William penns biography

Following his conversion to the Society of Friends, Penn began to fight for greater freedom for this marginalized and frequently persecuted religious group. In the late s, Penn wrote several works about his new religious beliefs, beginning with The Sandy Foundation Shaken , which questioned several basic Protestant doctrines. He was jailed for blasphemy in the Tower of London as a result of this publication.

While imprisoned, he wrote No Cross, No Crown , another avowal of his faith. He was released in , and he continued to promote the Quaker teachings of self-denial and social reform. Penn was arrested on further occasions, on charges of illegal preaching and inciting a riot. He also made missionary trips throughout England, and to Holland and Germany.

Penn married a Quaker woman, Gulielma Maria Springett, in ; the couple had three children together. By the s, Penn had become a figure of importance in the Quaker community. In , he was asked to resolve a land dispute between Quaker property owners in the American colony of West New Jersey. After settling the dispute, using his legal knowledge and leadership skills, he was chosen to organize the founding of a Quaker colony in America.

Penn petitioned King Charles II for additional land to the west of the Delaware River, and he received a charter for this territory in He was an instrumental figure in implementing his theoretical policy ideas. Penn combined both idealism, bordering on utopianism, but also practical realism. Where necessary he sought a practical solution, whilst still trying to retaining his belief in liberal government.

Penn implemented a more liberal justice system. Capital punishment was only implemented for two crimes of murder and treason there were capital offences in England. He also sought to make prisons progressive places of rehabilitation rather than places of punishment. Quakers were also leading figures in the treatment of mental illness, decriminalising it.

Through the widespread provision of education, Pennsylvania blossomed as a centre of commerce and science. As well as the politics of the city of Pennsylvania, he also explored the interior of New Jersey, befriending local Indian tribes — especially the Lenni Lenape Indians. He learnt the language and dialects of the main tribes, enabling better communication and helping to foster good relations.

Penn ensured the Indian tribes were fairly paid for land, and it was held up as an example of good relations between settlers and native Indians. Returning to England after the succession of his friend, the Duke of York who became King James, Penn used his royal influence to gain the release of prisoners of conscience such as Quakers and John Locke.

The later Act of Toleration helped legalise the idea of religious tolerance that Penn and others had argued for. An Essay Towards the Present and Future Peace of Europe — which envisaged an international organisation to help mitigate against European conflict. In , he proposed the idea of a federation of all the American colonies to promote practical solutions and good relationships.

This was an embryonic idea behind the future United States of America. He also proposed the idea of a federation of European States — which is often seen as the forerunner of the European Union. In , Penn was forced to return to England, due to financial problems. His financial adviser Philip Ford had defrauded him out of a significant sum, leaving him, in dire financial straits.

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 counselor. Penn inherited a large fortune, but found himself in jail again for six months. In April , 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. 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.

In , a group of prominent Quakers that included Penn purchased the colonial province of West Jersey , comprising the western half of present-day New Jersey. Fox made a journey to America to verify the potential of further expansion of the early Quaker settlements. 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, square miles , km 2.

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. Penn purchased the first tract of land under a white oak tree at Graystones on 15 July 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.

Besides achieving his religious goals, Penn had hoped that Pennsylvania would be a profitable venture for himself and his family. But he proclaimed 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. 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 parcelled out , acres 1, km 2 to over prospective settlers, mostly rich London Quakers.

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. 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.

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 , and was later deputy-governor of East New Jersey.

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. 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 , Penn returned to England to see his family and to try to resolve a territorial dispute with Lord Baltimore. 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.

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. The new king resolved the border dispute in Penn's favour.

But King James, a Catholic with a largely Protestant parliament, proved a poor ruler, stubborn and inflexible. 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 capitalised 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. 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.

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, inhabitants, and Philadelphia had over 3, 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.

High literacy and open intellectual discourse led to Philadelphia becoming a leader in science and medicine. 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. 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 did promote good 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.

Many Quakers pledged to release their slaves upon their death, including Penn, and some sold their slaves to non-Quakers. 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 Penn returned to England and immediately became embroiled in financial and family troubles.

His eldest son William Jr. Penn had hoped to have William succeed him in America. His own finances were in turmoil. He had made many generous loans which he failed to press. 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 , his widow Bridget threatened to sell Pennsylvania, to which she claimed title. There were considerable discussions about scrapping his constitution. 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. In , Berkeley Codd, Esq. 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. A second stroke several months later left him unable to speak or take care of himself.

He slowly lost his memory. In , 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 Springett and Lady Mary Proude Penington.

The Posthuma in her name indicates that her father had died prior to her birth. By , he had purchased all but the northwestern third of Pennsylvania, and in and additionally purchased the Iroquois Confederacy 's claims to the rest of the land, as well as claims from the Delawares and Wyandots in Penn maintained peaceful relations with the Native Americans and was well-respected by the Susquehannocks , Shawnees , and Leni-Lenape for his courage because he would walk among them without guards or weapons and was an incredible sprinter who could outrun Indian braves.

Penn also recognized the citizenship rights of Swedish, Dutch, and Finnish settlers living in the newly acquired Delaware River Valley. Well ahead of his time, William Penn not only interacted peacefully with Native American tribes but insisted on equal rights for women. While Penn nevertheless owned slaves, as did other early Quakers, Pennsylvania banned the importation of slaves in In , before the U.

While ahead of its time in guaranteeing freedom of religion to all Christians - thus attracting numerous Mennonites, Amish, Anabaptists, German Lutherans, Calvinists, Moravians, Scots-Irish Presbyterians, Welsh Baptists, Irish Catholics, and Missionary Anglicans, the government did not guarantee true freedom of religion as we think of it today.

The new government of Pennsylvania, established in , was a religious utopia to which all the persecuted religious minorities of Europe fled and were granted safe haven. The government consisted of a Governor and freemen of the province, the latter as represented by two ruling houses, a member Provincial Council and a General Assembly representatives , both selected through free and voluntary public elections.

The Provincial Council was presided over by the Governor and responsible for proposing bills to become Law, with sweeping power to split into member subcommittees governing the execution of the laws. Laws proposed by the Provincial Council would pass to the General Assembly for passage. All public officials were required to "such as possess faith in Jesus Christ.

Trials were by member juries with witnesses commanded to speak "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

William penns biography

Any people wrongfully imprisoned were to have double damages against the informer or prosecutor, and any found guilty of willful falsehood was to undergo the penalties of those against whom they bore false witness, "make satisfaction" for those they falsely testified against presumably monetary and be publicly exposed as false witnesses not credible for future court hearings.

Prisons were "work-houses" for felons and vagrants and free in fees, food, and lodging. All fees were to be moderate; both extortion and slander were serious offenses. The Preamble's beginning was unapologetically Christian in tone, plainly revealing its foundation of the government to be based on Biblical principles. The final word in the Preamble, apart from Penn's name, is "Amen".

The following are the 1st three paragraphs of the Preamble:. When the great and wise God had made the world, of all his creatures it pleased him to choose man his deputy to rule it; and to fit him for so great a charge and trust, he did not only qualify him with skill and power but with integrity to use them justly. This native goodness was equally his honor and his happiness; and whilst he stood here, all went well; there was no need of coercive or compulsive means, the precept of divine love and truth, in his bosom, was the guide and keeper of his innocency.

But lust prevailing against duty made a lamentable breach upon it; and the law, that before had no power over him, took place upon him, and his disobedient posterity, that such as would not live comformable to the holy law within should fall under the reproof and correction of the just law without in a judicial administration. This the Apostle teaches in divers of his epistles: "The law," says he, "was added because of transgressions.

The powers that be are ordained of God: whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil: wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.