The Story of American History for Elementary SchoolsBlaisdell, Albert F. (Albert Franklin)
History
The Story of American History for Elementary Schools
Blaisdell, Albert F. (Albert Franklin)
United States -- History
On condition that he should be paid two beaver-skins every year, the
king granted Penn a large tract of land on the western bank of the
Delaware river, and named it Pennsylvania, or "Penn's Woodland."
=95. A Colony of Quakers established in Pennsylvania.=--Penn now planned
to send his Quaker colony to the new home in America. He came over in
person in the fall of 1682, and landed at New Castle, Delaware. Penn
sailed in an open boat up the broad and beautiful Delaware River until
he came to the place on which his chief city or capital was soon to be
laid out. The "Quaker King," for thus he was called, was received with
great joy by the people. They knew that he would keep his promise to
secure full freedom of conscience and speech for all. He called it a
"free colony for all mankind."
[Illustration: A PROSPEROUS QUAKER.]
No person was compelled, as were the Pilgrims of New England, to attend
any church or practise any form of religious worship. Only murder and
treason were punished with death. Before this Penn had written to the
colonists, saying, "You shall be governed by laws of your own making; I
shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person."
=96. Penn selects a Location for his Capital; Philadelphia, "the City of
Brotherly Love."=--On a neck of land between the Schuylkill and the
Delaware, Penn selected a site for his "faire and greene country
towne"--a city of refuge and a home of free speech and conscience. And
he generously bought the land from some Swedes, who had bought it from
the Indians.
Penn now laid out his city and gave it the Bible name of Philadelphia,
which means "brotherly love." As he stood with his friends on the high
ground and beheld the country in its autumn foliage, the good man said:
"I have seen the finest cities of Europe, but I never saw so beautiful a
place for a city as this."
=97. His Kind Treatment of the Indians.=--Penn knew how cruelly some of
the other colonies had treated the Indians. This should not be done in
Pennsylvania. The Indians must be fairly dealt with. Their lands were
not to be taken away by force, but must be openly bought and honestly
paid for. If a settler wronged an Indian, he was to be punished. In
short, in this Quaker colony they were all to live together as brothers.
That everything might be done in a business-like way, Penn sent word to
various tribes of Indians that he would meet them on a certain day to
make a treaty. He wanted them to hear what he had to say. He sent word
to them that he was a man of peace, and no firearms would be brought to
the meeting. The Indians gladly accepted Penn's invitation.
[Illustration: PENN'S MEETING WITH THE INDIANS.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Story of American History for Elementary Schools — John Shaqi
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