His next act was to summon a general assembly of the people, at which were also present delegates from those settlements on Delaware Bay which were anxious to join Penn’s Commonwealth, a desire which was granted, the assembly unanimously agreeing to the union of the two territories. The constitution drawn up by Penn was accepted almost without a change, and to the forty provisional laws were added twenty-one more, made necessary by the special requirements of the new State. In three days the whole work of legislation was completed, a proof of the unanimity of opinion that existed among these enthusiasts drawn thither by the same desire, that of finding an asylum where they could live undisturbed in the enjoyment of their religious convictions. Once this blessing was secured, they willingly submitted to laws and regulations that may not have been altogether in accordance with their own ideas, as indeed could scarcely have been expected among people of so many different nationalities and traditions. This matter settled, Penn now made a series of visits to his neighbors the governors of New York, Maryland, and New Jersey, hoping by a personal interview with Lord Baltimore to arrive at some settlement of the troublesome boundary question, but failing in this he returned to his own colony, where there was abundance of work for him.
After Penn’s departure from England, hundreds who had hitherto hesitated decided at once to follow him. During the Spring of 1683 twenty-three ships came sailing up the Delaware River, filled with colonists for whom it was necessary to provide quarters that they might lose no time in making a home for themselves while the favorable season lasted. This task was made somewhat easier now, as the indefatigable Holme had already explored the whole State and divided it into counties. In order that all might have an equal chance, Penn had the land sold at public auction. Prices were absurdly low, averaging threepence an acre, with an additional rental of one shilling on every hundred acres, which was to form a sort of State revenue for the governor. When it is remembered that Penn had not only paid the English government for the land originally, even though a comparatively small sum, but had also bought it again from the Indians, whose right of possession seemed to him far more well founded than that of the English crown, this rental seems a poor compensation, and he can hardly be blamed for afterward reserving a considerable estate for himself and his children, especially as he also made a handsome provision both for the Duke of York and for his friend and co-worker George Fox. The colonists now found themselves in the midst of stirring times, especially in the region of the new town, Philadelphia. Alloted building sites were cleared of trees and all who could work were pressed into service to secure as soon as possible a better shelter against the weather than was afforded by the tents or temporary huts already erected. Even delicate women unused to manual labor of any kind helped their fathers or husbands in the fields as they could, cooked, carried wood and water, and cared for the cows they had brought with them from England, some even sawing wood or carrying mortar for building. If strength or courage failed, it was restored and hearts and hands again strengthened by the singing of some hymn and by the remembrance of the inestimable blessing which was theirs as a reward of their labors and sacrifices.
The first building completed was a block-house twelve feet wide and twenty-two feet long, called the “Blue Anchor” and forced to serve a variety of purposes. It was used as a general place of business, and being on the bank of the river, formed a landing place for vessels, as well as a tavern. Later it was also used for a post-house, for Penn, realizing the necessity of some regular means of communication between Philadelphia and the outlying settlements to the west, soon established a messenger post service by which news could be sent and received once a week. Travellers could also be provided with horses if desired. Few availed themselves of this service at first, it is true, for the rates were very high; the delivery of a letter from Philadelphia to Trenton Falls in New Jersey, for example, costing threepence, and ninepence to Baltimore, Maryland. The “Blue Anchor” soon had companions, however. In the course of a few months as many as eighty houses had been built and a regular trade gradually developed. Merchants set up shops supplied with merchandise such as was constantly arriving by vessel from England. Trained artisans were now available to do the work that every man had been hitherto obliged to perform for himself as best he could. The husbandman betook himself to the hoe and plough wherever there was a clearing large enough to use them and won such rich harvests from the virgin soil that it soon became no longer necessary to bring grain from abroad.
The interiors of the houses were quite as rude and rough as the outsides. Once sure of a sound roof to cover them, the settlers were content with only the barest necessities in the way of household furniture, whatever luxuries and comforts they may have been accustomed to in the past. Costly furnishings would have formed indeed a strange contrast to the rough bark-covered logs that constituted the walls, and the covering of lime and moss that served as hangings, or the hard-packed clay that took the place of boards for flooring. A table, a bench or two, a bed, all hewed by hand with an axe and innocent of saw or plane, besides a few necessary cooking utensils,—these sufficed for the needs of the hard-working settlers, who only sought the shelter of a house when night or stormy weather made work without impossible and the axe and plough must needs be laid aside. Not until the original block-houses began to be replaced by stone buildings was any thought given to interior convenience, but as soon as it became possible to employ the services of skilled workmen the question of comfort and even elegance began to be more considered. Nor was this long in coming, for in less than a year from the time when Penn first landed at Newcastle there were more than a hundred stone houses erected in Philadelphia, and two years later the number had increased to six hundred. Penn could with truth assure his English friends that his American colony was the largest ever founded on private credit, and this in no spirit of undue pride or self-applause. “In seven years,” he writes, “with the help of God and of my noble companions, I will show you a province that shall rival our neighbors’ growth of forty years.” Nor did he leave any stone unturned on his part to make good this prophecy.
One of his chief desires was to provide some means for the education of the colonists’ children that they might not grow up rude and ignorant—a state of things most undesirable among a people who were to govern themselves. This was no easy matter, for the hard-working settler, struggling to wrest a home from the wilderness, needed the help of his children as soon as they were old enough to be of any use. He himself was little disposed after the day’s labors to devote the evenings to teaching his children, even did his own education warrant it, nor could he spare the time to send them to a school. Any regular form of tuition, moreover, could only be possible to those living in Philadelphia. For those who had settled many miles, sometimes a whole day’s journey to the westward, it would have been impossible to make paths through the trackless wilderness for their children, even had there been a school within reach.
Nevertheless Penn made every exertion to accomplish this end, and as early as December, 1683, even before the site of Philadelphia was entirely cleared of trees, he had a certain Enoch Flower open a school in a wretched wooden cabin which was divided into two rooms. Instruction was confined, however, to reading and writing, for the former of which a charge of four shillings, the latter six shillings, a quarter, was made, to form a school fund. Arrangements were also made by which the children of distant settlers could be provided with board and lodging at a cost of ten pounds a year. This primitive institution was gradually improved and enlarged till in six years’ time the position of head master was assumed by Penn’s friend, George Keith. By the efforts of a certain William Bradford who had come over from England on the Welcome, a printing press was also set up in Philadelphia, the first product of which, of any note, was a calendar for the year 1687.
Another of Penn’s special cares was the maintenance of friendly relations with the Indians, for which Colonel Markham had already paved the way. He made it a personal duty to win their confidence and to this end mingled with them as much as possible, roaming about with them through the forest, wholly unarmed, sharing their meals, and even joining in the games and sports of the young men, at which he sometimes displayed skill or agility equal to their own. In this way he also learned their language and became so familiar with their habits and manner of thought that it became as easy for him to communicate with them as if he had been one of themselves.
PENN AND THE INDIANS
It was necessary, however, for him to establish peaceful relations with all the Indian tribes claiming his territory as their hunting grounds, as well as with those nearer at hand, for the farther the settlers penetrated into the wilderness the greater was the danger of their being treated by the Indians as hostile invaders, unless protected by some agreement. He therefore determined to invite all the tribes to a general council for the purpose of concluding a solemn treaty of peace and friendship.