"Government seems to me a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end... I do not find a model in the world that time, place, and some singular emergencies have not necessarily altered; nor is it easy to frame a civil government that shall serve all places alike. I know what is said by the several admirers of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy... any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws." — William Penn, Preface to the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania (1682)
Pennsylvania's policies under Penn differed from contemporary New England most notably in their:
- Acheck_circle
Toleration of multiple religious groups and pacifist orientation toward Indigenous neighbors
- B
Reliance on a slave-based plantation economy from the outset
- C
Commitment to the encomienda system on the Delaware frontier
- D
Strict establishment of Quakerism as the colony's only lawful church
Explanation
Penn's colony broadly tolerated Christian denominations and pursued peaceful land negotiations with the Lenape, contrasting with Massachusetts Bay's established Congregationalism and conflicts like the Pequot War.