William Penn Connection

 

“William Penn was the greatest lawgiver the world has produced.  The first either in ancient or modern times who has laid the foundation of government in the pure and unadulterated principles of peace, of reason, and of right.”

                                                                                     --Thomas Jefferson

Liberty of Conscience, William Penn’s Holy Experiment

American statesman, president, and framer of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson called Pennsylvania “the cradle of toleration and freedom of religion,” and its founder William Penn “the greatest law giver the world has produced.” Jefferson’s comments are in reference to the democratic ideals–Liberty of Conscience and religious toleration–outlined in Penn’s 1682 Frame of Government and his subsequent 1701 Charter of Privileges for his newly formed Pennsylvania colony. 

As Proprietor of colonial Pennsylvania, William Penn created the 1701 Charter of Privileges guaranteeing these rights to all settlers.  Penn referred to the establishment of his colony as a “Holy Experiment,” which he intended as a study in both religious toleration and in enlightened government Penn’s policies regarding civil governance were as much an outgrowth of the enlightened political philosophy shared by contemporaries such as John Locke and Algernon Sidney as they were the tenets or “testimonies” that are the basis of the religious beliefs and practices espoused by the Society of Friends.  Penn’s Frame of Government, the precursor to the Charter of Privileges, was the product of deliberation by over 100 Friends, including some of the most influential of the times such as George Whitehead, James Claypoole, Christopher Taylor, and even founder George Fox.

Penn’s Charter was thus a product of Friends’ world view, shaped by their testimonies and beliefs, and by an understanding of the injustice that results when individuals are denied what we now consider basic civil liberties.  It was the manifestation of the Quaker principles of equality, tolerance, and charity applied to a civil contract.  Quaker beliefs are based on the supposition that “there is that of God in everyone,” a presence that is referred to as the Inward Light.   Because God reveals his will through the Inward Light, to ignore one’s Light is to defy conscience and to sin against God.   Likewise, coercion is a corruption not only of faith but of the laws of the Inward Light and of “right reason.”  Liberty of conscience is therefore a fundamental right, and its pursuit (for oneself and for others) the basis for Quaker action.

 

Thus, the same ideas about Liberty of Conscience that compelled Friends to provide for religious and personal freedoms as colonial proprietors were also manifested in their extraordinary efforts on behalf of social justice and human equality.  According to Quaker historian Margaret Hope Bacon, “Concepts of religious liberty and racial and gender equality, of conscientious objection, conflict resolution, and non violence, brought by the Quaker to the colonies, are woven into the fabric of national law and custom.  Providing aid to those in need and acting against injustice was not just a social obligation but a moral imperative. Thus as Friends’ political control waned during the late eighteenth century, they focused their influence and energy towards their benevolent activities.  The reforms and charitable acts that Friends engaged in were guided by their tenets and given sanction by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting through their queries and advices. 

 

Friends of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting have been leaders in some of the most significant social movements affecting the nation including public health and prison reform, abolition, women’s and civil rights, and peace (anti-war).  As advocates for the humane treatment of the poor, sick, imprisoned, and mentally ill, the Friends of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting were responsible for the founding of path-breaking institutions such as the Friends Hospital for the Insane and Eastern State Penitentiary.  They were responsible for the creation of abolition societies and freedmen’s organizations including the very first in America (the Pennsylvania Abolition Society), and for the first legal protections for fugitive slaves, making Philadelphia the center of the early movement and home to countless freedmen.  In more recent times, the Friends of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting were responsible for the creation of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).  Founded in 1917 to provide peace advocates and conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian war victims, the work of the American Friends Service Committee has expanded to carry out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the globe.  Friends worldwide received recognition when the AFSC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.

 

                            Catherine Lavoie of NPS, assisted by the Arch Street Landmark Working Group

 

More on William Penn’s Holy Experiment:   http://www.quaker.org/wmpenn.html

For more resources on William Penn:  http://www.ushistory.org/penn/  

Recent round table discussion hosted by the Encyclopaedia of Philadelphia