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Chapter 5
Pennsylvania. One law, called the
Great Law
(1682), stated that all people were born
equal. This law also allowed people to
worship in the religion of their choice.
Freedom of religion became one of the first
promises our national government made to
the people when the United States became
an independent country.
Williampassed a second law called
Frame of
Government
. This law allowed the people to set
up a
General Assembly
. A general assembly
is a group of people chosen by the people to
make rules on how the colony should be
governed. For common people to set up a
government was a new, unheard of idea. This
idea became known as
freedom of speech
.
Because Pennsylvania was a colony of
England, the kingor queen still had thepower
to say yes or no to the laws that weremade.
Meanwhile, back in England, many
thousands of Quakers were put into jail.
This alarmed William. He returned to his
home country in 1684. He felt that his
colonywas off to a good start. He stayed for
15 years in England. However, during that
time, people running Pennsylvania could
not agree on the best way to govern the
colony. In 1699, William returned to his
colony. He was able to get the government
running smoothly again. In 1701, he had
another set of laws passed. Theywere called
the
Charter of Privileges
. These laws
allowed the colony to suggest laws to
England. They also again provided for the
freedom of religion.
In1701, trouble inEngland calledWilliam
back home. He was never to return to his
colony. In 1711, William suffered a stroke
that preventedhim from runninghis colony.
William spent only three years inhis colony!
He saw only a very small part of his colony’s
land. His secondwife, Hannah, took control
and ran Pennsylvania’s government from
England. William Penn died in 1718.
The Pennsylvania colony was ruled by the
Penn family until the colonies’
War for
Independence
from England in 1775.
What was William Penn’s influence on
the world? His Pennsylvania colony
showed amodel government for the rest of
theworld. Pennmade sure that people had
a say inhow theywere ruled. Hemade sure
they had the freedom of religion and
speech. These ideas really became the basis
upon which our democratic form of
government was organized. It was William
Penn who “got the ball rolling” toward
freedoms for people.
ReviewQuestions
1. Write fivewords to describeWilliam Penn?
2. Why did he start the colony of Pennsylvania?
3. How did Pennsylvania get its name?
4. What didWilliam Penn call his plan?
5. What three ideas wasWilliam trying to set up inhis colony?
6. Name threeways theDelawares helped theQuaker settlers.
7. How didWilliam think theDelawares should be treated?
8. What does Philadelphiamean?
9. Name three influencesWilliam Pennhad on theworld.
