William Penn (14 October 1644 – 30 July 1718) was an English Quaker nobleman who founded the Province of Pennsylvania in North America in 1681. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, and he founded the city of Philadelphia, named for the concept of "brotherly love".
Biography[]
William Penn was born in London, England in 1644, the son of Sir William Penn, who took part in the restoration of King Charles II of England in 1660. The younger Penn was educated in France, and he was sent to Ireland in 1666 to manage the family land holdings when his father developed gout. He began to attend Quaker meetings near Cork, converting in the same year as his arrival in Ireland. This led to his father disinheriting him and leaving him homeless, and he began to live with Quaker families and became a close friend of Quaker founder George Fox.
Penn soon became a prominent Quaker leader in Ireland, and he spread the faith to Germany from 1671 to 1677. He was persecuted for his faith, even being thrown in the Tower of London. However, his father later came to respect his son's standing up for his beliefs, and he died in 1670, leading to King Charles being indebted to the younger Penn. In 1681, King Charles handed over a large piece of his American land holdings to Penn to pay off his debts, and these lands included Pennsylvania and Delaware. Penn arrived at New Castle, Delaware in 1682, and the colonists pledged allegiance to Penn as their new proprietor. Penn journeyed up the Delaware River and founded Philadelphia, "the City of Brotherly Love", and he intended to make Pennsylvania a colony with democracy and religious freedom. However, his Quaker beliefs alienated the Dutch, English, and Swedish settlers in Delaware, who split off from Pennsylvania in 1704 to form the newly independent colony of Delaware. Penn decided to return to England with his family in 1701, and he died penniless in 1718.