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It is the spring of 1681. The “exclusion crisis,” an insurgency in Parliament proposing to exclude the king’s brother, James, Duke of York, from the line of succession, was reaching its climax. Even so, on March 4 King Charles II found time to grant William Penn a vast territory extending from the west bank of the Delaware River to a longitude equal to the then western border of Maryland. It was now William Penn’s role, as sole proprietor of Pennsylvania, to fill it up with people. He would do a remarkable job, especially under the challenging circumstances, relying heavily on his … pen. Along the way he would write a practical and moral defense of English colonialism at a time when many of the movers and shakers in London were arguing against it.
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Primary references for this episode (Commission earned for Amazon purchases through the episode notes on our website)
Andrew R. Murphy, William Penn: A Life
Jean R. Soderlund (Editor), William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania: A Documentary History
Joseph E. Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania: A History
Richard S. Dunn, “William Penn and the Selling of Pennsylvania, 1681-1685,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Oct. 14, 1983
