P2 APUSH Wiley PA Case Study, D___Name

P2 |APUSH | Wiley |PA Case Study, D___Name:

In 1660, English settlement on the mainland was concentrated in the Chesapeake Bay region (VA and MD) and New England (MA, CT, RI, NH, VT, and ME). After 1660, the Crown expanded English power in the New World by initiating settlements in the “Middle Colonies” (PA, NJ, NY, and DE) and the Carolinas. This document provides a case study of one of those Middle Colonies—Pennsylvania.Actively read the background information below, watch the documentary, and answer the questions that follow.

The Quakers Settle Pennsylvania, Summary(a Middle Colony case study | content taken from Out of Many text resources)

At the age of 22, English gentlemen William Penn committed himself to the Society of Friends, or Quakers, a Protestant sect whose religious and social views were radical for the time. The Quakers believed that God’s “inner light” burned inside everyone. They held services without formal ministers, allowing any person to speak as the spirit moved him or her. They dressed plainly, refused to defer to persons of rank, and embraced pacifism by opposing war and refusing to serve in the military. For their radical views, they were scorned and harassed. The Quakers were persecuted extensively in England, and Penn himself was jailed several times for expressing his views. Penn knew that England in the late 1660s was no place for Quakers.

Note: Quaker and Puritan beliefs are similar in that they both believe in a more direct, personal experience of God, rather than through rituals conducted by priests. A difference is that Puritan churches had ministers, while Quakers did not.

Penn’s father would play a key role in helping him realize his dream of a safe haven for Quakers in America. King Charles II had owed Penn’s father money, which Penn asked to be repaid with American land. Charles agreed, and in 1681 he gave Penn a charter for Pennsylvania (“Penn’s Woods”). Penn had big plans for his colony—a government run on Quaker principles of equality, cooperation, and religious toleration. However, he did not reveal the true nature of his plans before receiving the charter (“…to publish those things now and here, as matters stand, would not be wise…”).

Penn saw his colony as a “holy experiment” in living. To achieve his goal of creating a utopian society based on Quaker beliefs, Penn guaranteed every adult male settler 50 acres of land and the right to vote. His plan for government called for a representative assembly and freedom of religion. As a lasting symbol of his Quaker beliefs, Penn also helped plan a capital he called the “City of Brotherly Love,” or Philadelphia. While Penn only partially realized his plans, the tolerant Quaker principles on which he established his colony attracted many settlers of different faiths, creating a thriving, multiethnic society.

Like most Quakers, Penn believed that people approached in friendship would respond in friendship—sooner or later. As such, Penn reached out to the tribes of Pennsylvania before setting foot in North America, expressing his concern for the injustices committed by Europeans. Penn believed that the land belonged to the tribes of the area, and he saw to it that they were paid for it. To be sure that they were treated fairly, he regulated trade with the natives and provided for a court comprised of both colonists and Native Americans to settle any differences. For more than 50 years the Pennsylvania colony had no major conflicts with Native Americans who lived in the colony (but this would change after that period). His respectful and peaceful relations with Native Americans during the initial settlement stood in sharp contrast to both the Chesapeake and New England regions, where conflict with Native Americans was much more acute.

As a proprietor, Penn needed to attract settlers—farmers, builders, and traders—to create a profitable colony. After opening the colony to Quakers, he vigorously recruited immigrants from around Western Europe, including thousands of Germans who brought with them craft skills and farming techniques that helped the colony thrive.But historians note that wealth in natural resources was one of the key reasons Pennsylvania became such a profitable colony.

By the end of Penn’s life (in 1718) his idealistic vision for Pennsylvania had faded but not failed. His own Quakers were a minority in a colony thickly populated by people from all over Western Europe. Slavery was introduced, and, in fact, some prominent Quakers, like Penn himself, even owned slaves. Nonetheless, the principles of equality, cooperation, and religious tolerance on which he founded his vision would eventually become fundamental values of the new American nation.

William Penn mini-documentary from History Makers,
In Penn’s Shadow(25 minutes)

How does the video describe Penn’s background, character, and ideology?
Describe some of the Quaker beliefs discussed in the mini-documentary. Also add in notes regarding Quakers from page 1 as review:
What was Penn’s vision for Pennsylvania/Philadelphia? What were his goals? What principles were reflected in the design of the colony/city?
How did Penn attract settlers? What kind of people migrated to PA? Discuss the impact of immigration on PA:
How did Penn interact and negotiate with Native Americans?
Describe the economy (business and trade) that developed in PA:

What role did slavery play in PA?

Describe some of the information regarding religion, as separate from Quaker ideology (ex: religious dissidents):

Describe the political structure of PA and what caused it to shift in 1701:

How did PA end up disappointing Penn?
Revisit DBQ Exemplar 2. Flesh out some similarities and differences between Puritan New England, the Chesapeake region, and the PA case study.