TheProvince of Pennsylvania, also known as thePennsylvania Colony, was aBritish North American colony founded byWilliam Penn, who received the land through a grant fromCharles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived fromLatin, meaning "Penn's Woods", a reference to William Penn's fatherAdmiral Sir William Penn.

Province of Pennsylvania
1681–1776
Flag Coat of arms
Map of the Province of Pennsylvania
Land purchases from Native Americans in Pennsylvania
Status	Colony ofEngland (1681–1707) Colony ofGreat Britain (1707–1776)
Capital	Philadelphia
Official languages	English andPennsylvania Dutch
Government	Proprietary Colony
Proprietor
• 1681–1718	William Penn (first)
• 1775-1776	John Penn (last)
Governor
• 1681-1682	William Markham (first)
• 1773-1776	John Penn (last)
Legislature	(1683-1776) Provincial Assembly (1776) Provincial Conference
• Upper house	Provincial Council
• Lower house	General Assembly
History
• Land grant byCharles II of England toWilliam Penn	March 4, 1681
• Declaration of Independence	July 4, 1776
Currency	Pennsylvania pound⁸
Preceded by Succeeded by New Netherland Pennsylvania  Delaware
Today part of	United States

The Province of Pennsylvania was one of two majorRestoration colonies incolonial-eraBritish America. The proprietary colony's charter remained in the Penn family until the Penns were ousted in 1776 during theAmerican Revolutionary War, and theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania was established as one of theoriginal thirteen states.

In June 1776, theLower counties on the Delaware, a separate colony within the Province of Pennsylvania, broke away from the Province of Pennsylvania. On December 7, 1787, following independence, this former colony, renamedDelaware, was the first state to ratify theU.S. Constitution, making it the nation's firstU.S. state and one of the original thirteen states. Three months later, on December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution and join the United States.

The Province of Pennsylvania attractedEnglishQuakers,Germans, andScots-Irish frontiersmen. TheLenape Indian tribe, which inhabited most of present-day eastern Pennsylvania, mostly co-existed peacefully with the Quakers during William Penn's governance of the province.

However, onceTamanend, who supported peaceful coexistence with the settlers, died in 1701, and William Penn, who was equally committed to peaceful relations, died in 1718, wars began breaking out between the Lenape and European settlers. Quakers demonizedLenape mythology, even though Quakers were strong proponents ofreligious freedom.^[1]

During theAmerican Revolution andAmerican Revolutionary War,Philadelphia, which served as both the first capital of the Province of Pennsylvania and thecolonial era capital of theThirteen Colonies, emerged as a major port, commercial city, and a central location for the thinking, writings, and planning that ultimately inspired the American Revolution.

During the American Revolution and Revolutionary War, both theFirst andSecondContinental Congress convened in Philadelphia. In 1775, after the Revolutionary War broke out with theBattles of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress, meeting inside present-dayIndependence Hall, formed theContinental Army and unanimously selectedGeorge Washington as the new army's commander-in-chief.

The following year, in June 1776,Thomas Jefferson authored the first draft of theDeclaration of Independence from his second floor apartment at present-day 700Market Street; on July 4, the Declaration was unanimously adopted and issued to KingGeorge III by all 56 delegates to the convention.

Between July 1776 and November 1777, the Second Continental Congress debated and authored theArticles of Confederation at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

On September 26, 1777, during theBritish Army'sPhiladelphia campaign, Philadelphia fell to the British, who occupied the city through June 1778, forcing Washington and 12,000 Continental Army troops to retreat toValley Forge, where as many as 2,000 died from disease or starvation over the harsh winter of 1777-1778.

Following independence, theConstitution of the United States, now the longest-standing written constitution in the world, was debated, authored, and implemented at theConstitutional Convention, which met inside Independence Hall from May 25 to September 17, 1787, with George Washington presiding as the convention's president.

During the American Revolution, Philadelphia was the second-most populous city in the entireBritish Empire afterLondon.

Once American independence was secured, Philadelphia continued to serve as the nation's capital from 1790 to until 1800, while the new national capital city inWashington, D.C. was constructed.^[2] Both George Washington, the nation's firstpresident, andJohn Adams, the nation's second president, lived and worked fromPresident's House in Philadelphia while theWhite House was being constructed in Washington, D.C. In November 1800, near the end of hisadministration, Adams relocated to the White House through the end of his term in March 1801, becoming the first U.S. president to work and reside there.

The Province of Pennsylvania's colonial government was established in 1683, byWilliam Penn'sFrame of Government. Penn was appointed governor and a 72-memberProvincial Council and larger General Assembly were responsible for governing the province. The General Assembly, also known as thePennsylvania Provincial Assembly, was the largest and most representative branch of government but had limited powers.

Succeeding frames of government were produced in 1683, 1696, and 1701. The fourth frame, also known as theCharter of Privileges, remained in effect until theAmerican Revolution. At the time, the Provincial Assembly was deemed too moderate by American revolutionaries, who rejected the General Assembly's authority and held theFirst Continental Congress inPhiladelphia, which produced thePennsylvania Constitution of 1776 for the newly established commonwealth and created the newPennsylvania General Assembly.

Despite having the land grant fromKing Charles II, Penn embarked on an effort to purchase the lands fromNative Americans. TheLenape Indian tribe held much of the land near present-dayPhiladelphia, and they expected payment in exchange for aquitclaim to vacate the territory.^[5] Penn and his representatives (Proprietors) negotiated a series of treaties with the Lenape and other tribes that had an interest in the land in his royal grant.

The initial treaties were conducted between 1682 and 1684, for tracts betweenNew Jersey and the formerDelaware Colony in present-dayDelaware.^[6] The province was divided into three counties, plus the threeLower counties on Delaware Bay, includingBucks County,Philadelphia County, andChester County.

The lower counties on Delaware, a separate colony within the province, included the three counties of present-dayDelaware:New Castle,Sussex, andKent County.

Several decades into the 18th century, additional treaties with Native Americans were concluded. The colony's proprietors made treaties in 1718, 1732, 1737, 1749, 1754, and 1754, pushing the boundaries of the colony, which were still within the original royal grant, north and west.^[6] By the time theFrench and Indian War began in 1754, the Assembly had established additional counties, includingLancaster (1729),York (1749),Cumberland (1750),Berks (1752), andNorthampton (1752).^[6]

After the French and Indian War concluded, an additional treaty was made in 1768, which codified the limits of theRoyal Proclamation of 1763, which provided a temporary boundary that could be extended further west in an orderly manner by the royal government but not by private individuals, such as the proprietors. This agreement altered the original royal land grant to Penn.

The next acquisitions by Pennsylvania took place after Pennsylvania became part of the United States, following its ratification of theU.S. Constitution.

ThePennsylvania General Assembly established three additional counties prior to theAmerican Revolutionary War:Bedford (1771),Northumberland (1772), andWestmoreland (1773).^[6]

William Penn and his fellowQuakers heavily imprinted their religious beliefs and values on the early Pennsylvanian government. TheCharter of Privileges extended religious freedom to all monotheists, and the government was initially open to all Christians. Until theFrench and Indian War, Pennsylvania had no military, few taxes, and no public debt. It also encouraged the rapid growth ofPhiladelphia into America's most important city and of thePennsylvania Dutch Country hinterlands, where German (or "Deutsch") religions and political refugees prospered on the fertile soil and spirit of cultural creativeness. Among the first groups were theMennonites, who foundedGermantown in 1683; and theAmish, who established theNorthkill Amish Settlement in 1740. 1751 was an auspicious year for the colony.Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the British American colonies,^[7] andThe Academy and College of Philadelphia, the predecessor to the privateUniversity of Pennsylvania,^[8] both opened.Benjamin Franklin founded both of these institutions and Philadelphia's Union Fire Company fifteen years earlier in 1736.^[9] Likewise in 1751, the Pennsylvania State House ordered a new bell which would become known as theLiberty Bell for the new bell tower being built in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia.

William Penn had mandated fair dealings withNative Americans in the United States. This led to significantly better relations with the local tribes, mainly theLenape andSusquehanna, than most other colonies had.^[10] TheQuakers had previously treated Indians with respect, bought land from them voluntarily, and had even representation of Indians and whites on juries. According toVoltaire, theShackamaxon Treaty was "the only treaty between Indians and Christians that was never sworn to and that was never broken."^[11][12][13] The Quakers also refused to provide any assistance toNew England'sIndian wars.

In 1737, the Colony exchanged a great deal of its political goodwill with the native Lenape for more land.^[10] The colonial administrators claimed that they had a deed dating to the 1680s in which the Lenape-Delaware had promised to sell a portion of land beginning between the junction of theDelaware River andLehigh River in present-dayEaston, Pennsylvania "as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half."

The purchase became known as theWalking Purchase.^[10] Although the document was most likely a forgery, the Lenape did not realize that. Provincial SecretaryJames Logan set in motion a plan that would grab as much land as they could get and hired the three fastest runners in the colony to run out the purchase on a trail that had been cleared by other members of the colony beforehand. The pace was so intense that only one runner completed the "walk", covering an astonishing 70 miles (110 km).^[10] This netted the Penns 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km²) of land in what is nownortheastern Pennsylvania, an area roughly equivalent to the size of the state ofRhode Island in the purchase. The area of the purchase covers all or part of what are nowPike,Monroe,Carbon,Schuylkill,Northampton,Lehigh, andBucks counties.

The Lenape tribe fought for the next 19 years to have the treaty annulled but to no avail. The Lenape-Delaware were forced into theShamokin andWyoming Valleys, which were overcrowded with other displaced tribes.^[14]

As the colony grew, colonists and British military forces came into confrontation with natives in the state's Western half. Britain fought for control of the neighboringOhio Country with France during theFrench and Indian War. Following the British victory, the territory was formally ceded to them in 1763, and became part of theBritish Empire.

With the French and Indian War over andPontiac's War just beginning, theRoyal Proclamation of 1763 banned colonization beyond theAppalachian Mountains to prevent settlers settling lands that Indians tribes were using. This proclamation impacted Pennsylvanians and Virginians the most, since they both had been racing towards the lands surroundingFort Pitt in modern-dayPittsburgh.

TheSupreme Court of Pennsylvania, consisting of the Chief Justice and at least one other judge, was founded by statute in 1722 (although dating back to 1684 as the Provincial Court) and sat in Philadelphia twice a year.

• John Dickinson,Founding Father of the United States
• Benjamin Franklin moved toPhiladelphia at age 17 in 1723; he was Pennsylvania's most famous citizen during his later years. Among his accomplishments was founding in 1751 theAcademy and College of Philadelphia, the predecessor to the privateUniversity of Pennsylvania. Franklin was also a strong advocate for a state militia, creating his own extra-legal militia when the state assembly would not duringKing George's War^[16]
• Thomas McKean was born inNew London, Pennsylvania. He was an officer in theContinental Army during the American Revolution, a signer of theDeclaration of Independence, the second President of the U.S. Congress under theArticles of Confederation, Acting President of Delaware, and Chief Justice and Governor of Pennsylvania
• Gouverneur Morris, one of the leading minds of the American Revolution, lived in New York City during most of the colonial period but moved to Philadelphia to work as a lawyer and merchant during the Revolution
• Robert Morris moved to Philadelphia around 1749 at about age 14. He was known as the Financier of the Revolution because of his role in securing financial assistance for the American Colonial side in the Revolutionary War. In 1921,Robert Morris University was founded and named after him
• John Morton was born inRidley Township, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to theContinental Congress and a signatory to theContinental Association and theUnited States Declaration of Independence
• Timothy Murphy aContinental Army marksman
• Abraham op den Graeff was an original founder ofGermantown, Philadelphia, member of thePennsylvania Provincial Assembly and signer of thefirst organized religious protest against slavery in colonial America
• Thomas Paine emigrated to Philadelphia in 1774 at Benjamin Franklin's urging. His tract,Common Sense, published in 1776, was arguably the most famous and influential argument for theAmerican Revolution. He was also the first to champion the phrase "United States of America" publicly
• William Penn was the colony's founder and son of navalAdmiral Sir William Penn
• George Ross was born inNew Castle, Delaware and moved to Philadelphia to practice law. He was a delegate to theContinental Congress and a signatory to theContinental Association and theUnited States Declaration of Independence
• Peggy Shippen was the daughter of prominent Philadelphia merchantEdward Shippen and wife ofBenedict Arnold
• Arthur St. Clair moved toLigonier Valley, Pennsylvania in 1764. He served as a judge in colonial Pennsylvania, a general in theContinental Army, and a President under theArticles of Confederation
• Samuel Van Leer, (1747–1825)ironmaster and captain in theAmerican Revolutionary War
• Anthony Wayne,American Revolutionary War general
• James Wilson moved to Philadelphia in 1765 and became a lawyer. He signed theDeclaration of Independence and wrote or worked on many of the most challenging compromises in theU.S. Constitution, including theThree-Fifths Compromise, which defined slaves as three-fifths of a person for purposes of census-taking, the number of members to be elected toU. S. House of Representatives, and government appropriations

• Fort Augusta
• Fort Dupuy
• Great Wagon Road
• Independence Hall, originally Pennsylvania State House
• List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania in the American Revolution
• Restoration colony
• Walking Purchase
• Welsh Tract

• Barr, Daniel P. (2014).A Colony Sprung from Hell: Pittsburgh and the Struggle for Authority on the Western Pennsylvania Frontier, 1744–1794. kent: The Kent State University Press.ISBN 978-1606351901.
• Illick, Joseph E. (1976).Colonial Pennsylvania: A History. New York: Scribner.ISBN 978-0684145655.
• Lamberton, E. V., et al. “Colonial Libraries of Pennsylvania.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 42, no. 3, 1918, pp. 193–234.online
• Leonard, Joan de Lourdes. “Elections in Colonial Pennsylvania.”William and Mary Quarterly 11#3 1954, pp. 385–401.online
• Merrell, James H. (1999).Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Colonial Pennsylvania. New York: W W Norton & Co.ISBN 978-0393046762.
• Nash, Gary B.Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 1681-1726 (Princeton UP, 1993)
• Smolenski, John. "Embodied politics: the Paxton uprising and the gendering of civic culture in colonial Pennsylvania."Early American Studies 14.2 (2016): 377-407online.
• Smolenski, John.Friends and Strangers: The Making of a Creole Culture in Colonial Pennsylvania (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2010).
• Spero, Patrick (2016).Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN 978-0812248616.
• Tully, Alan.Forming American Politics: Ideals, Interests, and Institutions in Colonial New York and Pennsylvania (JHU Press, 2019).

• William Penn: Preface to the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania, 1682
• "Members and Districts by Session, 1682-1775",Wilkes University Election Statistics Project
• Pennsylvania General Assembly: Pennsylvania Constitution

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