Books and Manuscripts

A Rare Document Attesting to Pennsylvania's Landmark Commitment to Religious Tolerance, signed by William Penn's Eldest Son, William Penn, Jr.

Penn, William, Jr., and James Logan, et al. 
Manuscript Document, signed
No place, no date (Philadelphia, ca. February-September 1704). One sheet folded to make four-pages, 12 5/8 x 8 in. (321 x 203 mm). Two-page manuscript document, signed by William Penn, Jr., James Logan, Isaac Norris, and ten other members of the “Council for the Government of the Province of Pensilvania and Territories”. Manuscript on rectos only; docketed on verso, “Oaths & Declarations / of Members of Council / Stenton”. Creasing from contemporary folds, small separations at same. From the Jay T. Snider Collection.

In 1701, before leaving Pennsylvania to return to England, William Penn instituted the Charter of Privileges (sometimes referred to as the Charter of Liberties), which established his colony’s fourth frame of government. One significant clause codified the right to freedom of conscience by providing office-holders with an option other than taking oaths: “all Persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, shall be capable (notwithstanding their other Persuasions and Practices in Point of Conscience and Religion) to serve this Government in any Capacity, both legislatively and executively, he or they solemnly promising, when lawfully required, Allegiance to the King as Sovereign, and Fidelity to the Proprietary and Governor, and taking the Attests as now established by the Law.” This freedom was not without controversy, as the Queen-in-Council stipulated that oaths were mandatory across the English realm. However, the religious beliefs of the Quakers prohibited their taking oaths, and they suffered decades of discrimination, abuse, and imprisonment in refusing them.

In Pennsylvania, the governing Provincial Council was comprised of both Quakers and non-Quakers, often to increasing acrimony. Originally consisting of 72 members, under Penn's first frame of government in 1682 its members were elected, over which the Governor presided. In contrast, under Penn’s 1701 Charter, Councilors were appointed by the Proprietor, or by the proprietary governor, and served as an advisory body with little formal powers, but with great social status. Following Penn’s 1701 Charter, and an additional 1704 Act of the Assembly concerning the regulation of courts, members of the colonial government were granted the option to profess oaths or affirmations depending on their religious persuasions, a controversial option that stirred debate in Pennsylvania and in England. According to historian J. William Frost, “In Pennsylvania the dispute over the use of affirmations became complicated by the battles between the governors and the assemblies over establishing courts, and battles between Anglicans and Quakers over control of the colony. Pennsylvania Anglicans were few in number but had the backing of the Bishop of London and a revitalized Church of England…The resulting battle occasioned 25 years of intricate political maneuverings and threatened the existence of the unofficial Quaker establishment in Pennsylvania. The conflict involved the meaning of religious liberty to two groups with diametrically opposed views on the necessity of oaths” (Frost, “Religious Liberty in Pennsylvania” in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 105, no. 4).

The present document is divided into two halves, the first page signed by eight non-Quaker members who took the oath written at the top of the page ("We…do solemnly promise and swear…"), and is signed by Roger Mompesson, William Rodeney (grandfather of Declaration of Independence signer Caesar Rodney of Delaware), William Trent, Jasper Yeates, George Roche, Joseph Pidgeon, Robert French, and Anthony Palmer. The second page is signed by five Quaker members including William Penn, Jr., James Logan, Richard Hill, Isaac Norris, and Samuel Preston, who “do Declare in the presence of Almighty God the Witness of the Truth of what we say…”

This document is notable for featuring the signature of William Penn, Jr. (nearly identical to that of his father), as he was only present in the colony for about six months, from February-September, 1704. During this time he is noted to have caused a number of controversies, least of which being a tussle with a member of the city watch. Quaker merchant Isaac Norris, who also signed this document, wrote in September 1704 to Jonathan Dickinson that “William Penn, Jr., is quite gone off from Friends. He being in company with some extravagants (sic), that beat the watch at Enoch Story’s…He talks of going home in the Jersey man-of-war next month. I wish things had been better, or he had never come” (Correspondence Between William Penn…and Others, 1870, Vol. 9, p. 315).

James Logan (1674-1751) was an English-born Quaker and longtime secretary and proprietary agent in Pennsylvania, acting first for William Penn and then for his son, Thomas Penn. Logan came to Pennsylvania in 1699 and quickly joined the colonial political elite, serving in such offices as commissioner of property, receiver general, Mayor of Philadelphia, Chief Justice, and member of the Provincial Council. He was also an amateur scientist, bibliophile, land speculator, and fur trader, and one of the wealthiest men in the colonies at the time of his death. With Thomas Penn, he engineered the infamous “Walking Purchase” of 1737, defrauding Delaware Indians of thousands of acres on the upper Delaware River.