William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania: A Documentary History

Front Cover
Jean R. Soderlund
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983 - 432 pages

On March 5, 1681, one day after receiving his royal charter for Pennsylvania, William Penn wrote that he believed God would make his colony "the seed of the nation." Penn wanted his Pennsylvania to be a land where people of differing languages and customs could live together, where men and women could worship as they pleased, where men could participate fully in their government. Such a land, Penn believed, would indeed be blessed.

Beginning with his petition to the king in May 1680 and ending with his departure to England in August 1684, this book contains the most important documents describing the founding of Pennsylvania. The letters, orders, petitions, charters, laws, pamphlets, maps, constitutional drafts, legislative journals, newspaper articles, memoranda, deeds, and other business records assembled here include Penn's own explanations of his desire to found a Quaker colony, his invitation to settlers, and his design for government.

 

Contents

Introduction
3
Editorial Method
11
IS Negotiating the Charter for Pennsylvania
17
Minute of the Committee of Trade 14 June 1680
24
Sir John Werden to William Blathwayt 16 October 1680
30
Warrant to the Privy Seal Office 28 February 1681
36
Promoting the New Colony
51
To Lord Baltimore 10 April 1681
57
To Lord Baltimore 6 June 1683
277
William Kennerly to James Harrison 6 June 1683
281
From William Clarke 21 June 1683
284
Deed from the Delaware Indians 23 June 1683
287
To William Markham James Harrison and William Clarke 2 July 1683
288
Release of Customs Duty 2 July 1683
290
To Lord North 24 July 1683
292
Commission and Instructions to James Graham and William Haige 2 August 1683
293

To Robert Turner Anthony Sharp and Roger Roberts 12 April 1681
66
S Selling Land to the First Purchasers
69
Land Sale to Philip Ford 14 July 1681
76
To Planters in Maryland 16 September 1681
82
Additional Instructions to William Markham 28 October 1681
89
The Fundamental Constitutions summer 1681?
99
First Draft of the Frame of Government
109
The Frame of Government and Laws Agreed Upon in England
118
Benjamin Furlys Criticism of The Frame of Government 1682
134
S Preparing to Leave for Pennsylvania
141
William and Jane Yardley to James Harrison 21 July 1682
164
Mortgage to Philip Ford 24 August 1682
172
Edward Jones to John ap Thomas 26 August 1682
178
S First Months in America October 1682May 1683
183
Negotiating with the Indians
185
John Molls Account of the Surrender of the Three Lower Counties to William Penn 1682
186
To Philip Ford 1 November 1682
188
Writ to John Vines to Call an Election 8 November 1682
189
To William Blathwayt and Francis Gwyn 21 November 1682
190
John Viness Election Return 21 November 1682
191
Petition for an Act of Union 6 December 1682
192
To Justices of the Peace 21 December 1682
193
Minute of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting 9 January 1683
194
Naturalization of Swedish Inhabitants 11 January 1683
197
To Jasper Batt 5 February 1683
199
To Lord Culpeper 5 February 1683
202
Laying Out Philadelphia Lots 17 March 1683
204
Tavern Regulations c 23 March 1683
206
From James Claypoole 1 April 1683
208
Early Census of Philadelphia County Inhabitants post 14 April 1683
212
To John Blaykling and Others 16 April 1683
216
From Joseph Harris 19 May 1683
218
The Pennsylvania General Assembly 10 March 16834 April 1683
223
Minutes of the Provincial Council and Assembly of Pennsylvania 10 March4 April 1683
226
The Second Frame of Government 2 April 1683
265
S Conflict with Lord Baltimore June 1683August 1683
275
From Margaret Lowther 4 August 1683
295
To Charles II 13 August 1683
297
To the Committee of Trade 14 August 1683
299
August 1683December 1683
305
Letter to the Free Society of Traders 16 August 1683
308
Gulielma Penn to Margaret Fox 21 August 1683
324
From William Haige 29 August 1683
325
To William Markham c 1 September 1683
328
From James Walliam and John White 8 September 1683
334
The Surveying of Germantown 12 October 1683
335
Purchase of the Mouth of the Susquehanna River 18 October 1683
336
To Tenants in New Castle Chester Philadelphia and Bucks Counties 9 November 1683
338
James Claypoole to Edward Claypoole 2 December 1683
340
Lord Baltimore to Richard Burke 7 December 1683
342
S Friction with the Colonists January 1684July 1684
347
From William Welch 18 February 1684
350
From James Harrison 23 February 1684
351
Positive Information from America by Francis Daniel Pastorius 7 March 1684
353
From Elizabeth Gretton 20 March 1684
361
From William Markham 27 March 1684
362
From Samuel Carpenter c April 1684
367
To John Simcock and Others 2 April 1684
369
From William Welch 5 April 1684
371
From Richard Davies 7 July 1684
373
Remonstrance from the Inhabitants of Philadelphia c July 1684
377
Return to England August 1684
385
Commission to President Thomas Lloyd and the Provincial Council 6 August 1684
388
Gardening Directions for Ralph Smyth August? 1684
389
Last Will and Testament 6 August 1684
390
To Gulielma Penn 6 August 1684
392
Farewell to Pennsylvania 12 August 1684
394
Abbreviations
399
Glossary
400
Suggestions for Further Reading
404
Index
407
Copyright

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About the author (1983)

Jean R. Soderlund is Professor of History at Lehigh University, where she is also chair of the History Department and codirector of the Lawrence Henry Gipson Institute for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Her other books include Quakers and Slavery: A Divided Spirit and, with Gary B. Nash, Freedom By Degrees: Emancipation in Pennsylvania and Its Aftermath.

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