Penn, William

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Penn, William (1644–1718). Penn, son of Admiral Sir William Penn, educated at Oxford and Lincoln's Inn, exhibited an early religious sensibility, rejecting a conventional career to join the quakers. Their leading legal spokesman, international propagandist, and public witness, his advocacy of liberty of conscience and religious toleration found some support from Charles II and James, duke of York, and Penn's wealth aided his efforts. Although a prolific pamphleteer, he rejected the violence of English politics at the Exclusion crisis. He suffered for his royal friendships at the Glorious Revolution. Penn gained an extensive American proprietary in 1681, drafting a constitution for Pennsylvania embodying his very liberal political ideas. The colony lost rather than (as he hoped) gained him a fortune; he faced growing opposition there and in England. One of the few colonial proprietors who actually visited America, he died in penury and self-pity.

Richard C. Simmons

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