The "Holy Experiment" was an attempt by the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

, also known as Quakers, to establish a community for themselves and other persecuted religious minorities in what would become the modern state of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. They hoped it would show to the world how well they could function on their own without any persecution or dissension. The Experiment ultimately failed due to the death 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 ...

and conflicts between Quakers and non-Quakers within the colony over the foundation of a Pennsylvania-backed militia, which defied Quaker beliefs.

History

Foundation

, a son of an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, also

, was an early convert to Quakerism, and a friend of the religion's founder,

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...

. Like many early members of the Society of Friends, Penn faced imprisonment and persecution for his beliefs, although he was spared harsh treatment in the British judicial system due to his family's stature. Penn was also an early investor in the Americas, where he co-owned much of what would later become the state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

along with fourteen other Quaker investors. Due to his investment in New Jersey, Penn developed an interest in developing another colony in the Americas, one where Quakers and other persecuted European religious minorities could coexist. Upon his father's death, Penn had inherited a sizable debt originally owed to his father by King Charles II in exchange for several loans to the crown and years of back pay. In exchange for the negation of the debt, Charles agreed to grant Penn a large amount of land, located south of the

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...

and north of the

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

. At 29 million acres, the land grant made Penn the largest non-monarchical land owner in the world. After the land grant, Penn began to exert control over his colony, which he named Sylvania and King Charles named

(meaning "Penn's woods"), "in honour of isfather". He now tried to attract settlers to Pennsylvania and make a profit off his newly founded colony. Penn did a brilliant job of advertising Pennsylvania, and it quickly became the most famous colony in England and the rest of Europe alike. Penn sought to create the Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania and did so by creating a liberal frame of government, attracting all sorts of people, including many Quakers, who made up the Holy Experiment.

Failure

Ultimately, tensions between the Quaker population and the growing population of non-Quakers within Pennsylvania resulted in the secularization of the province's government, and the end of the Quaker-led government. Since the colony's foundation, Pennsylvania had relied on a series of treaties with local and Northeastern Native American populations to ensure peace, as the raising of a militia would have defied Quaker

peace testimony Peace testimony, or testimony against war, is a shorthand description of the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) for peace and against participation in war. Like other Quaker testimonies, it is not a "be ...

. As the Iroquois and tribes loyal to their Confederacy began to align themselves with the French, rather than the British, Pennsylvanian citizens demanded the formation of a state-backed militia to protect population centers. This tension led to the resignation and voting out of Quaker leaders, effectively ending Quaker rule of the colony, and the end of the Experiment.

References

Works cited

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External links

Pennsylvania's Anarchist Experiment: 1681-1690
by

Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...