MAKING
job of rul, Anglican
tues,and
Catholics
rught was
; a strong
pponents
yrant.
d was to
'as going
d wicked,
:speare's
'f a sense
d Tiud.ftlt
akes fun
because
rnd ale?"
vhclwas
Dick wa;
ur ruling.
les. the
)uritans,
:d cakes
harle.sll.
lonarch.
le why it
le killed
is heacl.
'ing the
rca.
ne king.
ly while
rica. As
of New
e gave
ous for
THIRTEEN
Williamthe
Wse
William Penn was born with a silver spoon in
his mouth and servants at his feet. His father
was an important admiral: rich, Anglican, and
a friend of King Charles Il.
What did William Penn do when he grew
up? He became a member of a radical, hated,
o u t c a s t s e c t , t h e S < l c i e t yo f F r i e n d s , a l s o
known as the Quakers.
What did being a Quaker do for William
"l have led the grealest Penn? lt got him kicked out of college when
c o l o n y i n t o A m e r i c a he refused to attend Anglican prayers. lt got
that ever any man did h i m a b e a t i n g f r o m h i s f a t h e r , w h o w a n t e d
upon a privale credit." him to belong to the
Church of England.lt led
him to jail for his beliefs-more than once. It
gave hinr a faith that he carried through his life. And it also gave him a
reason for founding an American colony.
King Charles Il liked William Penn in spite of his religion. Everyone.
it seems, was charmed by his sweet ways. But when Penn canre be.
fore the king and refused to take off his hat-Quakers defer only to
God-some people gasped and wondered if Penn's head, aloltg with
his hat, miqht be renroved. But Charles. the "merry monarch." must
have been in a g<xd nrood. As the story goes. he laughed and doffed
his own hat. saying, "Only one head can be covered in the presence of
a king."
Now King Charles had borrowed money from Admiral Penn, and a
goo<llysurn it must have been, because,after the admiral died, when
William asked that the debt be paid with land in Arnerica.he was given
a tract of land larger than all of England.King Charles named it
Pennsylvania.which means Penn'swoods.
Pennsylvaniawas situated midway between the pious Puritans irr
COLONIES
You\re prooauy nodced
tut fp spelllngof sorneof
the originaldctrnents quotedlnA HLturydlt9lsnttn
sameas the spelllngyou've
ldn€d. Untl l.loahW€bsbr
camealongwith a speller(ln
17El)andan Arnericandktlonary(ln 1828),tfiee rvas
no silmdad spelllng.Peopb
lwl u,rob uroft|sthewry that
seefiEtl rlghtb tF n. Sorne
trps lhe sanp vyordcould
be spelledtwo diffarcnt
waysln a slnglesenlence.
ls Hiftorrcd rld Gogr.pbiat
OF 'IE
Atrolat
PROVINCEendCOUNTRY
OF
PENSILVANIAI
AND
OF
I,I/ef-New-7trh
IN
AMERICA.
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8 r _ G a B R I E L T H O M A S- ,
who rcfidcd rlrrs rbout FiftecnYcan.
in4;, ?rurcdfor, rad Soft bt l, d&i+ r
t Oao^,zrtn in Vo;d-14,
t6gE,
GabrielThomas,one of the
earliest settlers in Pennsylvania, wrote a pamphlet in
praise of its charms-you can
read his words on page 104.
l0l
l
A HISTORY
OF US
Charles ll died a Catholic at
heart, but he admired William
Penn enough to permit him to
praclicehis rellgim in America.
Parl of Penn's 1699 house in
Philadelphiais still standing.
102
t aa.
j.q;t"'!,4
,-
,
.
New hln(liuttland the convivial Artqlican.sin the Soutlr.(.fuakt'rsweren't
wartterlin eitlter re{i()n.
'lharrks
to Willianr Penn.(Jrrakersnow had their own r:olony.lirt he
rnatle it rlifferent fronr rtrost of tlre other coklrries.l'errrrreully lleliel't'tl
in brotherly love. He said that l)ennsvlvaniitwits not jrrst for (Juakers
but for everyone.
The king lrarl pickecla q(xxl ll'ranto leatl a cokrny-perh;rps tlre lx,st
of itll who trietl it. Penrt was an etlucate<lrttatr,a pltilosoltlrt'r.ir towrr
plauner, attrl a lawyer. He wartted Pennsylvartiato be a colorry wlrtre
(luaker irleasabout peaceand qrxltlnesswotrld llrevail.
In Englarttl,(.)uakersseettte<l;t threat to everyortewlro felt t'orrrfortable with the okl. establishedways of thinking. Tlte corrntrv htul be.
hearle<la kirtg.arrd that clirhr'twork out. New ideas set'nrerlrlanr{er( )kl
()us.as thev often do. (.)uakershad notiorrs that would charrr.{e
England.Wealthy citizens tlidn't want things to t'hange.so it was
poor people, rnostlv. who were Quakers.
In Penn's rlay, sorne people-nrinisters, kinrls. klrrls. anrl <llrkeswere cortsidered superior t() the average pers()n.They expecte<lothers to bow to thetn. but ()uakers woulcln't.They w<lul<hr'tlrow to any'Ihey
one.
e v e n r e f u s e c lt o p a y t a x e s t o s u l ) l ) ( ) r t t h e C h t r r t ' h o f
England.Can yor.rsee a problernl The Anrllicansclid.
F,nglandhad lords ancllarliesin the rich ultper class.rrrerchantsan<l
farnrers in the middle class, ancl peasants :urtl lroor grcopleirr the krwer
class. lt was almost impossible to rise frtxtt the lower class to the rrpper.
'lhe
upper<lass krrds ancl earls often acterl as if they were better thalr
anyone else. lt was that class system that nrade nrany ambitious people
c(xne to the New World. In Anerica, with hard work. rnany p<xrrpeople
would rise to the top.
Becausethe llible says, "Thou shalt not kill," Quakers ltelieve;rll wtrr
'l'hey
is wrong. They w<ln't fight even when rlrafted into the army.
are
called conscientious obiectors. because their conscience tells therrr uot
to fight.
And they won't
s w e a r a l l e g i a n c et o a
king or governntent rlr
flag or anyone but (iod.
That was another real
problem in England,
where people were expected to swear their
loyalty to the king.
Williarn Penn wanted to practice Quaker
idea:
illg i
wer€
D
Sortt,
l)rac
or sl
true
w
iunol
to trr
Natir
Pe
MAKING
THIRTEEN
COTONIES
'kersweren't
rlony.But he
ally believed
for Quakers
aps the best
>her,a town
olony where
felt comfortntry had be
med dangerchange Old
;e, so it was
and dukes,:rpectedotht bowtoany: Church of
:rchantsand
in the lower
o the upper.
'better than
tious people
poor people
lieve all war
ry. They are
lls them not
ideas in America.That meant treating all people as equals and respecting all reli$ons. Those new ideas of "toleration" and "natural rights"
were confusing.lt was difficult for good people to know what was right.
Do you understand the differencebetween toleration and equality?
Somecolonies offered lreedom of religion but not equality. You could
practice any religion but you couldn't vote or hold office @e a mayor
or sheriff) unlessyou belongedto the majority's church. That wasn't
true in Penn'scolony. While he was in charge,all religions were equal.
When Penn said all people, he meant a// people. Quakerswere
among the first to object to Negro slavery and, more than anyone else,
to treat Indiansas equals.ln 1681,William Penn wrote a letter to the
NativeAmericansof Pennsylvania.He said:
Wlllhm Penn plannedhis clty,
Phlladelphla,wlthout walls or
1€expectbdillcdans bsre
ed lts cltizensto be peaceful.
andfriands,elscurhat
nny lwel alwaysliue togethnas neighbors
unuld thegreatGd w to us,uthohathmadeus notto danur and
tlestroyoneanotler,hi liuesberly andkindly togetherin tlrcunrld?
Pennproposeda "firm leagueof peace."He continued:
andinjusticetlnt hathbeantoo
of the unkindness
I am aerysensihle
the
peopleof thcseparts of the
muchexercised
toutardyou by
103
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:,r.,\!,ii-:t:
,*
:
ttt"il
'{r|!&i.ryi}a*s441'ri!'!,
*
.:
n\14/l.*-r.r
r
A HISTORY
-,.ri
I
*.r;
:i'.-il
'a
r
.
!-
:
OF US
llot Flctlon
Fhn
or
pcoplc (both Mcn
flo*
f and Womcn) ol all
klndr, can horr gct thrlc
tlmc. th. Wagm ior thclr
L$crtrycan
h EngH
or Wabr...Readcr, srhst I
havr hrrc wrltlcn, lr nol
Flc{on, FEIL Wh|n, amy
rlnl|t.r D..lgn...but In
meor PIU and pun Con>
po.bn b thl tlunbr d
Poor Labourlng llcn,
Womcn, end Chlldrrn In
EngFrl, ilfrf4vh$b
In lhrf mrgn loo*ar Otrl
8n oontnrnlfy wandrrlng
up rnd down looklng lor
Employmcn[ wlthod f,nd.
Ing any....Ha?arra no
Boggrn to br !c.n....
Jcrlourlr emong ilcn lr
t:r tlry f!!...nc f,t old
Itl|bb br mtudlr; bril
commonly lftrry bcforc
thcy ar. Twcnly Ycan of
Ap ntl rldom my )ourg
ilfficd WqnI| hi hdr r
Chlld In hcr B.lly, or one
nponhcL+.
I hevo dcllvcr'd
lfl|htt
Ulconsnlng thb hon'
In6, lr Indlsprfib|y fuc, I
rYilm EyawlUrcrbltal,
for I rvcnt In thc ffrst Shlp
that wt! bound from
Englandfor tut Countty,
clnc.lt rccchcd t|tc namc
d Pcnrllvanle,whlch war
ln th. YGlr 1681.
1aqGtw.ire's
llrrorceleroGEoqf,
nlcrl.
Accounr or PEra.vene (f69tl
u,orld...hut
I dm not srrclt
a man...Idasire
to utin antlgtitryour
Iot'ennd.friertdship
byn kind, just, andpeacenltle
lit'e.
Pennwas generousas well as fair. He offered land on easy terms to
thosewho cameto his colony.
On his first visit to America,he sailed up the DelawareRiver and
picked the site of Pennsylvania'sfirst capital, Philadelphia.Then he
helped plan the city by using a pattern of crossing streets, called a
grid, that would be copied throughoutthe new land. He gavenumbers
to all the streets that went in one direction;the streets that went the
other way he gave tree names,like Pine and Chestnut and Walnut.
Philadelphiais still thought of as a fine exampleof town planning.
Pennwrote a Charter ol Uberties for Pennsylvania.Penn said the
charter set up a government"free to the people under it, where the
laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws."
The southeasternpart ol Pennsylvaniawas called the Three l.ower
Counties.In 1704those counties asked for their own assembly and
William Penn gave it to them. In 1776they becamean independent
state namedDelaware.
WilliamPenndidn't stay in Americafor long.He had businessto attend to in England,and so he chose rulers for Pennsylvania.
Sincehe
owned the place,he had a right to do that.
Penndid not believe in democracy.ftlardly anyone did at the beginning of the l8th century.)He was an aristocrat.In those days,ordinary
people were not thought to be capableof picking their own leaders.
WilliamPennthought he was choosinggood peopleto lead his colony.
But, as it turned out, he was too trusting.
The men he picked to run his colony foughtamongthemselvesand
cheatedhim. (He would have been better ofl if he had believed in democracy.)William Pennlost most of his fortune developingPennsylvania.
But Penn did prove
that freedomand fairness work. Philadelphia
was soon the largest
and most prosperous
city in the colonies.
People came from
Germany,France,Wales,
and Scotland-as well as
England-looking for religious freedomand a good
place to live. One boy,
named BenjaminFranklin,
Willlam Penn and the Indlans make peace.
camefrom Boston.
I
T
t
t
:
It
tl
g
h
al
br
w
C;
is
sI
m
p(
p(
ot
Er
WILLIAM PENN QUESTIONS
1. How was William Penn religiously persecuted for his
beliefs? What religion did he follow or believe in?
2. Why was William Penn given land in the
New World (North America)?
3. Why did people in England feel threatened by Quakers?
4.What were Quaker ideas about toleration and how all
people should be treated?
5. Did William Penn believe in Democracy?