Chapter IV: The Province of Pennsylvania

Penn’s Grant.--Its Extent.--Penn visits His Province.--Makes Laws
for its Government.--Prior Explorations of the Dutch.--Dutch and
Swedish Settlements.--First White People who set Foot on
Pennsylvania Soil.--Colony passes under English Control.

There is a pretty well authenticated account of three European travelers, who in 1614 started from some point on the Mohawk river, not far from Albany, N. Y., thence proceeded up the Mohawk valley a distance of about thirty miles, after which they changed to a southerly course, through an unbroken forest, to the headwaters of the Delaware river, and thence following down the course of that stream a distance of nearly three hundred and fifty miles, through a trackless wilderness to Delaware Bay. Those travelers are believed to have been the first white men that ever set foot on the soil of the present State of Pennsylvania. It is recorded that Cornelius Hendrickson, in command of one of the vessels of the West India Company, while exploring the country along the Delaware river, met those three men the following year, some distance below where the city of Philadelphia now stands. Hendrickson’s vessel was the first one that had ascended the Delaware river as far north as Pennsylvania up to that time, although Hendrik Hudson, engaged in the Dutch service, had as early as 1609 ascended the waters of the Delaware as far as the state of that name.

The Dutch immediately upon the reports of the explorations of Hudson and Hendrickson, laid claim to their discoveries, and dispatched vessels to America with officers who were instructed to establish sovereignty over the new possessions in the name of the Dutch government. Attempts to colonize the new possessions were also made simultaneously, which were attended with some success. The civil authority over the colonies on the Delaware was thereafter exercised by the Dutch, whose chief seat of government was at New Amsterdam (New York). There were but few accessions to the settlements for a long time, until in 1638 when a company of Swedes, including some Finns arrived, and established themselves permanently among the Dutch, after which the colony was alternately ruled by the Dutch and Swedes, until 1655 when the Dutch authorities came over from New Amsterdam, and took possession of the Swedish settlement, as well as the settlements made by the Dutch. In 1664 the English captured New Amsterdam, when the colonies on the Delaware passed under their control. Subsequently, in 1674 the Dutch recaptured their American colonies, and after holding them for a short time, they were again transferred to English rule; after that the colonies on the Delaware within the present limits of Pennsylvania, continued to be ruled over by the English, until the proprietary government was established under William Penn.

In 1681 the British government made a grant to William Penn of a “tract of land in America lying north of Maryland; on the east bounded by the Delaware river; on the west limited as Maryland, and northward to extend as far as plantable.” Such were the boundaries of Pennsylvania as defined by the charter of Charles II. of England to William Penn in 1681. The grant to Penn was made in liquidation of a claim of his father against the government, of sixteen thousand pounds, to which he fell heir, after his father’s death.

In 1682 Penn visited his province, remaining nearly two years, during which time he instituted a government for its regulation; planned the city of Philadelphia, and laid the foundation of a future mighty commonwealth. He established a civil constitution, and formulated a code of laws, which guaranteed civil and religious freedom to every inhabitant within the limits of his province. Some of the most beneficient features of Penn’s code are still preserved, in the Declaration of Rights in the present Constitution of Pennsylvania.

After Penn had laid the foundation of civil government for his province, he put forward schemes for its colonization. One of his first acts was a treaty with the Indians, whom he recognized as the rightful owners of the soil. He did not pretend to make any title to lands before he procured the relinquishment of the Indian title by treaty and purchase. The treaties made by Penn with the Indians were sacredly kept by him, and they stand out in honorable relief, when contrasted with a century of violated treaties, broken promises, and bad faith of the United States Government, in its dealings with the various Indian tribes.

After Penn had acquired honest title to the Indian lands, he offered them for sale in blocks of 5,000 acres for 100 pounds. This was at the rate of ten cents an acre reckoned at the present value of money, for the choicest land in Pennsylvania. Persons who brought servants with them on coming here, were entitled to 50 acres for each servant, and after the expiration of their term of service, the latter were also entitled to 50 acres of land. Such as desired to rent land, were charged one penny per annum for each acre rented. Such liberal terms upon which to acquire land, gave a great stimulus to emigration, and it was not long before the great stream of humanity from the old world, began to flow into Pennsylvania at a rapid rate, and continued to flow with little abatement for upwards of three-quarters of a century.