William Penn: The Founder of Pennsylvania P4

Last week I talked about William Penn accepting land in America from King Charles II as a financial debt owed to his dad. William Penn moving to America and then proceeding to purchase the land from the Indians understanding it rightfully belonged to them.

The local natives had a great respect for Penn. In fact, an early American encyclopedia noted “The influence of Penn was so great among the Indians, that to be a follower of his was at all times a passport to their (the Indians) protection and hospitality,” and historian George Bancroft pointed out that in the earliest years of colonial America, “not a drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by an Indian.”

While Pennsylvania was established as a Quaker colony, it fully protected the rights of religious expression and religious conscience for everyone - all were welcome there. Of that colony, Penn declared, “My God that has given it to me…will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation.”

Content Sourced from The American Story The Beginnings by: David Barton & Tim Barton