The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British colony in North America. It was located along the Mid-Atlantic coast. William Penn, a man with special religious beliefs, founded the colony. He received the land as a gift from King Charles II in 1681. The name Pennsylvania means "Penn's Woods" in Latin. It honored William's father, Admiral Sir William Penn, who was recognized for his service in wars.

The King's charter for the colony in 1681 gave William Penn a lot of freedom to manage it. Penn wanted Pennsylvania to be a "Holy Experiment." This meant it would be a place where people could live peacefully and practice their religion freely. The colony offered fair rules for owning land and trading with the Native American population. It also promised good government, with the King reviewing its laws every five years.

William Penn's family often lent money to the King. The King owed Penn's father a large sum. To settle this debt, the younger Penn was given full ownership of the colony. He agreed to make small yearly payments, like beaver furs and a share of any gold or silver found.

Before Europeans arrived, Native American tribes like the Lenape and Susquehannock lived in the Delaware and Susquehanna valleys. Trading furs became a popular way to make money, which attracted many new people. Swedish settlers built a tobacco farm in Upland in 1644. This area was part of New Sweden, but later the Dutch took control of it and it became part of New Netherland. When the English took over New Netherland in 1682, Upland became Chester, the first town in the new Pennsylvania colony. Soon after, Philadelphia, the capital city, was founded nearby.

Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, Pennsylvania's population grew very quickly. Settlers moved up the Delaware Valley and further inland. The colonial government bought land from Native American leaders to make space for the new arrivals. William Penn made a special agreement called the "Treaty of Friendship" with the Lenape people. William Penn was known for being fair to Native Americans. However, later leaders, including his sons, were not always as fair. One famous event was the "Walking Purchase," where a large amount of land was claimed in a way that many people thought was unfair to the Lenape. By 1760, Philadelphia became the biggest city in British North America, with over 20,000 residents. Around the same time, Fort Pitt, the first English settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, was founded. It later became Pittsburgh.

The King's original land description had some mistakes, which caused arguments with other colonies. Pennsylvania and the Province of New York disagreed over their northern border. This border was later set at the 42nd parallel north, where it is today. There was also a long disagreement between the Penn family and the Calvert family (who owned Maryland) about their borders. A survey in 1767 mostly resolved this, creating the famous Mason–Dixon line. Arguments in the Delmarva Peninsula led to Delaware becoming almost independent from Pennsylvania, even though it was still officially under the same governor.

William Penn's plan for government, called the Frame of Government, gave settlers many rights. The most important was freedom to practice any religion, which was very unusual at that time. This religious freedom brought many different groups of people who were often not welcome elsewhere. These included Welsh Quakers and Pennsylvania Germans, many of whom were Mennonites.

Early History of Pennsylvania

Map of colonial North America showing New-Nederland and New-Sweden, c. 1650

Historians aren't completely sure which European explorer first visited the land that became Pennsylvania. Dutch fur traders might have been there in the early 1600s. Henry Hudson, an English explorer working for the Dutch Republic, saw Delaware Bay in 1606. This helped both England and the Netherlands claim the area later.

The Dutch named what is now the Delaware River the Zudyt (South) River. They made it part of their colony, New Netherland, as a partner to the Nord (now Hudson) River. In 1610, the English claimed the bay, naming it after Lord De la Warr. Since the valley didn't seem to have much wealth, Europeans didn't settle there right away. The Beaver trade route, connecting the Susquehanna River to the Schuylkill River, was discovered in the 1620s. In 1623, the Dutch traveled up the river to the Schuylkill River. They set up small trading posts and a fort, but they didn't have enough people and soon left them.

Swedish and Dutch Settlements

A Dutch businessman helped start a Swedish trading company. This company aimed to make money and spread the Lutheran religion in the Americas. The Swedish South Company started in 1626, raising a lot of money from investors. Its first group of settlers landed at the Delaware River. Sweden was becoming a powerful country and could afford to send ships to explore and settle new lands. The settlers didn't find gold, but they collected beaver furs, grew tobacco, and even tried to raise silkworms. They also started farms, growing wheat and rye on land cleared by the Lenape.

Unlike other colonies, New Sweden was mostly focused on making money for its investors, not on building a permanent, self-sufficient community. It was hard to build families and permanent homes because there weren't many women and life in the Americas was unpredictable. The Swedish government even sent some prisoners to help increase the population. The population of New Sweden was usually small, rarely more than 200–400 people. It reached about 500-600 people when it fell, with about half of them being Finnish.

Dutch governor Peter Minuit used his diplomatic skills to make a treaty with five Lenape chiefs on April 8, 1638. The Swedes believed they had gained rights to a large area of land along the Delaware banks, stretching "as far as the setting sun." They settled both sides of the river and spread out across the Delaware Bay, building forts, churches, and trading centers.

In 1642, a serious illness spread among the colonists, causing many deaths. Native Americans also suffered greatly from diseases brought by Europeans, like Typhus and scurvy, which were common on ships. The Lenape offered their traditional healers to help, but the Swedes declined due to their own religious beliefs.

Relations between the Swedes and Lenape were mostly friendly. Governor Johan Björnsson Printz was even told by Sweden to treat the Lenape well. New Sweden had to be careful because it had very few soldiers. When war broke out between the Swedes and Dutch in 1654, the Swedes gave up their colony largely without a fight.

The Dutch allowed the Swedish settlers to keep their customs, officers, and legal system. People continued to move to the area under Dutch, and later English, rule. New Sweden left a lasting impact on the culture of the Delaware Valley. Swedish and Finnish became common languages, and Lutheranism was a widespread faith.

In Europe, competition for trade led to the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Although the Dutch Republic won, the Treaty of Breda (1667) made them give up their North American colonies. In exchange, they received a valuable plantation colony in South America called Suriname.

Pennsylvania Under English Rule

The Birth of Pennsylvania 1680 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

After the Dutch lost the Second Anglo-Dutch War, King Charles II gave his brother, the Duke of York, a large area of land and the power to govern it. An English navy fleet was sent to claim this new territory. The Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, protested but eventually gave in. This was because the English navy was stronger and his own settlers didn't want to fight.

Initially, the King's grant only covered the western side of Delaware Bay. However, the Dutch leader on the eastern side (modern New Jersey) also surrendered. With that, New Netherland no longer existed. The Duke of York then gave parts of this land to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, creating West and East Jersey. William Penn, whose father was a famous naval commander and had lent money to the royal family, received the land on the west bank of the Delaware. The King owed Penn's family a lot of money, which helped William Penn get this land. Penn's father was a skilled naval commander who won important battles. He was later honored by King Charles II. Penn's father had also helped pay for the English navy to take over New Netherland.

William Penn Jr. wanted to create a "Holy Experiment" – a safe and profitable place for his fellow Quakers to live and practice their religion freely. He convinced King Charles II to agree to his plan after many months. The King gave him a huge amount of land (45,000 acres) to pay off the debt owed to his family. Penn worked hard to get support from 600 investors. In just two years, about 4,000 people moved to his new colony, and this number grew to over 11,000 within ten years. He used his own money to help people move, make fair deals with the Lenape, and build a large home. He also bought enslaved people and indentured servants. He spent a lot of money in the first two years, which led to debts he carried back to England. In 1684, he went back to England to protect his land claims, starting a long dispute with the Calvert family who owned Maryland. Penn was a Quaker, a religious group that believed in friendship and simple worship.

When Penn arrived, about 2,000 people already lived there, mostly Swedes, Finns, Dutch, and some English. About 500 people lived in the lower Schuylkill Valley, where Philadelphia was soon to be built. In Chester (then called Upland), Pennsylvania's first government meeting took place in December 1682. They created the colony's first laws. In 1682, William Penn and the Lenape leaders signed the Treaty of Shackamaxon. This treaty promised peace "as long as the waters run in the rivers and creeks and as long as the stars and moon endure." Penn made other treaties with Native Americans, and he was known for being fair. However, future leaders of Pennsylvania did not always follow his example. The famous writer Voltaire called this treaty "... the only treaty never sworn to and never broken," meaning it was truly special. Penn kept peace with Native Americans because of his Quaker beliefs in peace and his practical approach. As more colonists arrived, the Lenape were pushed westward from their lands. Native American tribes like the Susquehannock, Shawnee, and Lenape had been affected by earlier wars. They had also lost many people, which made it harder for them to resist European settlement.

Over the years, the Lenape were moved further west to make space for new settlers. A special area was set aside for them at the Brandywine River, but even this land was eventually taken by settlers. In December 1684, a ship named Isabella arrived in Philadelphia, bringing 150 enslaved people from Africa.

When William Penn returned to England in 1684, he spent most of his time encouraging people to move to his colony. He traveled through England, Wales, Ireland, and Holland, telling people about Pennsylvania's good land, economic opportunities, and fair treatment of Quakers and other Protestants. He stayed in Europe for 15 years, returning in 1699 to a society with many political disagreements. He didn't stay long, going back to England in 1701 because of growing debts and the threat of being imprisoned. He spent nine months in prison and tried to sell the colony 11 years later in 1712. He nearly died that same year after having a stroke. When he passed away in 1718, his wife, Hannah Callowhill Penn, inherited his debts and the responsibility of governing the colony. She was the only woman to hold this role, serving as governor for 12 years until her death in 1726. The deaths of both Penns and Chief Tamanend, who were advocates for peace, marked a turning point. Conflicts between colonists and Native Americans soon started again.

Penn's efforts in Europe were successful, and many colonists, mostly Quakers, poured in from the Old World. Quakers from all over Europe risked everything to travel to Pennsylvania. Transporting immigrants became a big business. New arrivals often adopted English customs and names. New colonial identities formed, different from their home countries. Through waves of immigration, the colony developed a unique Pennsylvania Dutch (as the Germans were mistakenly called) culture. German-speaking people from Württemberg, the Palatinate, and Switzerland arrived. Most were Protestant, either Lutheran or Reformed (German Calvinists). Others were Anabaptists, Roman Catholics, or members of other smaller religious groups. Differences between German and English speakers lessened over time. The first petition against slavery was launched in 1688 by the Germantown Quaker community. However, the colony's leaders rejected the petition, saying it was too important to deal with at that time.

A view of Bethlem, the great Moravian settlement in the province of Pennsylvania (1761)

The Walking Purchase

William Penn's sons, Thomas and John, who governed the colony, sped up the process of taking land from Native Americans. They had moved away from their father's Quaker faith but still had his financial problems. Like William, they made a living from selling land and collecting rent. By the 1730s, they were worried because settlers from New York and other places were moving into the Lehigh Valley and along the upper Delaware River without permission. This made it harder to sell land in northern Pennsylvania. To get more land, they found, or possibly changed, an old treaty. This treaty would have given the colony Lenape lands as far as a man could walk in a day, which was a common way Native American tribes in Pennsylvania measured land. This plan had been in the works since 1735. The Penns reminded the chiefs Manawkyhickon, Lapowinsa, Tishcohan, and Nutimas of this treaty. They found two of the fastest runners in the colony and sent them running from Wrightstown. The runners finished near the town of Jim Thorpe in Carbon County in 1737. This event, known as the Walking Purchase, added 750,000 acres to the Penn family's land.

The American Revolution

During the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Philadelphia was very important. It was the first capital of the Province of Pennsylvania and the main city for the Thirteen Colonies. Philadelphia became a major port and business center, known as "the best poor man's country." With over 20,000 residents, its population was larger than Boston and New York City, even though those cities had been settled earlier. Small towns and farms across Pennsylvania were connected to Philadelphia through its newspapers. Before the revolution, Pennsylvania was described as "one of the most considerable of England's colonies" because it was so rich and successful. Pennsylvania was also the largest producer of iron ore outside of Great Britain at that time.

When disagreements grew between the King and the Thirteen Colonies, Philadelphia became a central place for ideas about independence.

Both the First Continental Congress and Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. In 1775, after the Revolutionary War began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in what is now Independence Hall. They formed the Continental Army and chose George Washington as its commander-in-chief.

The next year, in June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, all 56 delegates at the convention approved and sent the Declaration to King George III.

Between July 1776 and November 1777, the Second Continental Congress discussed and wrote the Articles of Confederation at Independence Hall.

On September 26, 1777, during the British Army's Philadelphia campaign, Philadelphia fell to the British. The British occupied the city until June 1778. This forced Washington and 12,000 Continental Army troops to retreat to Valley Forge. There, as many as 2,000 soldiers died from disease or starvation during the harsh winter of 1777–1778.

After independence, the Constitution of the United States was debated, written, and put into action at the Constitutional Convention. This meeting took place inside Independence Hall from May 25 to September 17, 1787, with George Washington leading as president.

During the American Revolution, Philadelphia was the second-most populated city in the entire British Empire, after London.

After Independence

After America gained independence, Philadelphia continued to serve as the nation's capital from 1790 to 1800. This was while the new national capital city in Washington, D.C. was being built. Both George Washington, the nation's first president, and John Adams, the second president, lived and worked from the President's House in Philadelphia. In November 1800, near the end of his time in office, Adams moved to the White House. He became the first U.S. president to work and live there.

Government

William Penn, known as the True and absolute Proprietor of Pennsylvania

The Province of Pennsylvania's colonial government was set up in 1683 by William Penn's Frame of Government. Penn was appointed governor. A 72-member Provincial Council and a larger General Assembly were responsible for governing the province. The General Assembly, called the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, was the largest and most representative part of the government, but it had limited powers. In Chester (then called Upland), Pennsylvania's first legislative session met in December 1682 and passed the colony's first laws.

New versions of the government's framework were created in 1683, 1696, and 1701.

According to the first Charter of Pennsylvania, it was a personal holding of the Penn family. The Penns had the power to appoint governors and collect rents, like in a feudal system. They were officially called "The True and absolute Proprietor of Pennsylvania." Penn imagined that the upper house, the Council, would write bills for the lower house, the Assembly, to approve. He was hesitant to give the Assembly too much power over his lands. However, because of changes in England's government, it was important for the colony to adopt English liberties. These included a government with checks and balances, trial by jury, and religious freedom. Penn's charter guaranteed these rights. The legislature was mostly made up of Quakers who often disagreed with William Penn's ideas about how to run things. In 1684, a change to the charter was passed, calling for stronger property rights and a smaller government. Penn was absent for the next two years because his colony was taken away due to accusations of treason. After he was cleared, two new governments were formed.

In 1701, Penn finally signed the Charter of Privileges. This important document served as the Province's constitution until 1776. The charter only passed because the Quaker-dominated legislature strongly pushed for it. The final document was much more liberal than Penn had planned. It reduced the power of the colony's elite and gave more rights to common people. Men who owned 50 acres of land or had property worth at least £50 could vote. This included most free men in the countryside but fewer people in cities.

Legal Code

Collection of Laws of Province of Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin

Religion played a strong role in the government. Quakers combined English legal traditions with their "Holy Experiment" ideals. Penn himself believed that government was a "venerable ordinance of God" and that laws should "best preserve true Christian and Civil Liberty." The Charter of Privileges required office holders to declare their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Colony's legal code was updated several times between 1682 and 1718. Quakers changed the legal code to largely remove the death penalty, which was different from European justice systems. However, the justice system was unfair, and laws were applied differently based on race. The testimony of a black person was not given much weight, making it hard for enslaved or free black women to get justice. Besides jail and workhouses, other punishments like branding, disfigurement, and beating were used. William Penn wrote about the importance of treating offenders with charity. Although Pennsylvania's charter said laws should be like England's, the Province's laws often differed, especially in areas like marriage law. In 1718, the British Privy Council rejected most of the colony's unique laws, seeing them as against the laws of the mother country. The law became more like the British model in the century before the revolution.

The first Great Laws clearly showed religious influence. Pennsylvanians were forbidden from doing "Common Toyle" (regular work) on Sunday, called the "Lord's day." It was also an offense to "take the Lord's name in vain" or tell "false witness." Wasting time on "worldly amusements" like card games, bullbaiting, and "riotous sports" was also forbidden. The "days of the Week and Months of the Year" were to be known as they were in the Bible.

Pennsylvania's marriage law gave parents more control over their children. Unlike in England, it stopped girls and boys from running away to get married. This was a challenge to enforce because many residents' parents lived overseas. Enslaved people had no right to marry, and after 1725, marriage between different races was banned.

Slavery in Pennsylvania

A law called An Act for the Better Regulating of Negroes in this Province (March 5, 1725–1726) officially made black Pennsylvanians second-class citizens. Here are some of its rules:

If an enslaved person was sentenced to death, the owner would be paid the full value for them.
Taxes on enslaved people brought from other colonies for a crime were doubled.
If an enslaved person was freed, the owner had to pay a bond of £30. This was to protect the local government if the freed person could not support themselves.
A freed enslaved person who was able but unwilling to work could be forced to work as an indentured servant year-to-year. Their male children could be forced to work until age 24, and female children until age 21.
Free black people and Mulattoes could not host, trade, or barter with enslaved people or indentured servants in their homes without their master's permission. If they did, they faced fines and whipping.
If fines could not be paid, the free person could be forced to work.
A minister, pastor, or magistrate who married a black person to a white person was fined £100.
If a white person lived with a black person pretending to be married, the white person would be fined 30 shillings or forced to work for seven years. Their children would be forced to work until age 31. If a free black person married a white person, they became enslaved for life.
If enslaved people were more than 10 miles from their master's home, they received 10 lashes.
Masters who allowed their enslaved people to find work on their own received a 20 shilling fine.
Harboring or hiding an enslaved person resulted in a 30 shillings a day fine.
Fines were used to pay owners of enslaved people sentenced to death.

Population Growth

The following table shows the estimated population of Pennsylvania, excluding Native Americans.

Year	Pennsylvanyia (total)	Philadelphia	Germantown	Lancaster	Pittsburgh	Growth
1680	680	0	0	-	-	-
1690	11,459	2,031	147	-	-	+10,779 (±90%)
1700	17,950	3,220	220	-	-	+6,941 (±56.64%)
1710	24,450	4,415	248	-	-	+6,500 (±36.21%)
1720	30,962	5,940	279	-	-	+6,512 (±26.63%)
1730	51,707	7,500	310	?	-	+20,745 (±67.1%)
1740	85,637	8,720	372	960	-	+33,930 (±65.61%)
1750	119,666	12,736	785	1,912	-	+4,016 (±31.53%)
1760	183,703	18,757	1,562	2,839	201	+64,037 (±53.51%)
1770	240,057	28,802	2,152	2,832	c. 100	+56,350 (±30.67%)

Estimated arrivals through the Port of Philadelphia, 1720-1769:

Decade	Caribbean & Africa	Ireland	Amsterdam
1720	135	-	2,956
1730	424	3,811	13,006
1740	256	6,035	20,850
1750	283	6,944	30,374
1760	1,148	9,221	8,058

Counties and Land Purchases

Even though King Charles II granted him the land, William Penn worked to buy lands from Native Americans. The Lenape tribe held much of the land near present-day Philadelphia. They expected payment to give up their claim to the territory. Penn and his representatives made a series of treaties with the Lenape and other tribes.

The first treaties were made between 1682 and 1684. These covered areas between New Jersey and the former Delaware Colony. The province was divided into three counties: Bucks County, Philadelphia County, and Chester County. It also included the three Lower counties on Delaware Bay.

Lower Counties

The lower counties on Delaware were a separate colony within the province. They included the three counties of present-day Delaware: New Castle, Sussex, and Kent County.

New Lands and Counties

Several decades into the 1700s, more treaties were made with Native Americans. The colony's leaders made treaties in 1718, 1732, 1737, 1749, 1754, and 1754. These treaties pushed the colony's boundaries further north and west, still within the original royal grant. By the time the French and Indian War began in 1754, the Assembly had created more counties. These included Lancaster (1729), York (1749), Cumberland (1750), Berks (1752), and Northampton (1752).

After the French and Indian War ended, another treaty was made in 1768. This treaty confirmed the limits of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation set a temporary boundary that the royal government could extend further west in an organized way. It prevented private individuals from settling these lands. This agreement changed the original royal land grant to Penn.

The next land acquisitions by Pennsylvania happened after it became part of the United States. The Pennsylvania General Assembly created three more counties before the American Revolutionary War. These were Bedford (1771), Northumberland (1772), and Westmoreland (1773).

Religious Freedom and Prosperity

William Penn and his fellow Quakers strongly influenced the early Pennsylvania government with their religious beliefs and values. The Charter of Privileges gave religious freedom to all people who believed in one God. The government was initially open to all Christians. Until the French and Indian War, Pennsylvania had no military, few taxes, and no public debt. It also helped Philadelphia grow quickly into America's most important city. The Pennsylvania Dutch Country also prospered. Here, German (or "Deutsch") religious and political refugees found success on the fertile land and enjoyed a spirit of cultural creativity. Among the first groups were the Mennonites, who founded Germantown in 1683. The Amish established the Northkill Amish Settlement in 1740.

In 1751, Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in British America, opened. The Academy and College of Philadelphia, which later became the University of Pennsylvania, also opened. Benjamin Franklin founded both of these institutions, as well as Philadelphia's Union Fire Company 15 years earlier, in 1736. In 1751, the Pennsylvania State House ordered a new bell for its tower in Philadelphia. This bell was later renamed the Liberty Bell.

Relations with Native Americans

Benjamin West's 1771 painting of William Penn's 1682 treaty with the Lenape

William Penn insisted on fair dealings with Native Americans in the United States. This led to much better relations with local tribes, mainly the Lenape and Susquehannock, than most other colonies had. The Quakers treated Native Americans with respect, bought land from them willingly, and even had Native Americans and white settlers serve on juries together. According to Voltaire, the Treaty of Shackamaxon was "the only treaty between Indians and Christians that was never sworn to and that was never broken." The Quakers also refused to help with New England's Indian wars.

In 1737, the Colony traded much of its good relationship with the Lenape for more land. The colonial administrators claimed they had a document from the 1680s. This document supposedly stated that the Lenape-Delaware had promised to sell land. This land started between the Delaware River and Lehigh River in present-day Easton, Pennsylvania. It stretched "as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half."

This purchase became known as the Walking Purchase. The document was likely a fake, but the Lenape did not realize this. Provincial Secretary James Logan created a plan to claim as much land as possible. He hired the three fastest runners in the colony to complete the "walk" on a path that had been cleared beforehand. The pace was so fast that only one runner finished the "walk." He covered an amazing 70 miles (110 km). This gave the Penns 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2) of land in what is now northeastern Pennsylvania. This area is roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island. The purchase covered all or part of what are now Pike, Monroe, Carbon, Schuylkill, Northampton, Lehigh, and Bucks counties.

The Lenape tribe fought for the next 19 years to have the treaty canceled, but they were unsuccessful. The Lenape-Delaware were forced into the Shamokin and Wyoming Valleys, which were already crowded with other displaced tribes.

Limits on Further Settlement

Illustration of a Pennsylvanian provincial soldier in 1757

As the colony grew, colonists and British soldiers clashed with Native Americans in the western part of the state. Britain fought with France for control of the nearby Ohio Country during the French and Indian War. After the British won, the territory officially became part of the British Empire in 1763.

With the French and Indian War over and Pontiac's War just beginning, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued. This proclamation banned colonization beyond the Appalachian Mountains. It aimed to prevent settlers from moving onto lands used by Native American tribes. This proclamation affected Pennsylvanians and Virginians the most. Both groups had been trying to settle the lands around Fort Pitt in modern-day Pittsburgh.

Governors and Deputy Governors

Judiciary

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was founded by law in 1722. It had a Chief Justice and at least one other judge. It met in Philadelphia twice a year. Before 1722, it was known as the Provincial Court, dating back to 1684.

Chief Justices
Incumbent	Tenure
Incumbent	Took office	Left office
Arthur Cook	1681	1684
Nicholas Moore	1684	1685
Arthur Cook	1686	1690
John Simcock	1690	1693
Andrew Robson	1693	1699
Edward Shippen	1699	1701
John Guest	August 20, 1701	April 10, 1703
William Clark	April 10, 1703	1705
John Guest	1705	1706
Roger Mompesson	April 17, 1706	1715
Joseph Growden, Jr.	1715	1718
David Lloyd	1718	1731
James Logan	August 20, 1731	1739
Jeremiah Langhorne	August 13, 1739	1743
John Kinsey	April 5, 1743	1750
William Allen	September 20, 1750	1774
Benjamin Chew	April 29, 1774	1776

Notable People from Colonial Pennsylvania

John Dickinson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Benjamin Franklin moved to Philadelphia at age 17 in 1723. He became Pennsylvania's most famous citizen. He founded the Academy and College of Philadelphia (which became the University of Pennsylvania) in 1751. Franklin also strongly supported having a state militia.
Thomas McKean was born in New London, Pennsylvania. He was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He also served as the second President of the U.S. Congress, Acting President of Delaware, and Chief Justice and Governor of Pennsylvania.
Gouverneur Morris, a key thinker of the American Revolution. He moved to Philadelphia to work as a lawyer and merchant during the Revolution.
Robert Morris moved to Philadelphia around 1749 when he was about 14. He was known as the "Financier of the Revolution" because he helped secure money for the American side during the Revolutionary War. Robert Morris University was named after him.
John Morton was born in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and signed the Continental Association and the United States Declaration of Independence.
Timothy Murphy, a skilled marksman in the Continental Army.
Abraham op den Graeff was an original founder of Germantown, Philadelphia. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and signed the first organized religious protest against slavery in colonial America.
Thomas Paine moved to Philadelphia in 1774 at Benjamin Franklin's suggestion. His writing, Common Sense, published in 1776, was a very famous and important argument for the American Revolution. He was also the first to publicly use the phrase "United States of America."
William Penn was the colony's founder and the son of naval Admiral Sir William Penn.
George Ross was born in New Castle, Delaware and moved to Philadelphia to practice law. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and signed the Continental Association and the United States Declaration of Independence.
Peggy Shippen was the daughter of a well-known Philadelphia merchant, Edward Shippen, and the wife of Benedict Arnold.
Arthur St. Clair moved to Ligonier Valley, Pennsylvania in 1764. He served as a judge in colonial Pennsylvania, a general in the Continental Army, and a President under the Articles of Confederation.
Samuel Van Leer, (1747–1825) an ironmaster and captain in the American Revolutionary War.
Benjamin West, an artist and President of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Anthony Wayne, a general in the American Revolutionary War.
James Wilson moved to Philadelphia in 1765 and became a lawyer. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He also worked on many difficult compromises in the U.S. Constitution. This included the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for census purposes.

Images for kids

Map of the Province of Pennsylvania
Land purchases from Native Americans in Pennsylvania

Province of Pennsylvania facts for kids

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