Grace Irvine Professor Halloran REL 0876-002 2 October 2017 Mid-term Essay William Penn was born to Admiral Sir William Penn and grew up in London, England as an Anglican. By the age of 22, he converted to Quakerism with the influence of George Fox, a Quaker. With the help of Quakerism beliefs, Penn used his newly obtained land to conduct a “Holy experiment”. This new place would consist of attempting to bring a wide range of religious diversity and learning to accept differences. Although Penn’s vision of the land sometimes wasn’t up to his standards, he was able to bring about peace with the Lenapes. As far as ideology goes, Quakers believed in finding god through their own individual experiences. During their assemblies there is no predetermined program. In fact, congregants sit in silence to seek a degree of enlightenment. They ministered by bringing a sense of God into the services rather than discussing Quaker theology. As an influencer of Penn, “Fox emphasized the innate equality in all people, and inward light that revealed divinity in each person...” (Krueger 75). The idea that everyone has god in them and is made equal helped Penn create foundations for his “Holy Experiment”. In other words, Penn …show more content…
When it came to Moravian Indians, Penn’s vision of protecting them wasn’t fully realized. Explicitly, around 1754, a White supremacist group, named the Paxton Boys, came to Philadelphia to attack the Moravians. This provoked the city councils to exile them to western Pennsylvania, away from Philadelphia’s harmonious environment. This event made “…it is clear that their racial ‘otherness’ prevented them from being welcomed into Philadelphia society” (Krueger 78). Penn couldn’t always keep a “peaceable kingdom” like he wanted, due to the fact that the racial diversity could not be overlooked by some