William Penn

William Penn is best known for his establishment of Pennsylvania . Penn created it as a “holy experiment,” a place for his Quaker brethren to set up a safe, supportive community away from religious persecution in Europe. Quaker ideals of equality, justice, and individual rights shaped the formation of government for the colony and influenced the founding ideals of the United States.

Early years

William Penn was born to a privileged family in London, England, in 1644. His father, Sir William Penn, was an admiral in the Royal Navy, a friend of royalty, and an owner of much land. His mother was Margaret Jasper Vanderschuren, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. In 1656, political and religious turmoil in England prompted Admiral Penn to move the family to Ireland.

In 1660, William Penn attended Christ Church College at the University of Oxford. There Penn realized his need for a more personal faith than the Anglican Church, the religion in which he was raised, provided. In the spring of 1662, the college expelled Penn for not attending the required chapel services.

Disappointed by his son's increasingly rebellious religious thought, Admiral Penn sent the young man to Paris, France, to be steeped in the worldly society of royal courts. Penn, however, left the court life to attend a Protestant academy, where he stayed a year and a half. It was at the academy that Penn started to find support for his principles of peace and his inward spiritual faith.

Religious awakening

By 1666, Penn was back in Ireland to handle issues concerning his father's land. During this time, Penn spent time with a family acquaintance and Quaker minister, Thomas Loe. Convinced by Loe's sermons, Penn began attending Quaker church services, called “meetings.”

At that time, Quakerism was a new Protestant religion. Quakers believe that every person contains the inner light of God, which gives him or her guidance on how to live a holy, peaceful life. In the seventeenth century, English authorities considered Quakers to be extremists who threatened the (Anglican) Church of England, the officially established Christian church in England, and royal authority. Hence Quakers were prosecuted and jailed for practicing their faith.

Penn was imprisoned for a time for attending Quaker meetings, and this experience inspired him to write. His first work, which called for religious tolerance and challenged the unjust treatment of Quakers, appeared soon after his prison term.

Penn's father called his son back to London to reintroduce him to proper society. Penn, however, refrained from socializing with his father's circle of friends. Instead, he kept company with Quakers and, at twenty-four, became a minister.

Penn was jailed again, this time for his sermons and public writings. In 1670, he was arrested for preaching with another Quaker in the streets. Penn argued their defense in court and won. As a result, Quakers often called upon Penn to argue their defense in later court cases.

Penn's father died in 1670, leaving his son a fortune that included a debt owed to his father by the English Crown. Soon after, Penn took a missionary journey across Germany and Holland to spread the Quaker faith. He would later encourage converts in these places to come to his Quaker colony, Pennsylvania, which Penn established in the new American colonies in 1681. After returning to England, Penn married Gulielma Maria Springett on April 4, 1672.

Between 1675 and 1680, Penn devoted himself to religion and related politics. His struggle for liberal, tolerant, government led him to participate in two political campaigns for a friend's election to Parliament and to continue his political writings. He continued his missionary journeys as well, establishing relationships in America, Holland, and western Germany. His interest in America gained momentum when he became involved in managing the Quaker- established colony of New Jersey . That colony's constitution, the Concessions and Agreements, was the fairest colonial charter up to that time, and it is believed to have been written mostly by Penn.

Penn's colony

In 1680, Penn approached King Charles II (1630–1685) about the debt the Crown still owed to him. Rather than money, Penn requested and received a grant of land north of Maryland in 1681. He secretly intended to create a refuge there for persecuted fellow Quakers, founded on Quaker ideals. He invited Quakers throughout Europe to settle the colony.

Penn set up a liberal government for his colony based on ideals of civil liberty, religious freedom, and economic opportunity. The people had a constitution and code of laws created with their participation. Penn skillfully negotiated treaties with Native Indians that maintained trust and peace through his lifetime. As a result, no provisions for forts, munitions, or militia were necessary. This government succeeded for seventy years.

Final years

Penn traveled to Pennsylvania in 1682 to help set up the colony. Less than two years later, he was called back to England to help his fellow Quakers, who were suffering renewed persecution and needed his influence at court. His friendly relationship with the king, James II (1633–1701), enabled him to secure the release of nearly thirteen hundred Quakers.

The overthrow of James II in 1688 meant the end of Penn's connection with the Crown and the renewal of personal troubles. Accused of disloyalty, Penn went into partial retirement to wait for the suspicion to subside. In 1692, the new monarch revoked Penn's ownership of Pennsylvania, then restored it two years later, after Penn's name was cleared of treason.

Penn's first wife, Gulielma, died in 1694. Before returning to Pennsylvania in 1697, Penn married Hannah Callowhill. Though Penn hoped to become a permanent resident of Pennsylvania, he managed to return there only briefly. He was called back to England to prevent Parliament from claiming Pennsylvania and other colonies for the Crown, and he never returned.

Penn's final years in London were spent managing conflicts in Pennsylvania and debts that threatened to ruin him. He spent time in debtors' prison in 1707 rather than pay some of the debts. He died in 1718 after a series of strokes.