Domenico Santucci
PENNSYLVANIA STATE HISTORY
1681-1776
The Founding of Pennsylvania
William Penn and the Quakers
Penn was born in London on October 24, 1644, the son of Admiral Sir William
Penn. Despite high social position and an excellent education, he shocked
his upper-class associates by his conversion to the beliefs of the Society
of Friends, or Quakers, then a persecuted sect. He used his inherited wealth
and rank to benefit and protect his fellow believers. Despite the
unpopularity of his religion, he was socially acceptable in the king's court
because he was trusted by the Duke of York, later King James II. The origins
of the Society of Friends lie in the intense religious ferment of 17th
century England. George Fox, the son of a Leicestershire weaver, is credited
with founding it in 1647, though there was no definite organization before
1668. The Society's rejections of rituals and oaths, its opposition to war,
and its simplicity of speech and dress soon attracted attention, usually
hostile.
The Charter
King Charles II owed William Penn £16,000, money which Admiral Penn had lent
him. Seeking a haven in the New World for persecuted Friends, Penn asked the
King to grant him land in the territory between Lord Baltimore's province of
Maryland and the Duke of York's province of New York. With the Duke's
support, Penn's petition was granted. The King signed the Charter of
Pennsylvania on March 4, 1681, and it was officially proclaimed on April 2.
The King named the new colony in honor of William Penn's father. It was to
include the land between the 39th and 42nd degrees of north latitude and
from the Delaware River westward for five degrees of longitude. Other
provisions assured its people the protection of English laws and kept it
subject to the government in England to a certain degree. Provincial laws
could be annulled by the King. In 1682, the Duke of York deeded to Penn his
claim to the three lower counties on the Delaware, which are now the state
of Delaware.
The Colony
In April 1681, Penn made his cousin William Markham deputy governor of the
province and sent him to take control. In England, Penn drew up the First
Frame of Government, his proposed constitution for Pennsylvania. Penn's
preface to First Frame of Government has become famous as a summation of his
governmental ideals. Later, in 0ctober 1682, the Proprietor arrived in
Pennsylvania on the ship Welcome. He visited Philadelphia, just laid out as
the capital city, created the three original counties, and summoned a
General Assembly to Chester on December 4. This first Assembly united the
Delaware counties with Pennsylvania, adopted a naturalization act and, on
December 7, adopted the Great Law, a humanitarian code which became the
fundamental basis of Pennsylvania law and which guaranteed liberty of
conscience. The second Assembly, in 1683, reviewed and amended Penn's First
Frame with his cooperation and created the Second Frame of Government. By
the time of Penn's return to England late in 1684, the foundations of the
Quaker Province were well established. In 1984, William Penn and his wife
Hannah Callowhill Penn were made the third and fourth honorary citizens of
the United States, by act of Congress. On May 8, 1985, the Penns were
granted honorary citizenship of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Population and Immigration
Indians
Although William Penn was granted all the land in Pennsylvania by the King,
he and his heirs chose not to grant or settle any part of it without first
buying the claims of Indians who lived there. In this manner, all of
Pennsylvania except the northwestern third was purchased by 1768. The
Commonwealth bought the Six Nations' claims to the remainder of the land in
1784 and 1789, and the claims of the Delawares and Wyandots in 1785. The
defeat of the French and Indian War alliance by 1760, the withdrawal of the
French, the crushing of Chief Pontiac's Indian alliance in 1764, and the
failure of all attempts by Indians and colonists to live side by side led
the Indians to migrate westward, gradually leaving Pennsylvania.
English
English Quakers were the dominant element, although many English settlers
were Anglican. The English settled heavily in the southeastern counties,
which soon lost frontier characteristics and became the center of a thriving
agricultural and commercial society. Philadelphia became the metropolis of
the British colonies and a center of intellectual and commercial life.
Germans
Thousands of Germans were also attracted to the colony and, by the time of
the Revolution, comprised a third of the population. The volume of German
immigration increased after 1727, coming largely from the Rhineland. The
Pennsylvania Germans settled most heavily in the interior counties of
Northampton, Berks, Lancaster and Lehigh, and neighboring areas. Their skill
and industry transformed this region into a rich farming country,
contributing greatly to the expanding prosperity of the province.
Scotch-Irish
Another important immigrant group was the Scotch-Irish, who migrated from
about 1717 until the Revolution in a series of waves caused by hardships in
Ireland. They were primarily frontiersmen, pushing first into the Cumberland
Valley region and then farther into central and western Pennsylvania. They,
with immigrants from old Scotland, numbered about one-fourth of the
population by 1776.
African Americans
Despite Quaker opposition to slavery, about 4,000 slaves were brought to
Pennsylvania by 1730, most of them owned by English, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish
colonists. The census of 1790 showed that the number of African-Americans
had increased to about 10,000, of whom about 6,300 had received their
freedom. The Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780 was the first
emancipation statute in the United States.
Others
Many Quakers were Irish and Welsh, and they settled in the area immediately
outside of Philadelphia. French Huguenot and Jewish settlers, together with
Dutch, Swedes, and other groups, contributed in smaller numbers to the
development of colonial Pennsylvania. The mixture of various national groups
in the Quaker Province helped to create its broad-minded tolerance and
cosmopolitan outlook.
Politics
Pennsylvania's political history ran a rocky course during the provincial era.
There was a natural conflict between the proprietary and popular elements in the
government which began under Penn and grew stronger under his successors. As a
result of the English Revolution of 1688 which overthrew King James II, Penn was
deprived of his province from 1692 until 1694. A popular party led by David
Lloyd demanded greater powers for the Assembly, and in 1696 Markham's Frame of
Government granted some of these. In December 1699, the Proprietor again visited
Pennsylvania and, just before his return to England in 1701, agreed with the
Assembly on a revised constitution, the Charter of Privileges, which remained in
effect until 1776. This gave the Assembly full legislative powers and permitted
the three Delaware counties to have a separate legislature. Deputy or lieutenant
governors (addressed as "governor") resided in Pennsylvania and represented the
Penn family proprietors who remained themselves in England until 1773. After
1763, these governors were members of the Penn family. From 1773 until
independence, John Penn was both a proprietor and the governor. William Penn's
heirs, who eventually abandoned Quakerism, were often in conflict with the
Assembly, which was usually dominated by the Quakers until 1756. One after
another, governors defending the proprietors' prerogatives battered themselves
against the rock of an Assembly vigilant in the defense of its own rights. The
people of the frontier areas contended with the people of the older,
southeastern region for more adequate representation in the Assembly and better
protection in time of war. Such controversies prepared the people for their part
in the Revolution.
The Colonial Wars
As part of the British Empire, Pennsylvania was involved in the wars between
Great Britain and France for dominance in North America. These wars ended
the long period when Pennsylvania was virtually without defense. The
government built forts and furnished men and supplies to help defend the
empire to which it belonged. The territory claimed for New France included
western Pennsylvania. The Longueuil and Celoron expeditions of the French in
1739 and 1749 traversed this region, and French traders competed with
Pennsylvanians for Indian trade. The French efforts in 1753 and 1754 to
establish control over the upper Ohio Valley led to the last and conclusive
colonial war, the French and Indian War (1754-1763). French forts at Erie
(Fort Presque Isle), Waterford (Fort LeBoeuf), Pittsburgh (Fort Duquesne)
and Franklin (Fort Machault) threatened all the middle colonies. In 1753,
Washington failed to persuade the French to leave. In the ensuing war, Gen.
Braddock's British and colonial army was slaughtered on the Monongahela in
1755, but Gen. John Forbes recaptured the site of Pittsburgh in 1758. After
the war, the Indians rose up against the British colonies in Pontiac's War,
but in August 1763, Colonel Henry Bouquet defeated them at Bushy Run, ending
the threat to the frontier in this region.
Economics
Agriculture
From its beginning, Pennsylvania ranked as a leading agricultural area and
produced surpluses for export, adding to its wealth. By the 1750s, an
exceptionally prosperous farming area had developed in southeastern
Pennsylvania. Wheat and corn were the leading crops, though rye, hemp, and
flax were also important.
Manufacturing
The abundant natural resources of the colony made for early development of
industries. Arts and crafts, as well as home manufactures, grew rapidly.
Sawmills and gristmills were usually the first to appear, using the power of
the numerous streams. Textile products were spun and woven mainly in the
home, though factory production was not unknown. Shipbuilding became
important on the Delaware. The province early gained importance in iron
manufacture, producing pig iron as well as finished products. Printing,
publishing, and the related industry of papermaking, as well as tanning,
were significant industries. The Pennsylvania long rifle was an adaptation
of a German hunting rifle developed in Lancaster County. Its superiority was
so recognized that by 1776 gunsmiths were duplicating it in Virginia,
Georgia, North Carolina, and Maryland. The Conestoga wagon was also
developed in Lancaster County. Capable of carrying as much as four tons, it
was the prototype for the principal vehicle for American westward migration,
the prairie schooner.
Commerce and Transportation
The rivers were important as early arteries of commerce and were soon
supplemented by roads in the southeastern area. Stagecoach lines by 1776
reached from Philadelphia into the southcentral region. Trade with the
Indians for furs was important in the colonial period. Later, the transport
and sale of farm products to Philadelphia and Baltimore, by water and road,
formed an important business. Philadelphia became one of the most important
centers in the colonies for the conduct of foreign trade and the commercial
metropolis of an expanding hinterland. By 1776, the province's imports and
exports were worth several million dollars.
Religion
Quakers held their first meeting at Upland (now Chester) in 1675, and came
to Pennsylvania in great numbers after William Penn received his Charter.
Most numerous in the southeastern counties, the Quakers gradually declined
in number but retained considerable influence. The Pennsylvania Germans
belonged largely to the Lutheran and Reformed churches, but there were also
several smaller sects: Mennonites, Amish, German Baptist Brethren or
"Dunkers," Schwenkfelders, and Moravians. Although the Lutheran Church was
established by the Swedes on Tinicum Island in 1643, it only began its
growth to become the largest of the Protestant denominations in Pennsylvania
upon the arrival of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg in 1742. The Reformed Church
owed its expansion to Michael Schlatter, who arrived in 1746. The Moravians
did notable missionary work among the Indians. The Church of Eng land held
services in Philadelphia as early as 1695. The first Catholic congregation
was organized in Philadelphia in 1720, and the first chapel was erected in
1733; Pennsylvania had the second largest Catholic population among the
colonies. The Scotch brought Presbyterianism; its first congregation was
organized in Philadelphia in 1698. Scotch-Irish immigrants swelled its
numbers. Methodism began late in the colonial period. St. George's Church,
built in Philadelphia in 1769, is the oldest Methodist building in America.
There was a significant Jewish population in colonial Pennsylvania. Its
Mikveh Israel Congregation was established in Philadelphia in 1740.
Pennsylvania on the Eve of the Revolution
By 1776, the Province of Pennsylvania had become the third largest English
colony in America, though next to the last to be founded. Philadelphia had
become the largest English-speaking city in the world next to London. There were
originally only three counties: Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. By 1773, there
were 11. Westmoreland, the last new county created before the Revolution, was
the first county located entirely west of the Allegheny Mountains.
The American Revolution had urban origins, and Philadelphia was a center of
ferment. Groups of artisans and mechanics, many loyal to Benjamin Franklin,
formed grassroots leadership. Philadelphia was a center of resistance to the
Stamp Act (1765) and moved quickly to support Boston in opposition to the
Intolerable Acts, in 1774.