Biography:An early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Indians. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed.
1681-03-04 English Quaker William Penn receives charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of colonial American territory Pennsylvania
1682-06-18 English Quaker William Penn founds Philadelphia, in the Pennsylvania Colony
1682-08-24 Duke of York, James II awards the "Three Lower Counties" that form modern-day Delaware to William Penn, ensuring ocean access for his colony of Pennsylvania
1682-08-30 William Penn leaves England to sail to the New World
1682-10-26 William Penn accepts area around Delaware River from Duke of York
1682-10-27 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is founded by Englishman William Penn
1682-10-29 William Penn lands at what is now Chester, Pennsylvania
1683-06-23 William Penn signs land deeds and friendship treaty with Lenape Indian leader Tamanend “Tammany” in Pennsylvania; (possible basis for Treaty of Shackamaxon)
1700-05-07 William Penn begins monthly meetings for blacks advocating emancipation
1701-11-08 William Penn presents Charter of Privileges, guaranteed religious freedom for the colony in Pennsylvania
1984-11-28 Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States
Quotes by William Penn
"Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers."
David Hume
Hubert Dreyfus
Ibn Khaldūn
John Locke
Marquis de Sade
Samuel Taylor Coleridge