WILLIAM PENN AND THE QUAKERS OF PENNSYLVANIA



The Quakers were one of the most persecuted sects following the Reformation. George Fox, the son of Puritan parents, founded the Quakers in England in 1647. While the Puritans had substituted the authority of the Bible for the authority of the Church, George Fox looked to the direct word of God in the human soul. The Quakers believed that the divine spirit or an inner light resided in every human soul. At times they were so moved by the Spirit their bodies would quake, and thus their name. While he respected the Bible, there was no need of ministry, as seen in the Anglican Church of England and the Catholics. The Quakers believed that all men were equal, and called themselves "Friends."

The Society of Friends found themselves in constant trouble throughout England and the American colonies. Because they took the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" literally and treasured peace, they would not serve in the military. 3000 Quakers were imprisoned during the first two years of the reign of Charles ll during his war with Holland. Since they considered everyone equal, they refused to take their hats off to those in authority. The Puritans of Massachusetts persecuted the Quakers for their intransigence, and, as corporal punishment was of no avail, actually hung four, one being Mary Dyer in Boston on June 1, 1660.

Fortunately for George Fox and the Quakers, they made one notable convert, William Penn.

William Penn was born in 1644, the son of the prestigious and wealthy Admiral Sir William Penn, who had conquered Jamaica in 1655 during the First Dutch War. The father was a friend of King Charles ll, who served as King of England from 1660-1685 during the Restoration and his brother James, the Duke of York ( the future King James ll, the last of the Stuart Kings, who ruled England from 1685 to 1688). The son William Penn at an early age took an exceptional interest in religion. Young Penn was imprisoned frequently for his Quaker beliefs, once in the infamous Tower of London. During this time, he wrote artices outlining the principal elements of Quakerism. His famous work No Cross, No Crown presented a premium argument for religious toleration. Following another arrest in 1670, Penn defended himself, and won a key decision that set the precedent protecting the right to trial by jury.

It was not long before the Quakers found favor with King Charles ll, for they refused to serve Cromwell and the Puritans in the Civil War against his father Charles l. Furthermore, the father Penn had been generous in giving loans to Charles ll to support his extravagant lifestyle. Following the death of his father in 1675, William Penn traveled with George Fox and realized that Quakers were still persecuted throughout Europe and yearned for a place to live their beliefs. In exchange for the debts owed the Penns, Charles ll granted Penn an extensive proprietary Charter in America on March 4, 1681. Penn and the King together decided to name his new colony Pennsylvania in memory of his father.

Penn sailed to America on the ship Welcome and arrived in the Fall of 1682. He founded Philadelphia (which means "city of brotherly love") on the Delaware River. He designed Philadelphia in an orderly fashion, a design which became a model of American city planning. The Delaware Indians loved him, as he treated them as equals. Pennsylvania drew Quakers and peace-seeking people from all over Europe, although the majority were from England and Wales. Philadelphia became the first cosmopolitan city in America. Things went well for Pennsylvania when William Penn served as Governor from 1682 to 1684. He did not seek personal wealth, but saw his colony as a Holy Experiment. He ensured that religious toleration would be the norm in his colony, with no established church, to create a society where all would live in harmony bound by mutual respect. As he had a proprietary colony as Lord Baltimore of Maryland, he wrote his Frame of Government of Pennsylvania published on April 25, 1682.

William Penn at his death in 1718 left a dynamic, peace-loving, and successful colony. His sense of freedom of conscience and liberty made Philadelphia a center of education and intellectual thought. No wonder that the greatest number of signers (nine) of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 were from Pennsylvania! The Quakers of Pennsylvania were the first to speak out against the practice of slavery at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The precedent of trial by jury is included in our Bill of Rights.


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