Province of Pennsylvania

The province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony was a British colony, which was founded on March 4, 1681 by William Penn with the permission of the British King Charles II. Today is located in the area of ​​the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The colony was dominated until the American Revolution by the family Penn. After the colony was one of the thirteen colonies that uprising against British colonial power practiced and declared July 4, 1776 independence.

Origin of the name

The name of Pennsylvania is made up of the last name of the founder William Penn and the Latin word silva ( en. sylvania ). When naming time there were differences between the British King Charles II and William Penn. Penn wanted the colony only call Sylvania because of its forest wealth, but King Charles II sat in memory of William Penn's father, Admiral Sir William Penn, who captured Jamaica on behalf of the British Crown, a Penn ago Sylvania.

Government

According to the adopted in 1682 Constitution on the part of Penn, the province was by a governor, the owner ( Penn ), ruled a 72 - köpfigem Provincial Council and a General Assembly. The General Assembly has also been translated as Pennsylvanischer parliament called ( en. Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly), but had, in contrast to its size only little influence. The Constitution of the colony was changed in the years 1683, 1696 and 1701. The latest version is also known as the Charter of Privileges and held up to the American Revolution. However, the revolutionaries, however, paid no attention to the Constitution later and wrote a new constitution based on the principles of the Declaration of Independence, after which a new General Assembly was founded with more right. Following from the Constitution was what we today the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

Relationship with the Native Americans

The Constitution wrote a fair dealings with Native Americans before. This led to significantly better relations with the existing tribes of the Lenni there Lenapenund the Susquehanna strain than other colonies they had. William Penn and his successors treated the inhabitants with respect and paid that money for their voluntarily taken in fitting pieces of land. In addition, the ruler of Pennsylvania sent no troops to the Indian Wars of the English kingdom.

In 1737, the relationship turned into negative, because the ruler of the province relied on a promise of the locals, which included the sale or the release of land to the colony, which began on the Delaware River and stop according to a fake contract there should be " how far a man at one and a half days just to run " ( en. " as far west as a man Could Walk in a day and a half. "). The then provincial rulers picked out the three fastest runners in the colony and had them run a pre-made and previously explored way to preserve as much of the country. The route began at the division of the Delaware River and the Lehigh River and was so exhausting that only one of the runners reached the finish in 110 km. The leaders had believed that 60 km is the furthest distance that could have gone a man at this time. The distance run informed now but the two areas of the tribes and the rulers demanded the natives to immediately vacate the selling area, which had the size of Rhode Island (about 4900km ²). The Lenapen went to the tribe of the Iroquois, hoping for support because they were apparently deceived by the colonial rulers. This, however, had previously made ​​a pact with James Logan, president of the Council, closed, in which the Iroquois the colonialists promised support. The Lenapen tried 19 years in vain to reclaim their country. These events are now known as the Walking Purchase.