Not Only Europe, Also America. William Penn: Governor of Pennsylvania and Friend of the Natives

Abstract

As we celebrate the 300 th anniversary of William Penn’s death as well as the 325 th anniversary of the publication of Penn’s plan for a European parliament, it is also worth considering his contribution to American history, notably the foundation of Pennsylvania. The most remarkable feature of Penn’s “holy experiment” in colonial British America was the harmonious relationship that was established, and maintained for some seventy years, between the Quaker colonists and the native Americans. Penn advanced racial equality as well as peaceful and harmonious relations between different cultures, sitting in council with the Indians many times and promoting the fair purchase of land from them. Penn’s 1682 Frame of Government for the colony limited the power of government and guaranteed many fundamental liberties. It was subsequently adopted by the Pennsylvania Assembly as the New Charter and formed the model for most state governments in the United States. Penn’s last revision of the Frame, the 1701 Charter of Privileges, remained in force until 1776. Finally, just as Penn really was the first to propose, in some detail, a European parliament, so he was the first to propose, only a few years later, a union of the British colonies in America."