control of Delaware and, with
certain other Quakers, that of New Jersey as well, the Crown placed
at the disposal of the Quakers 55,000 square miles of most valuable,
fertile territory, lacking only about three thousand square miles of
being as large as England and Wales. Even when cut down to 45,000 square
miles by a boundary dispute with Maryland, it was larger than Ireland.
Kings themselves have possessed such dominions, but never before a
private citizen who scorned all titles and belonged to a hunted sect
that exalted peace and spiritual contemplation above all the wealth and
power of the world. Whether the obtaining of this enormous tract of
the best land in America was due to what may be called the eternal
thriftiness of the Quaker mind or to the intense desire of the British
Government to get rid of these people--at any cost might be hard to
determine.

Penn received his charter in 1681, and in it he was very careful to
avoid all the mistakes of the Jersey proprietary grants. Instead of
numerous proprietors, Penn was to be the sole proprietor. Instead
of giving title to the land and remaining silent about the political
government, Penn's charter not only gave him title to the land but
a clearly defined position as its political head, and described the
principles of the government so clearly that there was little room for
doubt or dispute.

It was a decidedly feudal charter, very much like the one granted to
Lord Baltimore fifty years before, and yet at the same time it secured
civil liberty and representative government to the people. Penn owned
all the land and the colonists were to be his tenants. He was compelled,
however, to give his people free government. The laws were to be made by
him with the assent of the people or their delegates. In practice this
of course meant that the people were to elect a legislature and Penn
would have a veto, as we now call it, on such acts as the legislature
should pass. He had power to appoint magistrates, judges, and some other
officers, and to grant pardons. Though, by the charter, proprietor of
the province, he usually remained in England and appointed a deputy
governor to exercise authority in the colony. In modern phrase,
he controlled the executive part of the government and his people
controlled the legislative part.

Pennsylvania, besides being the largest in area of the proprietary
colonies, was also the most successful, not only from the proprietor's
point of v