Province of Pennsylvania

British colony in North America (1681–1776)

Province of Pennsylvania

1681–1776

Flag

Coat of arms

Map of the Province of Pennsylvania

Land purchases from Native Americans in Pennsylvania

Status|

* Colony of England (1681–1707)
* Colony of Great Britain (1707–1776)

Capital| Philadelphia
Official languages| English and Pennsylvania Dutch
Government| Proprietary Colony
Proprietor|

• 1681–1718

| William Penn (first)

• 1775-1776

| John Penn (last)
Governor|

• 1681-1682

| William Markham (first)

• 1773-1776

| John Penn (last)
Legislature| (1683-1776)
Provincial Assembly
(1776)
Provincial Conference

• Upper house

| Provincial Council

• Lower house

| General Assembly
History|

• Land grant by Charles II of England to William Penn

| March 4, 1681

• Declaration of Independence

| July 4, 1776
Currency| Pennsylvania pound⁸

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | New Netherland

|

| Pennsylvania |

|

Delaware |
Today part of| United States

The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from Latin, meaning "Penn's Woods", a reference to William Penn's father Admiral Sir William Penn.

## History

[edit]

### European settlement

[edit]

Further information: William Penn

The Province of Pennsylvania was one of two major Restoration colonies in colonial-era British America. The proprietary colony's charter remained in the Penn family until the Penns were ousted in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was established as one of the original thirteen states.

In June 1776, the Lower counties on the Delaware, a separate colony within the Province of Pennsylvania, broke away from the Province of Pennsylvania. On September 7, 1787, following independence, this former colony, renamed Delaware, was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, making it the nation's first U.S. state and one of the original thirteen states. Three months later, on December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution and join the United States.

The Province of Pennsylvania attracted English Quakers, Germans, and Scots-Irish frontiersmen. The Lenape Indian tribe, which inhabited most of present-day eastern Pennsylvania, mostly co-existed peacefully with the Quakers during William Penn's governance of the province.

However, once Tamanend, who supported peaceful coexistence with the settlers, died in 1701, and William Penn, who was equally committed to peaceful relations, died in 1718, wars began breaking out between the Lenape and European settlers. Quakers demonized Lenape mythology, even though Quakers were strong proponents of religious freedom.[1]

### American Revolution

[edit]

Main article: Pennsylvania in the American Revolution

During the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Philadelphia, which served as both the first capital of the Province of Pennsylvania and the colonial-era capital of the Thirteen Colonies, emerged as a major port, commercial city, and a central location for the thinking, writings, and planning that ultimately inspired the American Revolution.

During the American Revolution and Revolutionary War, both the First and Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. In 1775, after the Revolutionary War broke out with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress, meeting inside present-day Independence Hall, formed the Continental Army and unanimously selected George Washington as the new army's commander-in-chief.

The following year, in June 1776, Thomas Jefferson authored the first draft of the Declaration of Independence from his second floor apartment at present-day 700 Market Street; on July 4, the Declaration was unanimously adopted and issued to King George III by all 56 delegates to the convention.

Between July 1776 and November 1777, the Second Continental Congress debated and authored the Articles of Confederation at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

On September 26, 1777, during the British Army's Philadelphia campaign, Philadelphia fell to the British, who occupied the city through June 1778, forcing Washington and 12,000 Continental Army troops to retreat to Valley Forge, where as many as 2,000 died from disease or starvation over the harsh winter of 1777-1778.

Following independence, the Constitution of the United States, now the longest-standing written constitution in the world, was debated, authored, and implemented at the Constitutional Convention, which met inside Independence Hall from May 25 to September 17, 1787, with George Washington presiding as the convention's president.

During the American Revolution, Philadelphia was the second-most populous city in the entire British Empire after London.

### Post-independence

[edit]

Once American independence was secured, Philadelphia continued to serve as the nation's capital from 1790 to until 1800, while the new national capital city in Washington, D.C. was constructed.[2] Both George Washington, the nation's first president, and John Adams, the nation's second president, lived and worked from President's House in Philadelphia while the White House was being constructed in Washington, D.C. In November 1800, near the end of his administration, Adams relocated to the White House through the end of his term in March 1801, becoming the first U.S. president to work and reside there.

## Government

[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Historical populationYear| Pop.| ±%

|
|

1680| 680| —
1690| 11,450| +1583.8%
1700| 17,950| +56.8%
1710| 24,450| +36.2%
1720| 30,962| +26.6%
1730| 51,707| +67.0%
1740| 85,637| +65.6%
1750| 119,666| +39.7%
1760| 183,703| +53.5%
1770| 240,057| +30.7%
1780| 327,305| +36.3%
Source: 1680–1760;[3] 1770–1780[4]

The Province of Pennsylvania's colonial government was established in 1683, by William Penn's Frame of Government. Penn was appointed governor and a 72-member Provincial Council and larger General Assembly were responsible for governing the province. The General Assembly, also known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, was the largest and most representative branch of government but had limited powers.

Succeeding frames of government were produced in 1683, 1696, and 1701. The fourth frame, also known as the Charter of Privileges, remained in effect until the American Revolution. At the time, the Provincial Assembly was deemed too moderate by American revolutionaries, who rejected the General Assembly's authority and held the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which produced the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 for the newly established commonwealth and created the new Pennsylvania General Assembly.

## Counties

[edit]

Despite having the land grant from King Charles II, Penn embarked on an effort to purchase the lands from Native Americans. The Lenape Indian tribe held much of the land near present-day Philadelphia, and they expected payment in exchange for a quitclaim to vacate the territory.[5] Penn and his representatives (Proprietors) negotiated a series of treaties with the Lenape and other tribes that had an interest in the land in his royal grant.

The initial treaties were conducted between 1682 and 1684, for tracts between New Jersey and the former Delaware Colony in present-day Delaware.[6] The province was divided into three counties, plus the three Lower counties on Delaware Bay, including Bucks County, Philadelphia County, and Chester County.

### Lower counties

[edit]

Main article: History of Delaware

The lower counties on Delaware, a separate colony within the province, included the three counties of present-day Delaware: New Castle, Sussex, and Kent County.

### New lands and counties

[edit]

Several decades into the 18th century, additional treaties with Native Americans were concluded. The colony's proprietors made treaties in 1718, 1732, 1737, 1749, 1754, and 1754, pushing the boundaries of the colony, which were still within the original royal grant, north and west.[6] By the time the French and Indian War began in 1754, the Assembly had established additional counties, including Lancaster (1729), York (1749), Cumberland (1750), Berks (1752), and Northampton (1752).[6]

After the French and Indian War concluded, an additional treaty was made in 1768, which codified the limits of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which provided a temporary boundary that could be extended further west in an orderly manner by the royal government but not by private individuals, such as the proprietors. This agreement altered the original royal land grant to Penn.

The next acquisitions by Pennsylvania took place after Pennsylvania became part of the United States, following its ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly established three additional counties prior to the American Revolutionary War: Bedford (1771), Northumberland (1772), and Westmoreland (1773).[6]

## Religious freedom and prosperity

[edit]

William Penn and his fellow Quakers heavily imprinted their religious beliefs and values on the early Pennsylvanian government. The Charter of Privileges extended religious freedom to all monotheists, and the government was initially open to all Christians. Until the French and Indian War, Pennsylvania had no military, few taxes, and no public debt. It also encouraged the rapid growth of Philadelphia into America's most important city and of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country hinterlands, where German (or "Deutsch") religions and political refugees prospered on the fertile soil and spirit of cultural creativeness. Among the first groups were the Mennonites, who founded Germantown in 1683; and the Amish, who established the Northkill Amish Settlement in 1740. 1751 was an auspicious year for the colony. Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the British American colonies,[7] and The Academy and College of Philadelphia, the predecessor to the private University of Pennsylvania,[8] both opened. Benjamin Franklin founded both of these institutions and Philadelphia's Union Fire Company fifteen years earlier in 1736.[9] Likewise in 1751, the Pennsylvania State House ordered a new bell which would become known as the Liberty Bell for the new bell tower being built in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia.

## Indigenous relations

[edit]

Benjamin West's 1771 portrait of William Penn's 1682 treaty with the Lenape

William Penn had mandated fair dealings with Native Americans in the United States. This led to significantly better relations with the local tribes, mainly the Lenape and Susquehanna, than most other colonies had.[10] The Quakers had previously treated Indians with respect, bought land from them voluntarily, and had even representation of Indians and whites on juries. According to Voltaire, the Shackamaxon Treaty was "the only treaty between Indians and Christians that was never sworn to and that was never broken."[11][12][13] The Quakers also refused to provide any assistance to New England's Indian wars.

In 1737, the Colony exchanged a great deal of its political goodwill with the native Lenape for more land.[10] The colonial administrators claimed that they had a deed dating to the 1680s in which the Lenape-Delaware had promised to sell a portion of land beginning between the junction of the Delaware River and Lehigh River in present-day Easton, Pennsylvania "as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half."

The purchase became known as the Walking Purchase.[10] Although the document was most likely a forgery, the Lenape did not realize that. Provincial Secretary James Logan set in motion a plan that would grab as much land as they could get and hired the three fastest runners in the colony to run out the purchase on a trail that had been cleared by other members of the colony beforehand. The pace was so intense that only one runner completed the "walk", covering an astonishing 70 miles (110 km).[10] This netted the Penns 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2) of land in what is now northeastern Pennsylvania, an area roughly equivalent to the size of the state of Rhode Island in the purchase. The area of the purchase covers all or part of what are now Pike, Monroe, Carbon, Schuylkill, Northampton, Lehigh, and Bucks counties.

The Lenape tribe fought for the next 19 years to have the treaty annulled but to no avail. The Lenape-Delaware were forced into the Shamokin and Wyoming Valleys, which were overcrowded with other displaced tribes.[14]

### Limits on further settlement

[edit]

Further information: Great Britain in the Seven Years' War

As the colony grew, colonists and British military forces came into confrontation with natives in the state's Western half. Britain fought for control of the neighboring Ohio Country with France during the French and Indian War. Following the British victory, the territory was formally ceded to them in 1763, and became part of the British Empire.

With the French and Indian War over and Pontiac's War just beginning, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 banned colonization beyond the Appalachian Mountains to prevent settlers settling lands that Indians tribes were using. This proclamation impacted Pennsylvanians and Virginians the most, since they both had been racing towards the lands surrounding Fort Pitt in modern-day Pittsburgh.

## Governors and Deputy Governors

[edit]

Main article: List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania

## Judiciary

[edit]

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, consisting of the Chief Justice and at least one other judge, was founded by statute in 1722 (although dating back to 1684 as the Provincial Court) and sat in Philadelphia twice a year.

Chief Justices[15] Incumbent  | Tenure

|

Took office  | Left office
Arthur Cook | 1681 | 1684
Nicholas Moore | 1684 | 1685
Arthur Cook | 1686 | 1690
John Simcock | 1690 | 1693
Andrew Robson | 1693 | 1699
Edward Shippen | 1699 | 1701
John Guest | August 20, 1701 | April 10, 1703
William Clark | April 10, 1703 | 1705
John Guest | 1705 | 1706
Roger Mompesson | April 17, 1706 | 1715
Joseph Growden, Jr. | 1715 | 1718
David Lloyd | 1718 | 1731
James Logan | August 20, 1731 | 1739
Jeremiah Langhorne | August 13, 1739 | 1743
John Kinsey | April 5, 1743 | 1750
William Allen | September 20, 1750 | 1774
Benjamin Chew | April 29, 1774 | 1776

## Notable people

[edit]

* John Dickinson, Founding Father of the United States
* Benjamin Franklin moved to Philadelphia at age 17 in 1723; he was Pennsylvania's most famous citizen during his later years. Among his accomplishments was founding in 1751 the Academy and College of Philadelphia, the predecessor to the private University of Pennsylvania. Franklin was also a strong advocate for a state militia, creating his own extra-legal militia when the state assembly would not during King George's War[16]
* Thomas McKean was born in New London, Pennsylvania. He was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the second President of the U.S. Congress under the Articles of Confederation, Acting President of Delaware, and Chief Justice and Governor of Pennsylvania
* Gouverneur Morris, one of the leading minds of the American Revolution, lived in New York City during most of the colonial period but moved to Philadelphia to work as a lawyer and merchant during the Revolution
* Robert Morris moved to Philadelphia around 1749 at about age 14. He was known as the Financier of the Revolution because of his role in securing financial assistance for the American Colonial side in the Revolutionary War. In 1921, Robert Morris University was founded and named after him
* John Morton was born in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signatory to the Continental Association and the United States Declaration of Independence
* Timothy Murphy a Continental Army marksman
* Abraham op den Graeff was an original founder of Germantown, Philadelphia, member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and signer of the first organized religious protest against slavery in colonial America
* Thomas Paine emigrated to Philadelphia in 1774 at Benjamin Franklin's urging. His tract, Common Sense, published in 1776, was arguably the most famous and influential argument for the American Revolution. He was also the first to champion the phrase "United States of America" publicly
* William Penn was the colony's founder and son of naval Admiral Sir William Penn
* George Ross was born in New Castle, Delaware and moved to Philadelphia to practice law. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signatory to the Continental Association and the United States Declaration of Independence
* Peggy Shippen was the daughter of prominent Philadelphia merchant Edward Shippen and wife of Benedict Arnold
* Arthur St. Clair moved to Ligonier Valley, Pennsylvania in 1764. He served as a judge in colonial Pennsylvania, a general in the Continental Army, and a President under the Articles of Confederation
* Samuel Van Leer, (1747–1825) ironmaster and captain in the American Revolutionary War
* Anthony Wayne, American Revolutionary War general
* James Wilson moved to Philadelphia in 1765 and became a lawyer. He signed the Declaration of Independence and wrote or worked on many of the most challenging compromises in the U.S. Constitution, including the Three-Fifths Compromise, which defined slaves as three-fifths of a person for purposes of census-taking, the number of members to be elected to U. S. House of Representatives, and government appropriations

## See also

[edit]

* Fort Augusta
* Fort Dupuy
* Great Wagon Road
* Independence Hall, originally Pennsylvania State House
* List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania
* Pennsylvania in the American Revolution
* Restoration colony
* Walking Purchase
* Welsh Tract

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Hershey, L. B. (2009). Peace through conversation: William Penn, Israel Pemberton and the shaping of Quaker-Indian relations, 1681-1757 [University of Iowa]. https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.hk7i11nh
2. ^ Joseph E. Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania: A History (1976).
3. ^ Purvis, Thomas L. (1999). Balkin, Richard (ed.). Colonial America to 1763. New York: Facts on File. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-0816025275.
4. ^ "Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. p. 1168.
5. ^ Forest, Tuomi J., William Penn Visionary Proprietor [1]
6. ^ a b c d "Genealogical Map of the Counties" (PDF). Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission.
7. ^ Historic Pennsylvania Hospital, The American Journal of Nursing, Vol. 39, No. 12 (Dec. 1939), pp. 1306-1311
8. ^ College Founding in the American Colonies, 1745-1775 Beverly McAnear, The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jun. 1955), pp. 24-44
9. ^ "Penn: About Our Founder". Archived from the original on March 26, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
10. ^ a b c d Goode, Michael. "Native American-Pennsylvania Relations 1681-1753". Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
11. ^ Rothbard, Murray N. (2005). "Pennsylvania's Anarchist Experiment: 1681–1690". LewRockwell.com. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
12. ^ Newman, Andrew. "Treaty of Shackamaxon". Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
13. ^ Kyriakodis, Harry (May 7, 2014). "Respectfully Remembering the Affable One". Hidden City Philadelphia.
14. ^ Shannon, Timothy J. "Native American-Pennsylvania Relations, 1754-89". Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
15. ^ [2][bare URL]
16. ^ Rothbard, Murray N., Conceived in Liberty, Vol. II (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1999), p. 64.

### General sources

[edit]

* Barr, Daniel P. (2014). A Colony Sprung from Hell: Pittsburgh and the Struggle for Authority on the Western Pennsylvania Frontier, 1744–1794. kent: The Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-1606351901.
* Illick, Joseph E. (1976). Colonial Pennsylvania: A History. New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-0684145655.
* Lamberton, E. V., et al. “Colonial Libraries of Pennsylvania.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 42, no. 3, 1918, pp. 193–234. online
* Leonard, Joan de Lourdes. “Elections in Colonial Pennsylvania.” William and Mary Quarterly 11#3 1954, pp. 385–401. online
* Merrell, James H. (1999). Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Colonial Pennsylvania. New York: W W Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0393046762.
* Nash, Gary B. Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1681-1726 (Princeton UP, 1993)
* Smolenski, John. "Embodied politics: the Paxton uprising and the gendering of civic culture in colonial Pennsylvania." Early American Studies 14.2 (2016): 377-407 online.
* Smolenski, John. Friends and Strangers: The Making of a Creole Culture in Colonial Pennsylvania (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2010).
* Spero, Patrick (2016). Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812248616.
* Tully, Alan. Forming American Politics: Ideals, Interests, and Institutions in Colonial New York and Pennsylvania (JHU Press, 2019).

## External links

[edit]

* William Penn: Preface to the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania, 1682
* "Members and Districts by Session, 1682-1775", Wilkes University Election Statistics Project
* Pennsylvania General Assembly: Pennsylvania Constitution

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Related Documents

* Discourse Concerning Western Planting (1584)
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* Mourt's Relation (1622)
* Of Plymouth Plantation (1630–1651)
* Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1638)
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* Rupert's Land 1670–1870
* Saint Croix 1625–1650
* Saint Kitts 1623–1983
* †*Saint Kitts and Nevis 1882–1983
* †*Saint Lucia 1605–1979
* †*Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1627–1979
* Saybrook 1635–1644
* South Carolina 1712–1776
* Stickeen 1862–1863
* †Trinidad and Tobago 1889–1962
* Turks and Caicos Islands since 1799
* Vancouver Island 1849–1866
* Virgin Islands since 1666
* Virginia 1607–1776
* West Florida 1763–1783
* West Indies Federation 1958–1962
* Associated States 1967–1983
* West Jersey 1674–1702
* Windward Islands 1833–1960

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Oceania

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* New South Wales 1788–1901
* Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1803–1901
* Auckland Islands20 1807–1863
* New Hebrides21 1824–1980
* Queensland 1824–1901
* Swan River/Western Australia 1829–1901
* South Australia 1836–1901
* Pitcairn Islands since 1838
* New Zealand 1841–1907
* North Australia 1846–1847
* Victoria 1851–1901
* †Fiji 1874–1970
* Western Pacific Territories 1877–1976
* Papua 1884–1902
* Rarotonga/Cook Islands20 1888–1901
* Union Islands20 1889–1948
* Gilbert and Ellice Islands22 1892–1979
* †*Solomon Islands 1893–1978

* †Tonga 1900–1970
* Niue20 1900–1974
* †*Australia 1901–1942
* †*New Zealand 1907–1947
* †Samoa 1914–1962
* †Nauru 1919–1942 and 1945–1968

* 20Now part of the †Realm of New Zealand
* 21Now †Vanuatu
* 22Now †Kiribati and †*Tuvalu

South America

* Providence Island 1631–1641
* Willoughbyland 1651–1667
* Saint Andrew and Providence Islands4 1670–1688
* †Guiana 1831–1966
* Falkland Islands5 since 1833
* South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands5 since 1908

* 4Now a department of Colombia
* 5Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Antarctica and the South Atlantic

* Saint Helena23 since 1658
* Ascension Island23 since 1815
* Tristan da Cunha23 since 1816
* Falkland Islands since 1833
* †Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1933
* †Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand) 1841–1947
* British Antarctic Territory24 since 1908
* South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands25 since 1908

* 23Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena.
* 24Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under the Antarctic Treaty.
* 25Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1985

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40°17′46″N 75°30′32″W﻿ / ﻿40.296°N 75.509°W﻿ / 40.296; -75.509
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