New Nation: William Penn

Pennsylvania

The starting of a new new nation began with one man; William Penn. William Penn founded a piece of land that was just like all the rest of the land. He named it Pennsylvania, meaning “The forests of Penn.” Pennsylvania became a state on December 12, 1787. It was one of the 13 original colonies. Pennsylvania was the second state to join the union, during the American Revolution. Penn was the creator of the first Pennsylvanian philosophical government. He was very religious and philosophical in his work. He was a big believer in his own thoughts and liked the thoughts of other people. A group called the Quakers were formed by George Fox, in the 17th century. The Quakers were a very religious group, a lot like Christianity. The different

Penn was a believer that every person was to be able to speak to God, and to be looked up upon. The creating of a new nation began with the creation of a new group, the Quakers. Penn himself was a quaker, and had religious tolerance. A belief of the Quakers was, “...that all men are children of God” (Bronner). The Quaker religion was a lot like Christianity today. The Quakers also “fostered advanced ideas concerning the equality of the sexes and enslavement of human beings” (Bronner). This came with the idea of the abolishment of slavery. The quakers often struggled with ill-treatment (Frost). “In the 1670’s Penn helped to transform that struggle politically and intellectually... in the Frame Of Government and early laws of Pennsylvania” (Frost). This was the start of a rising quaker religion. Another problem was other religions, accusing them of insanity (Waln Jr).This was because “of their radical religious ideas and their ecstatic mode of worship (Waln Jr). The quakers had their own religion, and they were going to use it too power over other groups. “By the nineteenth century, quakers had become much more respectable” (Waln Jr). This was shown through the better way of worship, and the understanding of other

“William Penn… was able to devise a governmental system…... of his own political philosophy” (Maples, 1957). This system of government was able to form, because of Penn’s love for politics (Maples, 1957). Penn’s form of government was ran by the people, and for the people. Pennsylvania’s government was ran under the form of a liberal democracy. This type of government is a lot like how our government is ran in Pennsylvania today. Pennsylvania today, is also ran under the form of a liberal democracy. The form of government Pennsylvania has today is also ran for the people and by the people. That was Penns goal to get his governmental system, for it to spread on. “Penn compared government to a clock in that it runs from the motion men give to it” (Young). Government is not only ran by the men, but the government was run for the men. “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”