American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

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,...

Laws Agreed Upon in England (April 25, 1682) included in Pennsylvania's Frame of Government: <1. That the charter of liberties, declared, granted and confirmed. the five and twentieth day of the second month, called April, 1682, before divers witnesses, by William Penn, Governor and chief Proprietor of Pennsylvania, to all the freemen and planters of the said province, is hereby declared and approved, and shall be forever held for fundamental in the government thereof, according to the limitations mentioned in the said charter... 3. That all elections of members, or representatives of the people and freemen of the province of Pennsylvania,...

William Penn's Charter of Liberties of Pennsylvania (April 25, 1682): <To ALL PEOPLE to whom these presents shall come WHEREAS King Charles the second by his Letters, Patents under the Great Seal of England for the Considerations therein mentioned hath been graciously pleased to give and grant unto me William Penn (By the name of William Penn Esq'r son and heir of Sr. William Penn deceased) and to my heirs and assigns forever ALL that tract of land or province called PENNSILVANIA in America with divers Great Powers Pre-eminencies Royalties Jurisdictions and Authorities necessary for the Well-being and Government thereof...

Fundamental Constitutions of Pennsylvania (1682) Frame of Government as drafted by William Penn for the consent of the first adventurers and free holders of the Province (Penn Papers, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania; The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. XX. 1896. No. 3.): <Preamble. When it pleased Almighty God, the Creator and upholder of all things, to make man his great Governour of the World, he did not only endue him with excellent knowledge but an upright mind, so that his power over the Creation was balanced by an inward uprightness, that he might use it Justly: then...