Who was William Penn, and what were his motives for founding Pennsylvania?
Penn is the son of a powerful English member of government who called on the King when Penn’s father left his inheritance to the practicing Quaker. The King was in the debt of the elder Penn and sought to 1) repay the debt owed the father and 2) rid himself and England of the pesky Quaker sect by giving them a plot land large enough to take the entire following. Penn really threw a wrench in the King’s plan by making his colony open to all comers, regardless of religion or political persuasion. The territory became a popular settlement point for those who cold find no respite elsewhere in the colonies. Penn was living up to his Quaker teachings and made sure the colonists were truly free of political restraint or religious hindrance.
