
(1692)
Primitive Christianity Revived
Archived
5 April 2005 at the
Wayback Machine
(1696)
Preface to George Fox's Journal
Archived
3 July 2007 at the
Wayback Machine
(1694)
The Rise and Progress of the People Called Quakers by William Penn (1905 ed.)
An Essay towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe by the Establishment of a European Dyet, Parliament or Estates
(1693)
William Penn & Richard Claridge (1817). Anonymous (ed.).
Extracts from The Writings of William Penn & Richard Claridge, on the Death and Sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ
. London: William and Samuel Graves
. Retrieved
3 January
2010
Full text at Internet Archive (archive.org)
Dunn, Mary Maples, Dunn, Richard S., Bronner, Edwin, and Fraser, David.
The papers of William Penn
, 5 volumes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981–87.
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William Penn
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