"Here, then, are the major documents relating to the founding of Pennsylvania. . . . They are central to understanding the early evolution of America as a complex, variegated society."--Journal of American HistoryJournal of American History "This is, of course, a story which has been told before. But never has it been so richly documented. Again we are in the debt of the Dunns and their associates at the Penn Papers for bringing us this historical treasure."--Pennsylvania HistoryPennsylvania History
William Penn was an English founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future U.S. State of Pennsylvania. He was known as an early champion of democracy and religious freedom and famous for his good relations and his treaties with the Lenape Indians. Under his direction, Philadelphia was planned and developed.
As one of the earlier supporters of colonial unification, Penn wrote and urged for a Union of all the English colonies in what was to become the United States of America. The democratic principles that he set forth in the Pennsylvania Frame(s) of Government served as an inspiration for the United States Constitution. As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems of war and peace deeply, and included a plan for a United States of Europe, "European Dyet, Parliament or Estates," in his voluminous writings.
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