July 30, 2008
Exclusive: William J. Federer’s
American Minute
King Charles II gave him land in America in payment of a debt owed to his father. As he had been imprisoned in the Tower of London for being a Quaker, he invited persecuted Christians of Europe to join his colony of religious toleration. Soon Quakers, Mennonites, Pietists, Amish, Anabaptists, Lutherans, Reformed, Moravians, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Dunkers (German Baptist), Brethren, Schwenckfelders, French Huguenots, Catholics and even Jews joined his "holy experiment." His name was William Penn, and he died JULY 30, 1718. His first city was named Philadelphia, meaning "Brotherly Love." It allowed the only English-speaking Catholic Church in the world in 1733. Philadelphia's first synagogue was built in 1782. The Charter granted March 4, 1681, stated: "Whereas our trusty and well beloved subject, William Penn, Esquire, son and heir of Sir William Penn, deceased, out of a commendable desire to enlarge our English Empire...and also to reduce the savage natives by gentle and just manners to the Love of Civil Societe and Christian religion, hath humbly besought leave of us to transport an ample colony unto a certain country hereinafter describe in the parts of America not yet cultivated and planted."
