The claim which the father had against the government amounted to about £16,000, but as it was hopeless to expect that Charles II. would liquidate, Penn decided to accept a grant of territory in America in lieu of the money, and his influence with the Duke of York and other leading courtiers of the day was sufficient to obtain the fulfillment of his desire.* On March 5, 1681, he wrote a letter in which he says, "This day, after many waitings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes, my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of England, with large powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania, a name the king gave it in honor of my father.† I chose New Wales, being a hilly country, and when the secretary, a Welshman, refused to call it New Wales, I proposed Sylvania, and they added Penn to it, though I much opposed him, and went to the king to have it struck out. He said 'twas past, and he would take it upon him; nor could twenty guineas move the under secretary to alter the

William Penn (1900); Mrs. Grant, Quaker and Courtier: The Life and Work of William Penn; Webb, The Penns and Pennington (1867); and biographies by T. Clarkson (1813), Hodges (1901), Janney (1852), Stoughton (1882), Weems (1836).

* Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, vol. ii., pp. 99-139; Bancroft, vol. i., p. 553.

The charter bears date of March 4, and the text is given in full in Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, vol. ii., Appendix ii., pp. 370-386; also

in Proud, History of Pennsylvania, vol. i., pp.

171-187; Thorpe, Federal and State Constitutions, vol. v., pp. 3035-3044. See also Appendix I at the end of the present chapter.

399

name, for I feared it should be looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the king to my father, as it really was. Thou mayst communicate my grant to my friends, and expect shortly my proposals. 'Tis a dear and just thing, and my God, that has given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government, that it be well laid at first."

The Delaware was to be the eastern boundary of the province, the northeast corner of which was to be the point where the Delaware intersects the 43d degree of latitude. The northern line was then to be run to the edge of Lake Erie, whence the line was to run due south through the wilderness. The southern boundary was fixed on such ambiguous terms that a dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania arose and continued for many years. By this charter, Penn was created "true and absolute lord" of Pennsylvania, and given ample power of government; but "the advice and consent of the freemen of the province" were necessary to the enactment of laws. To the crown was reserved the right of veto, and to Parliament the levying of duties and taxes.*

Already a considerable number of Dutch and Swedish settlers were within the limits of Pennsylvania. Accordingly, in April, 1681, Penn

* Doyle, Middle Colonies, p. 385.

sent out the royal proclamation constituting him lord proprietor, by William Markham, one of his kinsmen, in order that he might secure the good will of these settlers. Penn says that they are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great "; that they "shall be governed by laws of [their] own making, and live a free, and if [they] will, a sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp the right of any nor opress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution, and has given me His grace to keep it."* Penn also gave Markham authority to arrange the question of boundaries with the proprietary of Maryland, but he was unable to accomplish anything in that direction. Meanwhile, in England, in May, 1681, measures had been taken to secure settlers; proposals were issued for the sale of lands at the rate of forty shillings, or about $10 the hundred acres. A company, known as the Company of Free Traders, was formed, and in October, three vessels set sail with a body of emigrants for the shores of the Delaware.‡ With them they carried instructions for building a new city, which Penn desired might resemble a green and open country town. At this time, Penn wrote to the Indians in a spirit of hearty good will, which

was probably the first time the Indians had been addressed in the true spirit of philanthropy, and not as savages." The great God," he wrote, "had been pleased to make him concerned in their part of the world, and the king of the country where he lived had given him a great province therein; but he did not desire to enjoy it without their consent; he was a man of peace, and the people whom he sent were of the same disposition, and if any difference should happen between them, it might be adjusted by an equal number of men chosen on both sides."

In the early part of 1682, Penn issued his "Frame of Government." He said: "For the matters of liberty and privilege I propose that which is extraordinary, and to leave myself and my successors no power of doing mischief, so that the will of one man may not hinder the good of the whole country; for liberty without obedience is confusion, obedience without liberty is slavery." The Assembly, which was to consist, first, of all the freemen, afterward, of delegates, never more than 500, nor less than 200 freemen, were to elect a council of 72 members, one-third to go out and be replaced annually, over whom the proprietary or his deputy was to preside and enjoy a triple vote. This

* Bancroft, vol. i., p. 555; Sharpless, A Quaker Experiment in Government, p. 48. The draft of this instrument is in Proud, vol. ii., pp. 5-20: Thorpe, Federal and State Constitutions, vol. v., pp. 3052–3059. See also Appendix II at the end of the present chapter.

were formed into a council, and the remainder into an Assembly. It was decided that the Assembly in future should consist of only 36 members, six from each county, to be chosen annually, with a council composed of three members from each county, who were to hold their seats for three years, one being chosen each year. The restriction of the governor to three votes was dropped, and the governor and council were to possess jointly the right of proposing laws. According to Penn's account of the matter, this movement, allowing the proprietary greater power, was a spontaneous movement of the freemen themselves, and was not, as charged some twenty years later, brought about because he had used undue influence or had violated his original promise.* A code of laws was enacted, which very nearly resembled that agreed upon in England. "Universal toleration was proclaimed; each sect was to support itself. Every freeman had the right of voting and holding office, the only restrictions being the necessity of a belief in God and abstenance from labor on the Lord's Day. Trial by jury was established, and murder and treason alone were punishable with death. Primogeniture, with a trifling reservation, was abrogated. Marriage was regarded as a civil contract. Every child was to be taught some useful trade, thus tending to

* Hildreth, vol. ii., p. 67.

prevent future vagabondage and crime

while the prisons were to be also workhouses, where the offender might be not only punished, but if possible, reclaimed again to the community." *

Penn now undertook to settle the boundary disputes, but found the question to be very difficult, as many of the charters had been granted in ignorance of the geography of the country, which naturally occasioned serious differences when the colonists arrived in America. This was partly the cause of the dispute between Penn and Baltimore, but Penn claims that "it was not the love or need of the land, but the water," that induced him to open negotiations with Lord Baltimore.† He claimed that the boundary lines of the territory granted to him were absolutely necessary to the future welfare of the colony, but Lord Baltimore was equally as stubborn in asserting his rights under the charter granted him. Various historians have taken different views of the merits of this case, and it is undoubtedly true that both parties considered themselves to be in the right; but after a heated and unsatisfactory debate, which did not result in any agreement, the negotia

* Printed in Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania, p. 619 et seq. See also the resumé in Doyle, Middle Colonies, p. 395 et seq.; Hildreth, vol. ii.. p. 68; Bancroft, vol. i., p. 564; Sharpless, A Quaker Experiment in Government, pp. 56-62, 150; ibid, Two Centuries of Pennsylvania History, pp. 55-57.

† Dixon, William Penn, p. 187.