Page 81 - American Stories, A History of the United States

2.1 Read the Document William Penn, “Model for Government” (1681)

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wiLLiam pEnn William Penn (1644–1718) received a charter for Pennsylvania from King Charles II in 1681. Penn
intended his colony to serve as a religious haven for both his fellow Quakers—who faced persecution both from the
Church of England and from the Puritans in New England—and for members of other persecuted Protestant sects.

would have access to the Atlantic and determined even before Philadelphia had been
established that it would become a commercial center.
Penn lost no time in launching his “Holy Experiment.” In 1682, he set forth his
ideas in an unusual document known as the Frame of Government. The royal charter
gave Penn the right to create any form of government he desired, and his imagination
ran wild. His plan blended traditional notions about the privileges of a landed aris-
tocracy with daring concepts of personal liberty. Penn guaranteed that settlers would
enjoy, among other things, liberty of conscience, freedom from persecution, no taxa-
tion without representation, and due process of law.
Penn promoted his colony aggressively throughout England, Ireland, and Germany.
He had no choice. His only source of revenue was the sale of land and the collection
of quitrents. Penn commissioned pamphlets in several languages extolling the quality
of Pennsylvania’s rich farmland. The response was overwhelming. People poured into
Philadelphia, the new city Penn had laid out, and the surrounding area. In 1685 alone,
8,000 immigrants arrived. Most of the settlers were Irish, Welsh, and English Quakers,
and they generally moved to America as families. But Penn opened the door to men
and women of all nations. He asserted that the people of Pennsylvania “are a collection
of divers nations in Europe, as French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Scotch,
Irish, and English.”
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