Philadelphia’s “Welcome Park” sits on the location of William Penn’s home in that city – known as the Slate Roof House. The park is literally named for the vessel that brought the colonial Quaker to the site of what became Philadelphia, the good ship Welcome.
Penn, as hopefully most people know, would go on to found the province – and later state – of Pennsylvania after receiving territory in settlement for a debt King Charles II owed Penn’s late father. In 1681 the king gave Penn that chunk west of New Jersey, with Charles being the person who actually coined the name “Pennsylvania” for Penn’s new land grant. This was in addition to property already purchased in 1677 (basically half of what was then all New Jersey) by Penn and a group of other Quakers, and was already being settled.
Charles II was also delighted to have a place where all these non-conformists wanted to immigrate to vice staying in England to plague him. It worked out well for all concerned.
Penn himself arrived on the Welcome in 1682, plans for the lay-out of Philadelphia firmly in hand. The well crafted “charter of liberties” he’d developed for the earlier 1677 group became a “Framework of Government” for the administration of the enlarged colony.
What Penn and the Quakers managed to accomplish on what was the frontier – and the spirit in which they did so at the time – is every bit of what America was meant to be.
…Although Penn’s authority over the colony was officially subject only to that of the king, through his Frame of Government he implemented a democratic system with full freedom of religion, fair trials, elected representatives of the people in power, and a separation of powers — again ideas that would later form the basis of the American constitution. The freedom of religion in Pennsylvania (complete freedom of religion for everybody who believed in God) brought not only English, Welsh, German and Dutch Quakers to the colony, but also Huguenots (French Protestants), Mennonites, Amish, and Lutherans from Catholic German states.
…From 1682 to 1684 Penn was, himself, in the Province of Pennsylvania. After the building plans for Philadelphia (“Brotherly Love”) had been completed, and Penn’s political ideas had been put into a workable form, Penn explored the interior. He befriended the local Indians (primarily of the Leni Lenape (aka Delaware) tribe) , and ensured that they were paid fairly for their lands. Penn even learned several different Indian dialects in order to communicate in negiotiations without interpreters. Penn introduced laws saying that if a European did an Indian wrong, there would be a fair trial, with an equal number of people from both groups deciding the matter. His measures in this matter proved successful: even though later colonists did not treat the Indians as fairly as Penn and his first group of colonists had done, colonists and Indians remained at peace in Pennsylvania much longer than in the other English colonies.
…Penn also made a treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon (near Kensington in Philadelphia) under an elm tree. Penn chose to acquire lands for his colony through business rather than conquest. He paid the Indians 1200 pounds for their land under the treaty, an amount considered fair. Voltaire praised this “Great Treaty” as “the only treaty between those people [Indians and Europeans] that was not ratified by an oath, and that was never infringed.” Many regard the Great Treaty as a myth that sprung up around Penn. However, the story has had enduring power. The event has taken iconic status and is commemorated in a frieze on the United States Capitol.
The colony never turned a profit for Penn or his family, though, however much it worked out for those who moved there, and he died penniless in England in 1718.
Was Penn enlightened or was he just a decent human being who made sure that all human beings in his colony – which he obviously considered the Indians to be – were treated equally? Does it really matter? The historical record, while we are still allowed to have it, paints a glowing picture of this man.
The man who wrote the 1701 “The Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges,” a radical, democratic departure from the majority of colonial charters and laws at the time.
…The 1701 frame, known as the “Charter of Privileges,” created a structure that was very different from most others at the time. Although Penn retained the right to veto, by signing the frame he gave much of the governing authority to the legislative assembly that ran the colony in Penn’s absence. He gave the assembly the right to create and pass laws, to determine its own time in session, and to select its own leadership. In addition to empowering the assembly, Penn codified the Quaker principles on which he founded the colony, granting the residents of Pennsylvania the right to religious freedom.
Historical Significance
The Charter of Privileges established an unusually democratic form of government. Although the monarchy and parliament still held ultimate power, Penn’s frames of government marked a significant shift towards democracy in the American colonies. The 1701 frame stood as the Pennsylvania’s governing document until the Revolution in 1776.
What’s not to love and emulate?
In this day and age, that would everything and anything to do with old, white male colonizers. It doesn’t get any deeper than that as far as the great thinkers of the Biden administration, and the radical America-hating race-baiters they coddle and who run their agenda. History is seen through the prism of the racial grievance industry of the 21st century, not the real times and mores of the age in which “the perpetrators” lived, and Western Civilization is the root of all oppression.
The 75 year old national park where the statue of Penn now stands and his home once stood announced plans to gussy itself up for our great country’s 250th anniversary…by removing the statue of Penn, and the model of his home.
All in “consultation with” the modern descendants of some of the very tribes Penn treated with dignity, grace, and equality. The National Park Service intent was to make the park “more welcoming” with an “expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia”…
The National Park Service proposes to rehabilitate Welcome Park to provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors. Welcome Park was designed by the internationally acclaimed design firm Venturi & Scott Brown Associates. The park is located on the site of William Penn’s home, the Slate Roof House, and is named for the ship, Welcome, which transported Penn to Philadelphia. The design and construction of Welcome Park was funded by the Independence Historical Trust and was completed in 1982.
The proposed rehabilitation of Welcome Park includes expanded interpretation of the Native American history of Philadelphia and was developed in consultation with representatives of the indigenous nations of the Haudenosaunee, the Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe of Indians, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. The reimagined Welcome Park maintains certain aspects of the original design such as the street grid, the rivers and the east wall while adding a new planted buffer on three sides, and a ceremonial gathering space with circular benches. The Penn statue and Slate Roof house model will be removed and not reinstalled. In a separate and future effort, new exhibit panels will be installed on the south site wall to replace the Penn timeline.
…by stripping every last vestige of white William Penn, the Quakers, and their American history out of the very soil where they had begun the Philadelphia experiment.
It was such a bald-faced grab, really even more offensively egregious in nature than merely the statue removal when you dug down into the bland woke-speak of the announcement. Absolutely stunning to behold.
In his post on the subject yesterday, David called them “historical arsonists,” and I truly believe that is SO perfect a moniker, I will be using it forever.
In this case – at long last – the arsonists had the torches knocked out of their hands, and it took no time at all. The outcry from the public was massive, united, and almost instantaneous, and then the Park Service got pushback from an unimpeachable Democratic source.
When Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro went to bat for the iconic white guy on the pedestal, the NPS “more welcoming” wokesters were forced to back down almost immediately…
My team has been in contact with the Biden Administration throughout the day to correct this decision. I’m pleased Welcome Park will remain the rightful home of this William Penn statue — right here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Penn founded. https://t.co/awSTpcyrNp
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) January 8, 2024
…doing some shame-faced “premature-releasing” CYA as they did so.
…Officials say the preliminary draft proposal — which suggested the permanent removal of Penn’s statue and the Slate Roof House model — had been released prematurely and had not been subject to a complete internal agency review.
Because of this, it is being retracted. No changes to the William Penn statue are planned, according to park authorities.
“Premature” my asterisk. Y’all got busted trying to slip another rewrite through, and thank God.
With the viciousness of their ultimate intent, and blatant emotional and factual manipulations, these malevolent historical arsonists aren’t worthy to hold William Penn’s hat.
There are so many more fires to put out.