American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

New York Charter of Liberties and Privileges (October 30, 1683): <PARAGRAPH 27 RELIGIOUS TOLERATION: That no person or persons which profess faith in God by Jesus Christ shall at any time be any ways molested punished disquieted or called in question for any difference in opinion or matter of religious concernment, who does not actually disturb the civil peace of the province, But that all and every such person or persons may from time to time and at all times freely have and fully enjoy his or their judgments or consciences in matters of religion throughout all the province, they...

Second Assembly of Pennsylvania (March 10, 1683) passed the following law: <Chapter CXII. And to the end that the poor as well as the rich may be instructed in good and commendable learning, which is to be preferred before wealth, BE IT ENACTED, etc., That all persons in this Province and Territories thereof, having children, and all the guardians and trustees of orphans, shall cause such to be instructed in reading and writing, so that they may be able to read the Scriptures and to write by the time they attain to twelve years of age; and that then they be...

Frame of Government of Pennsylvania (February 2, 1683): <To all persons, to whom these presents may come. Whereas king Charles the Second, by his letters patents, under the great seal of England, bearing date the fourth day of March in the thirty and third year of the lying, for divers considerations therein mentioned, hath been graciously pleased to give and grant unto me William Penn (by the name of William Penn, Esquire, son and heir of Sir William Penn, deceased) and to my heirs and assigns forever, all that tract of land or province called Pennsylvania... Now know ye, That...

The Great Law of Pennsylvania (December 7, 1682) also called the Body of Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania and Territories thereunto Belonging past at an Assemble at Chester alias Upland, are engrossed on seven parchment sheets and recorded in The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania in the Time of William Penn, Volume I, 1680-1700 (New York: ed. Gail McKnight Beckman, Vantage Press, 1976): <Whereas the Glory of Almighty God and the Good of Mankind is the Reason and End of Government and therefore Government in itself is a Venerable ordinance of God and for as much as it is principally...

Preface to Frame of Government (May 5, 1682) composed by William Penn for Pennsylvania: <When the great and wise God had made the world, of all his creatures, it pleased him to choose man his Deputy to rule it: and to fit him for so great a charge and trust, he did not only qualify him with skill and power, but with integrity to use them justly. This native goodness was equally his honor and his happiness, and whilst he stood here, all went well; there was no need of coercive or compulsive means; the precept of Divine love and truth,...