William Penn Research Paper

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William Penn was an English Quaker who started religious and civil liberty and founded Pennsylvania as a "Holy Experiment," where these liberties could exist. Penn was born in London on October 14, 1644, the son of Admiral Sir William Penn, a wealthy landowner, and good friend of King Charles II. Although his father was an Anglican Penn was drawn to the Puritans. In 1662, after two years study at Christ Church College he was expelled because of his refusal to accept the university rule that all students must attend the Church of England. Hoping to change his son's religious beliefs, Penn's father sent him to Italy and France. In Ireland, Penn met the Quaker preacher Thomas and became convinced of the truth of the Quaker faith, Penn gave up a promising future. Penn himself was imprisoned several times for preaching and writing about the Society of Quakers. While locked up in the Tower of London, he wrote his celebrated No Cross, No Crown setting the Quaker doctrines of nonviolence. Penn was again arrested …show more content…
In 1677, he helped settle the affairs of a Quaker colony in New Jersey, for which he took part in the drafting of a liberal charter. Penn's dream of a "Holy Experiment" came true when he was granted a charter giving him proprietary rights over the territory west of the Delaware River between New York and Maryland. In 1682, Penn drew up a "Frame of Government," providing for an elected assembly. Penn's "Frame" may have had an influence on the Constitution of the United States. Other laws guaranteed free elections and trial by jury and established a human code. The promises of cheap land and religious freedom settlers from the Netherlands and Germany as well as England poured into Pennsylvania, as the new colony was called. Penn went there himself in 1682. He helped get the government set up and held friendly councils with the American Indians to transfer of their lands and ensure peaceful