PENNSYLVANIA
639
PENNSYLVANIA
came within tlie Delaware Capes, but went no fartlier
towards Pennsylvania. The first white man actually
to enter the State appears to have been a Frenchman
who came from Canada, Etienne Brulle, a companion
of Champlain. He explored the valley of the Susque-
hanna from New York to Maryland in the winter
of 1615-16, as is described by Champlain in an ac-
count of his voyages. In June, 1610, Captain Samuel
Argall, coming from Virginia in search of provisions,
entered the Delaware River and gave it its name in
honour of the then Governor of Virginia, Lord de la
\\'arr. Captain Cornelius Mey came to the Delaware
Capes in 1614 (see New Jersey). Another Dutch
captain, Cornelius Hendrickson, came from Man-
hattan Island and probably navigated the Delaware
River as far as the .site of Philadelphia in 1616. In
1631, David Pictersen de Vries established a post at
Lewes, in Delaware, and later, in 1634, made voyages
as far as Tinicum Island and Ridley Creek. For five
years after this the
Dutch traded on
the Delaware River
and in 1633 estab-
lished a post called
P^ o r t Beverstrede
near Philadelphia.
The English Gov-
ernment laid claim
to the entire region
in 1632 on the
ground of first dis-
covery, occupation,
and possession, but
in April, 1638, an
expedition made up
Seal or Pennsvlv.inia partly of Swedes
and partly of Dutch, under Peter Minuit, established a post at Fort Christiana on the Brandywine River. This was the first white settlement in the country of the Delaware made by the Swedish Government , and was against the protest of the Dutch Ciovernor of Manhattan. It was but a small colony and lasted only seventeen years. In 1643-44 permanent settlements were made at Tinicum, and in 1651 the Dutch Gover- nor, Peter Stuyvesant, caused Fort Casimer to be built on the present site of New Castle, Delaware, to overawe the Swedes at Christiana. Fort Casimer was occupied by the Swedes in 1654, but they were in their turn driven out by the Dutch, who remained in possession of the Delaware River country until the organization of Penn's colony in 1681.
W'lien William Penn was thirty-six years old, in 1680, his father being dead, there was due him from the Crown the sum of £16,000 for services rendered by his father, Admiral Penn. This was cancelled in 1681 by a gift to him from the Crown of the largest tract of territory that had ever been given in America to a single individual, and in addition he received from the Duke of York all of the territory now included in the State of Delaware, for the sake of controlling the free navigation of the river of that name. This charter, or grant, gave him the title in fee-simple to over 40,000 square miles of territory with the power of adopting any form of government, providing the majority of the colonists consented, and if the freemen could not assemble Penn had the right to make laws without their consent. The new colony was named Penn- sylvania. Penn wished the name to be New Wales, or else Sylvania, modestly endeavouring to avoid the special honour implied by prefixing his surname but the king in.sisted. It has been said, no doubt truth- fully, that Penn was impelled by two principal motives in founding the colony: "The desire to found a free commonwealth on liberal and humane principles, and the desire to provide a safe home for persecuted Friends. He was strongly devoted to his religious faith, and warmly attached to those who professed it.
but not the less was he an idealist in politics, and a
generous and hopeful believer in the average good-
ness of his fellow men" (Jenkins, "Pennsylvania", I,
204). Penn himself, speaking of the grant by the
king, says: "I eyed the Lord in obtaining it, and more
was I drawn inward to look to Him, and to owe it to
His hand and power than to any other way. I have
so obtained it and desire to keep it that I may not be
unworthy of His love and do that which may answer
His kind providence and serve His truth and people,
that an example may be set to the nations. There
may be room there but not here for such an holy ex-
periment" (Jenkins, "Pennsylvania", I, 207). He had
already shown ability as a colonizer, being concerned
in the settlement of New Jersey, where the towns of
Salem and Burlington had been laid out before the
charter of Pemisylvania was granted.
During [iractically all of the colonial period, Penn and his descendants governed Pennsylvania through agents or deputy governors. He was the feutla! lord of the land, it being his plan to sell tracts from time to time, reserving a small quit-rent or selling outright. Until the American Revolution, in 1776, Penn and his sons held the proprietorship of the Province of Penn- sylvania during a period of ninety-four years, except- ing only about two years under William III. The colony was organized at the council held at Upland, 3 August, 1681, the deputy governor being ^^■illiam Markham, a cousin of Penn. When Penn himself landed, 28 October, 1682, at New Castle, Philadelphia had been laid out and a few houses had been built. After his landing Penn changed the name of Upland to Chester in honour of the English city. There he summoned the freeholders to meet, and they adopted the "Frame of Government" and ratified "The Laws agreed upon in England". The former instrument provided for a Provincial Council of seventy-two members to be elected by the people. This council was to propose laws to be submitted for the approval of the General Assembly, also to be elected by the people. Thus was formed the first Constitution of Pennsylvania. The laws accepted and re-enacted with many additions became known as "The Great Law". It establishes religious liberty, allowing free- dom of worship to all who acknowledge one God, and provides that all members of tlie Assembly, as well as those who voted for them, should be such as be- heved Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, the Saviour of the World. The Great Law prohibits swearing, cursing, drunkenness, health-drinking, card-playing, scolding, and lying in conversation. In the preface to the "Frame of Government" may be found the key to Penn's fundamental views on (political ques- tions. Thus he wrote: "Governments rather depend upon men than men upon governments; let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; if it be ill they will cure it. Though good laws do well, good men do better; for good laws may want [i. e. lack] good men and be abolished or evatled by ill men ; but good men will never want good laws nor suffer ill ones. That, therefore, which makes a good constitution must keep it, viz. men of wisdom and virtue; qualities that, because they descend not with worldly inheri- tance, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education of youth. For liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery."
Penn was far in advance of his time in his \'iews of the capacity of mankind for democratic government, and equally so in his broad-minded toleration of differ- ences of religious belief. Indeed, it has been well said that the declaration of his final charter of privileges of 1701 was not alone "intended as the fundamental law of the Province and declaration of religious liberty on the broadest character and about which there could be no doubt or uncertainty. It is a declaration not of toleration but of religious equality and brought within its protection all who professed one Almighty
