Penn And 11 Other Quakers example essay topic

William Penn William Penn was born and raised in England, but he is well known for what he did in the Americas. First and foremost, William Penn was a religious nonconformist and writer: he wrote numerous religious books over his lifetime. Second, Penn is responsible for the "holy experiment": the colony of Pennsylvania. He was a Quaker advocate, and as a proprietor had the opportunity to practice the Quaker Peace testimony. Penn was interested in religion from the time he was a child.

When he was twelve years old he had the opportunity to hear testimony from a traveling Quaker minister, Thomas Loe. Penn was touched by Loe's message, and sought the 'authentic Christian message' rather then focusing on 'institutional' religion. At the age of 16, Penn started attending Oxford University. It was at Oxford University, that William began to reject Anglicanism and he began attending unauthorized prayer meetings.

At this time, he was expelled for his "religious unconformity". He then attended a Protestant school in France, where he completed his education. When Penn turned 23, he converted and became a Quaker after another run in with Thomas Loe. He then began to write down his religious ideas, and took a lot of criticism from other scholars. Penn wrote the book Sandy Foundations Shaken which was considered "controversial and superficial" and for this, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. While imprisoned, Penn kept writing.

He wrote the book No Cross, No Crown, which was a call Christian Discipleship. He believed that "No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no cross, no crown" and showed this through his determined attitude. He wanted to get the word out about his religion and he wasn't going to be discouraged. After William was released, he wrote Innocency with Her Open Face, and wrote a number of other works on his Quaker faith.

In 1681, Penn and 11 other Quakers brought the Proprietary rights to east New Jersey. King Charles II owed Penn's father, Admiral Sir William Penn, and in return Penn persuaded the king to grant him a "vast province on the west bank of the Delaware River" (Samuel, 2000). It was named Pennsylvania, which means Penn's woods, after his father. Penn decided that his colony was going to be different from the rest of the colonies in that they were going to be a Quaker based colony. He believed in a "divine right of government" and formed the government of Pennsylvania as a "holy experiment" in governing.

This type of government is considered being ahead of its time as it set forth a representative form of government. The penal system was designed to reform not just punish, and "all prisoners except capital prisoners were entitled to bail, work houses were substituted for dungeons and the death penalty was limited to murder and treason". Also, Penn instituted public education and designed Philadelphia and other towns to promote health and fire safety. Being that Penn was in charge of the colony, he was given the opportunity to practice the Quaker Peace Testimony. He realized that a lot of the land that he was living on was that of the Leni La nape Indians, and it is believed that in 1682, Penn signed a treaty with the natives paying them a fair value for the land that was occupied by settlers. Penn also treated the Native Americans with respect.

He didn't threaten them with weapons, and he learned their languages so that he could negotiate with them. Pennsylvania became a welcoming environment for religious dissenters and his settler worked as "friends and neighbors". William Penn is a very important man in history because of the lengths that he took to promote his beliefs. In a time where people were hungry for power, he was a lot more open minded to the people around him. He practiced what he preached, and he gave lots of people the respect that they weren't getting from anyone else. Penn spent a lot of time imprisoned for following his heart, but kept right on going after what he believed in.

"True religion does not draw men out of the world but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it" (No Cross No Crown). At a time where people were supposed to behave one way, Penn went his own way, and is remembered because of it.