The Popish Plot—Settlement of Virginia—The Royal Cession to
Penn—Christening of Pennsylvania—Outlines of Penn’s Constitution
The year 1678 seemingly opened with brighter prospects for those who had
suffered so severely in the past for their religious beliefs. The
clearest sighted members of Parliament must have realized the detriment
to England when such numbers of peaceable citizens, blameless in every
respect save for their form of worship, were forced to abandon their
native land, taking with them their possessions and their industries,
and must have realized that such persecutions must end.
Penn, in spite of being a Quaker, had won the esteem of all classes by
his high character and his ability and enjoyed the confidence of some of
the most influential personages in the kingdom. Hearing of this change
of attitude adopted by Parliament, he laid aside for the time being all
thoughts of his transatlantic commonwealth and gave himself up to the
work of securing recognition of his great principle of liberty of
conscience. Profiting by the favor in which he stood with the Duke of
York, he endeavored to obtain through him the submission to Parliament
of an Act of Toleration. The Duke looked favorably on the plan, but
being himself a member of the Church of Rome, maintained that such a law
should not be restricted to Protestant dissenters only, but apply also
to Catholics. All seemed to be going well and Penn’s efforts bade fair
to be crowned with success, when suddenly an event occurred which
deferred for years the passage of this act and added fresh fuel to the
fires of persecution. This was the invention of the famous Popish Plot
by an infamous wretch named Titus Oates. Formerly a clergyman in the
Anglican Church, he had been deprived of his living because of his
shameful excesses and fled to Spain, where he joined the Jesuits.
Expelled from this order also for improper conduct, he revenged himself
by turning informer and swore to the existence of a conspiracy among the
Jesuits to massacre all the prominent Protestants and establish the
Catholic religion in England. Even the King, for permitting the
persecution of Catholics in his kingdom, was not to be spared, nor the
Duke of York, who was not credited with much real devotion to that
faith.
It is doubtful whether there ever was any real foundation for this
atrocious charge based by Oates upon letters and papers intrusted to him
by the Jesuits and which he had opened from curiosity. Nevertheless the
story was generally credited in spite of the absurdity of the statements
of such a worthless wretch, and aroused the wildest excitement
throughout the country, in consequence of which the established church,
alarmed for its safety, enforced more rigorously than ever the edicts
against all dissenters. Seeing his hopes of religious freedom in England
once more fading, Penn bent his efforts the more resolutely toward the
establishment of a haven in America. He had long ago decided the
principles by which his new commonwealth was to be governed; namely, the
equality of all men in the eyes of the law, full liberty of conscience
and the free worship of religion, self-government by the people, and the
inviolability of personal liberty as well as of personal property—a form
of government which, if justly and conscientiously carried out, must
create indeed an ideal community such as the world had never yet seen.
Nor was it an impossibility, as was proved by the gratifying success of
the New Jersey colony, where a part of these principles, at least, had
already been put into practice.
But where was this model State to be founded? It must be on virgin soil,
where no government of any kind already existed, and where the new ideas
could be instituted from the beginning. As the most suitable spot for
this purpose Penn’s glance had fixed upon a tract of land lying west of
New Jersey and north of the royal province of Maryland, which had been
founded in 1632 by a Catholic nobleman, Lord Baltimore, as a refuge for
persecuted members of his own faith, but which also offered liberty to
those of other sects. The only occupants of this territory were a few
scattered Dutch and Swedish settlers, but they were so small in number
and so widely separated that they need scarcely be taken into
consideration as possible obstacles to Penn’s plans after the arrival of
the class of colonists he favored in numbers sufficient to populate this
wide extent of land. For the rest the country was still an unbroken
wilderness, where one could wander for days hearing no sound but the
songs of the countless birds that filled the vast forests. As to the
natives, in spite of their undeniable cruelty and savage cunning when
provoked or wronged, it was quite possible to make friends and allies of
them by kindness and fair treatment, as the New Jersey settlers had
already learned.
This was the territory of which Penn now determined to secure possession
if possible, a task which promised no great difficulty, as the English
crown claimed sovereignty over all that portion of North America lying
between the thirty-fourth and the forty-fifth degrees north latitude, on
the strength of the discovery of its coast line by English navigators.
King James the First had given a patent for part of these possessions to
an English company, the grant including all the land from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, and some attempt had been made to found colonies and
develop the riches of the country, but later this company was divided
into two, one taking the northern portion, the other the southern. This
latter, called the London Company, lost no time in fitting up a ship
which entered Chesapeake Bay in 1607, sailed up the James River, and
landed its passengers at what was afterward called Jamestown, the first
English colony in America. These colonists were soon followed by others,
and by the year 1621 the settlement had so increased that the London
Company, which had retained the right of ownership, exercised through a
governor, granted a written constitution to the province, which they
named Virginia. In 1624, however, this company, having some disagreement
with King James, was dissolved and Virginia became the property of the
crown. This being followed by the voluntary withdrawal of the parties
owning the northern half of the territory, the tract between the
fortieth and forty-eighth degrees, known as New England, was then deeded
by James to the Plymouth Company, which made no attempt at colonization
itself, but sold land to others, part of which thus came into possession
of the Puritan emigrants.
In 1639, however, during the reign of Charles the First, their charter
expired and the lands still belonging to them, including what were
afterward the States of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, again
reverted to the crown. The district lying between the Delaware and
Hudson Rivers had been claimed by the Dutch—Hudson, the English
navigator who discovered it, having been then in the service of Holland;
and here between Delaware Bay and the Connecticut River they had founded
their colony of New Netherlands. In 1655 the adjoining territory on the
west bank of the Delaware, comprising the present State of Delaware and
the southern part of Pennsylvania, had been bought from the Indians by a
Swedish trading company at the instigation of King Gustavus Adolphus and
a settlement founded under the name of New Sweden. Not proving the
commercial success hoped for, this was afterward abandoned. England’s
acquisition of New Netherlands as the prize of her naval victories over
Holland, the formation of the colonies of New York and New Jersey, the
possession of the latter by the Quakers and the drafting of its
constitution by William Penn,—all these have been related in the
preceding chapter.
The territory which Penn now had in mind, therefore, had belonged to the
crown since the dissolution of the Plymouth Company and was again at the
disposal of the King. As to Penn’s confidence in his ability to obtain
possession of it without difficulty, it will be remembered that he had
inherited from his father a claim of fifteen thousand pounds against the
royal exchequer. As neither the King nor the Duke of York were able to
repay this sum, the unpaid interest on which, during the ten years since
the admiral’s death, amounted to more than a thousand pounds, Penn felt
sure the King would welcome a proposal to cede this tract of land in
America as payment of his claim—certainly a simple method of releasing
himself from this large debt.
But the affair was not to be so easily settled after all, for the time
was past when the sovereign had absolute power to dispose of crown
possessions as he would, the privy council now having a voice in the
matter, and to obtain their consent was difficult, Penn’s ideas in
regard to the government of this new State being regarded not only as
preposterous, but also as dangerous to itself and to the crown. He was
urged, therefore, by his friends to make no mention of his real purpose
in his petition to the King, lest he be forced to renounce his
long-cherished plan. Although he accepted this prudent advice, there
were still many obstacles to overcome, owing to the difficulty of
defining any exact boundaries in that trackless wilderness and the
precautions necessary to incorporate in the patent all possible security
for the maintenance of crown prerogatives.
While the matter was still before the council and the result by no means
certain, Penn took advantage of an opportunity which offered itself of
becoming a joint owner of New Jersey, by which, even should his petition
be refused, his plans could still be carried out in that province, if
only on a small scale. Sir George Carteret, tired of his colonial
possessions, offered to sell his ownership, and Penn, with a number of
others, concluded the purchase. Again the public confidence in him and
his enterprises was shown by the haste with which hundreds of families,
especially from Scotland, took advantage of the liberal terms offered to
emigrants in his published prospectus and enrolled their names as future
colonists. At length, after much deliberation, and owing largely to the
influence of the Duke of York, to whom Penn had again applied for
assistance, the council agreed to comply with his proposal, partly also,
perhaps, from the fear that in case they refused Penn might insist upon
the payment of his debt, for which at the moment no means were
available.
On the twenty-fourth of February, 1681, the King signed the deed
granting to Penn the absolute ownership of all that territory extending
from the Delaware River to Ohio on the west and as far as Lake Erie on
the north, covering an area equal to the whole of England, and the fifth
of March, at a special meeting of the privy council, this patent was
delivered to Penn in the presence of the King. As evidence of His
Majesty’s high good-humor on this occasion, a popular anecdote is told.
As Penn, according to the Quaker custom, neither took off his hat on the
King’s entrance nor made the usual obeisance, Charles quietly removed
his own hat, although it was the royal prerogative to remain covered on
entering an assembly of any kind. To Penn’s astonished query as to the
reason for this unusual proceeding he replied smilingly, “It is the
custom at court for only one person to remain covered.”
Another proof of the King’s satisfaction at thus being freed from his
indebtedness to Penn was shown in choosing a name for the new province.
Penn at first suggested New Wales, on account of the mountainous
character of the country, but one of the councillors, who was a Welshman
and none too well disposed toward the Friends, objected to the idea of
giving the name of his native land to an American Quaker colony. His new
domain being as thickly wooded as it was hilly, Penn then proposed
Sylvania, which met with general approval, the King, however, insisting
that Penn’s own name should be placed before it, making Pennsylvania or
“Penn’s woodland.” In vain he protested that this would be looked on as
vanity in him. Charles would hear of no denial, declaring good-naturedly
that he would take the whole responsibility on himself. The name of
Pennsylvania was inserted in the patent, and Pennsylvania it remained.
This document is still in existence, carefully preserved among the State
archives. It is written in old English script on a roll of stout
parchment, each line underscored with red ink and the margins adorned
with drawings, the first page bearing the head of King Charles the
Second. It was a proud and joyful moment for Penn when he received this
deed from the King’s hand, marking the first and most important step
toward the realization of his dreams. “It is a gift from God,” he
declared reverently. “He will bless it and make it the seed of a great
nation.”
The patent conferred upon the new owner the right to divide the province
into counties and municipalities; to incorporate towns and boroughs; to
make laws with the people’s consent; to impose taxes for public
purposes; to muster troops for the defence of the State, and to execute
the death sentence according to martial law—all on condition that no
laws should be made in opposition to those existing in England, that the
royal impost on all articles of commerce should be lawfully paid and
allegiance to the crown duly observed. In case of failure to comply with
these conditions the King reserved the right to assume control of
Pennsylvania in his own person until he should be indemnified to the
full value of the land. Parliament also reserved the right to impose
taxes on the colonists. By the express desire of the Bishop of London it
was stipulated that should twenty or more of the inhabitants of the
province desire the services of a clergyman of the established church,
he should be permitted to dwell among them unmolested. Lastly, Penn, the
owner, in recognition that the land was held in fee of the English
crown, was to pay an annual tribute to the King of England of two
bear-skins, with the fifth part of all gold and silver found in
Pennsylvania at any time.
Penn set to work at once upon the task of drawing up a constitution for
his new colony, “with reverence before God and good-will toward men,” as
he states in the introduction to this instrument. The sovereign power
was to be exercised by the governor, Penn himself, jointly with the
citizens of the commonwealth. For legislative purposes a council of
seventy-two was to be chosen by the people, one-third of which number
was to retire at the end of every year and be replaced by others
selected in the same way. This council was to frame laws and superintend
their execution; to maintain the peace and security of the province; to
promote commerce by the building of roads, trading posts, and harbors;
to regulate the finances; to establish schools and courts of justice and
generally do all that should be required to promote the welfare of the
colony. The only prerogative claimed by Penn for himself was that he and
his lawful heirs and successors should remain at the head of this
council and have the right of three votes instead of one.
In addition to the council of state there was to be an assembly which at
first was to include all free citizens of the State, but later, when
their number became too large, to consist of not more than five hundred
members, to be chosen annually. All laws made by the council must be
submitted for approval or rejection to this assembly, which also had the
right to select candidates for public offices, of whom at least half
must be accepted by the governor.
These were the outlines of Penn’s masterly scheme of government, to
which were added some forty provisional laws to remain in force until
such time as a council of state could be chosen. These included entire
freedom of religious belief and worship, any molester of which was to be
punished as a disturber of the peace, and the prohibition of all
theatrical performances, games of chance, drinking bouts, sports that
involved bloodshed or the torture of animals—all, in short, that could
encourage cruelty, idleness, or godlessness. Prisoners must work to earn
their support. Thieves must refund double the amount stolen or work in
prison until the sum was made up, and all children above the age of
twelve years must be taught some useful trade or occupation to prevent
idleness. Many of these provisional laws and regulations have remained
permanently in force in Pennsylvania, the council being unable to
substitute anything better, and their wisdom has been amply proved by
the experience of more than two hundred years.