William Penn And The Holy Experiment

Originally Aired: October 13, 1937 Cavalcade of America #104, "William Penn And The Holy Experiment," William Penn stands before King Charles II at Whitehall Palace in 1680, seeking payment of a sixteen thousand pound debt owed to his late father, Admiral Penn. Unable to pay in coin, Charles instead grants Penn a vast tract of American land between the Delaware River and Maryland, which the king insists on naming Pennsylvania in honor of the Admiral. The thirty-six-year-old Quaker accepts eagerly, declaring his intention to make it a "holy experiment" with complete freedom for all settlers. When offered six thousand pounds for a trading monopoly with the Indians, Penn refuses any price, insisting there will be no special privileges in his province. Penn sends his cousin William Markham ahead as deputy governor with strict instructions to treat the native inhabitants with unprecedented respect and fairness. In 1682, Penn himself sails to America with a hundred passengers, arriving to find a natural paradise of abundant game and waterways. He selects a site at Dock Creek for his new city, planning wide streets, gardens, and commons to create what he envisions as a green country town that will never burn and always remain wholesome - Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.