In 1660, Charles II became the king of England. At this time the Dutch were leaders in world trade. Because of this, England did all that it could in its power to gain control of world trade and commerce. Of course, this plan took 100 years to accomplish. This led the royal throne trying to take more of a strong hold on the American Colonies. One notable way of taking this action, was to establish what has been known as the Restoration Colonies. These were also monetary and political debts to eight loyal noblemen. These Colonies included the Carolinas, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Most of the proprietors of these new lands were allowed to rule the new land in any way they pleased. Most laws were set up similar to England's. However, the largest problem that the crown and colonies dealt with, was that of religion. One radical religious group, the Quakers, struggled for equality between the sexes as well as a pacifist view on disputes. Though many Quakers living throughout the colonies, would seem not to bother anyone, they made aggressive statements with passive actions, and led to many of the colonist dealing with problems between the Quakers and other religious groups.
In 1681, Charles II granted ownership of Pennsylvania to William Penn. This was in order to pay back a debt to Penn's father, Admiral Sir William Penn. Though Penn himself was born into a wealthy family, during his years at college, Penn became obsessed with the Quaker religion because of the plainness. Once given the settlement of Pennsylvania, which means Penn's Woods, William Penn set up the providence as a refuge for Quakers in England and the Colonies alike. Though Penn himself did not arrive in the colony until 1682, when he laid out the plans for the city of Philadelphia, Penn had made his cousin William Markham deputy governor of the province and sent him to take control in 1861. This pan of government, was due to the fact that in England, Quakers were persecuted for refusing to serve in military services or pay taxes which supported the Church of England. Even William Penn spent two years in jail due to his beliefs as a Quaker. Quakers wanted to restore Christianity to early simple spirituality, but did not agree with the Calvinistic documents that were considered too pessimistic. The two English leaders for the Quakers were, George Fox and Margaret Fell. These people argued that God has given both men and women an, "inner light" of grace and understanding. With this sex equality came 350 women who became Quaker ministers. This is along with the were 1,500 migrants who settled in Pennsylvania. Obviously Penn's religious beliefs dictated the government structure that was set up for Pennsylvania. Penn set up a state that would be tolerant of all religions, given that they were of Christian relation. Though Penn set up a legally established church, this gave political equality to all property-owning men. This was to allow all property-owning men the power to vote and hold office. Because of this decision, thousands of the Quakers, who were mostly yeomen families from the northwest midland region of England, were jubilant about this and flooded Pennsylvania, and originally settled along the Delaware River near Philadelphia.
William Penn was one of the most preferred rulers of any Colony. The king of England, more as a piece of pleasantry than otherwise, insisted upon naming the land that was being settled "Pennsylvania," in honor of the proprietor. Even later in the nations history, there were accounts of slaves who stated, "I hope that I become the slave of a Quaker." Though slavery was not outlawed, Quakers tended to treat their slaves much better than in owners in any other state. Absolute freedom of conscience was permitted. In all trials by jury of Native Americans, one-half of the jury were composed of Native Americans, and, although Penn allowed the death sentence for treason and murder, nobody was ever killed as execution while Penn was still in power. Penn in a way, gave the rest of the settlers a living example on how to act in manner of political matters, as well as treatment of Native Americans. Penn for the most part treated the Native Americans of the region, The Lenape (later named Delaware), with a lot more respect than most Colonies at the time. After his arrival in 1682 he called the Native American chiefs together at Shackamaxon, and paid them for the land that he had already received. In addition, he signed a treaty with the Native Americans, which was not broken for sixty years. It has been said that, this was the only treaty not sworn to, which was kept by English settelers.
Within a year of settlement, Quakers had began to started to use mix crop for economic growth and food produce. It had become one of the leaders in the world of farming and produce. Many of the crops that were harvested consisted of corn, wheat, oats, rye, hemp and tomatoes. On a separate note, tomatoes were not used in pizzas until around this time, when the queen of Italy had taken a liking to the taste. Imagine pizza without tomatoes. In 1683 Penn had met with others in Chester, to finally set out the plans in order to set up the city of Philadelphia. A year later, there was a population of 7,000 residents. In three years, the population grew faster than that of New Yorks in fifty years. Delaware, then called the "Three Lower Counties," was given a separate government in 1703. Delaware created their own deputy governor. But Pennsylvania and Delaware continued substantially under one government until the American Revolution. In 1692, the province was taken from Penn, because of his friendship to James II. And even after it was restored by Penn, in 1699 when he made his second visit he found the people had grown away from him and were against Penn exercising his former supervision. While absent, a steward stole all his property in England. Failing in health and mind, Penn died in 1718. His sons then became proprietors. However, the residents grew more discontented with the payments to the state. To end the disputes, the State abolished the rents during the Revolution, paying the proprietors the sum of $650,000 for the removal of their rights.
Pennsylvania had developed into a dynamic and growing colony, enriched by immigration of Germans and English. The Quakers, English, and Welsh settled mostly in Philadelphia and the eastern counties. Through foreign trade they gained commercial and financial power and reached a political dominance, which was held until the American Revolution. Philadelphia had become the largest city in the nation, and was third largest in the world next to London, and Paris. Philadelphia had also become known as a center of culture in the new world. The Germans, which became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch due to their pronunciation of the word Deutsch, (meaning German) largely of the religions of Mennonites, Moravians, Lutherans, and Amish settled in the farming areas of Southeast Pennsylvania as well as around Lancaster. While working the Germans kept their traditions and rituals and to a considerable extent their language, customs, architecture, and superstitions. Due to this large influx of German immigrants to the colony, there has been a section of the area called Germantown.
By 1776, Pennsylvania had become the third largest English colony in America, Philadelphia had become the second largest city in the America and was second largest next to London. Though there were only three counties initially, by 1773 there were eleven. West Moreland, the last new county created before the Revolution, was the first county located entirely west of the Allegheny Mountains. This expansion led to many fights with the Native Americans. This expansion also led to the first road, now called Route 30, which went from Lancaster to Philadelphia. The prominent resident Benjamin Franklin also made many of his inventions while living in Philadelphia. Some of these inventions were a postal service, a printing press along with the first newspaper, the Franklin Stove and the Glass Harmonica. On the eve of the American Revolution Philadelphia held the largest amounts of breweries, artisans and mechanics formed grassroots leadership, and Philadelphia as a city was a center of resistance to the Stamp Act in 1765. Many of the people opposed moved to support Boston in opposition to the Intolerable Acts in 1774.
Altogether, Pennsylvania was a fairly diverse Colony. With a stronghold for agriculture, political, artistic and trade, Pennsylvania became a very prominent position for the second constitutional congress as well as gave plenty of reason for Pennsylvania's nickname, The Keystone State. Though there were still slaves and disputes between the Native Americans and English settlers, Pennsylvania has come to be known as the most Democratic of all the Colonies.
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