 26-year-old
William Penn received from King Charles II the charter to Pennsylvania
on MARCH 10, 1681, as repayment of a debt owed to his deceased father
Admiral Sir William Penn, who captured Jamaica and defeated the Dutch
navy.
A student at Oxford, William Penn was expelled for having
his own prayer services in his dorm room instead of attending the
Anglican chapel.
Penn converted to Quakerism and was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
His
colony was a "holy experiment" for persecuted Europeans, one of the few
original colonies to accept Mennonites, Amish, Catholics and Jews.
Emphasizing his plan of Christian tolerance, William Penn named the city "Philadelphia," Greek for "Brotherly Love."
History
records that since William Penn insisted on treating the Delaware
Indians honestly, paying a fair sum for the land, his city of
Philadelphia was spared the Indian attacks and scalpings that other
colonial settlements experienced.
Before arriving, William Penn wrote to the Delaware chiefs:
"My
Friends, There is one...God...and He hath made...the king of the
country where I live, give...unto me a great province therein, but I
desire to enjoy it with your...consent, that we may always live together
as...friends."
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