William Penn, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

William Penn

English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania

Date of Birth: 14-Oct-1644

Place of Birth: London

Date of Death: 30-Jul-1718

Profession: politician, entrepreneur, theologian, philosopher

Zodiac Sign: Libra


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About William Penn

  • William Penn (14 October 1644 – 30 July 1718) was the son of the admiral and politician Sir William Penn.
  • Penn was a writer, early Quaker, and founder of the English North American colony the Province of Pennsylvania.
  • He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans.
  • Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed. In 1681, King Charles II handed over a large piece of his American land holdings to Penn to pay the debts the king owed to Penn's father.
  • This land included the present-day states of Pennsylvania and Delaware.
  • Penn immediately set sail and took his first step on American soil in New Castle (now in Delaware) in 1682.
  • On this occasion, the colonists pledged allegiance to Penn as their new proprietor, and the first Pennsylvania General Assembly was held.
  • Afterward, Penn journeyed up the Delaware River and founded Philadelphia.
  • However, Penn's Quaker government was not viewed favorably by the Dutch, Swedish, and English settlers in what is now Delaware.
  • They had no historical allegiance to Pennsylvania, so they almost immediately began petitioning for their own assembly.
  • In 1704 they achieved their goal when the three southernmost counties of Pennsylvania were permitted to split off and become the new semi-autonomous colony of Lower Delaware.
  • As the most prominent, prosperous and influential settlement in the new colony, New Castle became the capital. 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 of Government served as an inspiration for the United States Constitution. As a pacifist Quaker, Penn considered the problems of war and peace deeply.
  • He developed a forward-looking project for a United States of Europe through the creation of a European Assembly made of deputies who could discuss and adjudicate controversies peacefully.
  • He is therefore considered the first thinker to suggest the creation of a European Parliament.A man of deep religious convictions, Penn wrote numerous works in which he exhorted believers to adhere to the spirit of Primitive Christianity.
  • He was imprisoned several times in the Tower of London due to his faith, and his book No Cross, No Crown (1669), which he wrote while in prison, has become a Christian classic.

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