The Free Society of Traders was a company of merchants, landowners, and personal associates of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

who were granted special concessions in order to direct the economy of what was at the time a young colony. Most were

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

merchants from London and Dublin. It was originally a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

launched in London in 1681 by Nicholas More, James Claypoole, and Philip Ford, after Penn received his Royal charter from Charles II that March. Some of the concessions made to these men in order to attract financial support, Penn offered early (100) investors a bonus of 5,000 acres each, plus exclusive rights to property in the capital city. Said property was to be meted out as property

dividends A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...

in proportion to their country land at an annual 2% interest in their initial purchase. Penn also fashioned a rudimentary form of own government from the Traders' members. Such offers were extended to entice early colonizers.Nash, Gary B. "The Free Society of Traders and the Early Politics of Pennsylvania." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 89.2 (1965): 147-173.

Society Hill Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City Philadelphia, with a population of 6,215 . Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia.The Center City District dates the Free Soc ...

, a neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, is named after the Free Society of Traders, which had its offices at Front Street on the hill above

Dock Creek Dock Creek was a stream draining much of what is now the eastern half of Center City, Philadelphia. It was a tributary of the Delaware River. By 1820, the entire creek had been covered and converted to a sewer. The present-day Dock Street fo ...

References

Chartered companies Trading companies of the United States Companies based in Philadelphia {{Company-stub