A THRIVING COLONY
Penn faced the same challenge as the Dutch
West India Company; he needed to attract settlers—farmers,
builders, and traders—to create a profitable colony. After initially
opening the colony to Quakers, he vigorously recruited immigrants
from around western Europe. Glowing advertisements for the colony
were printed in German, Dutch, and French. In time, settlers came in
numbers, including thousands of Germans who brought with them
craft skills and farming techniques that helped the colony to thrive.
Penn himself spent only about four years in Pennsylvania. And, despite
the colony’s success, he never profited financially as proprietor and died in pover-
ty in 1718. Meanwhile, his idealistic vision 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, despite Penn’s principles, many
prominent Quakers in Pennsylvania owned slaves. However, the principles of
equality, cooperation, and religious tolerance on which he founded his vision
would eventually become fundamental values of the new American nation.
THIRTEEN COLONIES
Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, other British colonies in
North America were founded as well, each for very different reasons. In 1632, King
Charles I granted a charter for land north of Chesapeake Bay to George Calvert, the
first Lord Baltimore. Calvert’s son Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore, named the
colony Maryland, after Queen Henrietta Maria, Charles’s queen. Lord Baltimore,
who was a Roman Catholic, obtained a religious toleration law from Maryland’s
colonial assembly, and the colony became famous for its religious freedom. In
1663, King Charles II awarded a group of key supporters the land between Virginia
and Spanish Florida, a territory that soon became North and South Carolina.
In 1732, an English philanthropist named James Ogelthorpe, and several
associates received a charter for a colony they hoped could be a haven for those
imprisoned for debt. Ogelthorpe named the colony Georgia, after King George II.
Few debtors actually came to Georgia, and Ogelthorpe’s policies, which prohibit-
ed both slavery and the drinking of rum, were reversed when the British crown
assumed direct control of the colony in 1752. By that time, there were thirteen
British colonies in North America, but a growing desire for independence would
soon put a strain on their relationship with England.
The American Colonies Emerge 59
•William Penn •New Netherland •proprietor •Quakers
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
Compare the colonies of New
Netherland and Pennsylvania, using a
Venn diagram such as the one below.
Write a paragraph comparing and
contrasting the two colonies.
CRITICAL THINKING
3. ANALYZING CAUSES
Why was Ogelthorpe’s prohibition of
slavery reversed?
4. EVALUATING DECISIONS
Both New Netherland and
Pennsylvania encouraged settlers to
come from all over western Europe.
Do you think this was a good
decision for these colonies?
Why or why not?
5. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
How did William Penn succeed in
achieving his goals for Pennsylvania,
and how did he fail? Explain.
Think About:
• Penn’s actions toward Native
Americans
• Penn’s plans for representative
government and freedom
of religion
• Quakers who owned slaves
▼
Quakers offered
silver collars like
the one above
to local Native
Americans as a
token of peace.
Both
Pennsylvania
New Netherland
Both