March 4 marked the 342nd birthday of Pennsylvania. On that date in 1681, King Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for more than 45,000 square miles of land, most of which became the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On Monday, March 6, 2023, a group of state legislators gathered in the Capitol rotunda to commemorate the anniversary by reading Penn’s Charter of Privileges, the document which, in 1701, established the colony’s longest-lasting government until the birth of the United States 75 years later.
Rep. Dave Zimmerman (R-Lancaster/Berks) organized the anniversary event in coordination with the Pennsylvania Prayer Caucus Network. Zimmerman, a dozen other representatives, one senator, and several proxies for representatives who could not attend in person each read a portion of the charter. Though all Pennsylvania legislators were invited, the only ones present from Lancaster County were Zimmerman and Rep. Tom Jones (R-Lancaster/Lebanon).
Mary Faus, a member of North Caribou Lake First Nation in Ontario, opened the gathering with prayer and later spoke on behalf of Native Americans, who Penn established treaties with, lived in peace with, and was respected by throughout his lifetime.
The history of our commonwealth is steeped in the principles of freedom of conscience, religious tolerance, and liberty for all. The charter, Zimmerman explained, enabled William Penn to realize his vision for religious tolerance for everyone. “Penn and other Quakers believed that everyone should seek God in his or her own way. Penn also thought that religious tolerance, or liberty of conscience, would create a stronger government and a wealthier society. Penn welcomed settlers from all faiths to Pennsylvania. Each of the other American colonies had established an official church, but Penn did not,” he said. Penn sought out religious groups in Europe who were suffering for their faith and invited them to his colony. Some of these immigrants were Zimmerman’s own ancestors. Through Penn’s charter, Pennsylvania became a haven for people who wished to escape the religious persecution that was prevalent throughout Europe at the time — not just English Quakers, but Huguenots, Lutherans, Mennonites, Amish, Catholics and Jews.
Although Penn welcomed all, he was a man of deep religious conviction in his own faith. He himself had been arrested and imprisoned multiple times for acting on his faith as a Quaker instead of being a member of the government-controlled Church of England. These imprisonments only emboldened his desire for freedom of conscience and the chance to live in a nation where citizens had liberty to worship without fear of tyrants.
King Charles II had plenty of reasons to wish England rid of Penn and his so-called rebellion to the crown, so when Penn requested land in America instead of the money Charles owed Penn’s deceased father, the king granted him the right to much of the land known today as Pennsylvania.
William Penn’s style of governing, as exhibited in the Charter, served as a model of self-governance that inspired the Founding Fathers less than 90 years later as they formed the U.S. Constitution. Penn and his “Holy Experiment,” as it was called, had helped confirm the success of a government based on citizens’ rights rather than the divine rights of kings. The intersection of civil government and religious tolerance was durable, and the people living it out thrived in spite of their differences and struggles. As Zimmerman pointed out, “This new land was for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.”
Penn’s Charter, normally stored in a vault in the State Archives where it is protected from light and environmental fluctuations, is brought out annually and put on display for the public. This year, the historic, world-changing document was able to be viewed at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg from Friday, March 10, until 1 p.m. on Friday, March 17.
