and the same hold to themselves their Heirs and Assigns the Statute Quia emptores Terrarum in any wise notwithstanding XVI We give and grant License to any of those Persons to whom the said William Penn c. has granted any Estate of Inheritance as aforesaid with the consent of the said William Penn to erect any parcel of Lands within the said Province into Mannors to hold Courts Barron and view of Francke-pledge c. by Themselves or Stewards XVII Power to those Persons to Grant to others the same Tenures in fee simple or otherwise to be held of the said Mannors respectively and upon all further Alienations the Land to be held of the Mannor that it held of before the Alienation XVIII We do Covenant and Grant to and with the said William Penn his Heirs and Assigns that we will not set or make any Custom or other Taxation upon the Inhabitants of the said Province upon Lands Houses Goods Chattels or Merchandizes except with the consent of the Inhabitants and Governour XIX A charge that no Officers nor Ministers of us our Heirs and Successors do presume at any time to attempt any thing to the contrary of the premises or in any sort withstand the same but that they be at all times aiding to the said William Penn and his Heirs and to the Inhabitants and Merchants their Factors and Assigns in the full use and benefit of this our Charter XX. And if any doubts or questions shall hereafter arise about the true sense or meaning of any Word Clause or Sentence contained in this our Charter We will Ordain and Command that at all times and in all things such Interpretation be made thereof and allowed in any of our Courts whatsoever as shall be adjudged most advantageous and favourable unto the said William Penn his Heirs and Assigns so as it be not against the Faith and Allegiance due to us our Heirs and Successors In Witness whereof we have caused our Letters to be made Patents Witness our self at Westminster c. The KING's Declaration TO The Inhabitants and Planters of the Province of PENNSYLVANIA CHARLES R. VVHereas His Majesty in consideration of the great merit and faithful services of Sir William Penn deceased and for divers other good Causes Him thereunto moving hath been Graciously pleased by Letters Patents bearing Date the Fourth day of March last past to Give and Grant unto William Penn Esquire Son and Heir of the said Sir William Penn all that Tract of Land in America called by the Name of Pennsylvania as the same is Bounded on the East by Delaware River from Twelve miles distance Northwards of New-Castle Town unto the three and fourtieth Degree of Northern Latitude if the said River doth extend so far Northwards and if the said River shall not extend so far North-ward then by the said River so far as it doth extend And from the Head of the said River the Eastern Bounds to be determined by a Meridian Line to be drawn from the Head of the said River unto the said Three and fourtieth Degree the said Province to extend Westward Five Degrees in Longitude to be Computed from the said Eastern Bounds and to be Bounded on the North by the Beginning of the Three and fourtieth Degree of Northern Latitude and on the South by a Circle Drawn at Twelve Miles distance from New-Castle Northwards and Westwards unto the Beginning of the Fourtieth Degree of Northern Latitude and then by a straight Line Westwards to the limit of Longitude above mentioned together with all Powers Preheminencies and Iurisdictions necessary for the Government of the said Province as by the said Letters Patents Reference being thereunto had doth more at large appear His Majesty doth therefore hereby Publish and Declare his Royal Will and Pleasure That all persons Setled or Inhabiting within the Limits of the said Province do yield all Due Obedience to the said William Penn His Heirs and Assigns as absolute Proprietaries and Governours thereof as also to the Deputy or Deputies Agents or Lieutenants Lawfully Commissionated by him or them according to the Powers and Authorities Granted by the said Letters Patents Wherewith His Majesty Expects and Requires a ready Complyance from all Persons whom it may concern as they tender his Majesties Displeasure Given at the Court at Whitehall the Second day of April 1681. In the Three and thirtieth year of Our Reign By His Majesties Command CONWAY III. The Reason of the Grant The reason and ground of this Grant from the King to Him and his Heirs c. Was his Petition to the King in which he set forth His Fathers Services his own Sufferings and Losses in relation to his Fathers Estate And lastly His long and costly Attendance without success In right and consideration of which the King was graciously pleased to make the aforesaid Grant to which Title the said William Penn adds that of the Natives by purchase from them IV. Of the Country and its Produce It lies 600. Miles South of the Latitude of England and as it is of the same side of the Line so it is about the same degree with Mompellier in France or Naples in Italy The Air is generally clear and sweet the Summer is longer and Hotter and Winter shorter and sometimes Colder than in England The Soil is said to be as good as any in those parts It commonly produceth Oak Cedar Mulbery Chesnut Walnut Firr Cyprus Ash Beech Popaler Saxafras Medaler Plumbs Grapes Peaches Strawberries Huckleberries Cranberries Hopps c. English Fruit takes kindly and produceth suddainly and plentifully The Woods are furnished with Store of Wild Fowl as Turkeys Pheasants Heath-Cocks Patridges Pidgeons c. The Earth well Watered with Springs and Rivers and the Rivers stored with Fish as Sturgion Sheepsheads Drums Cat-fish Shads Ecles and abundance more With Fowl as Swans Gray and White Geese Duck Mallard c. The Corn of the Country used by the Indians produceth four hundred sold is Good and Hearty both in Milk and made into Bread the price two Shillings six pence the Bushel There is also good English Corn as Wheat Barly Rye and Oates Wheat under four Shillings the Bushel Barly and Rye under three Shillings the Bushel Oates about two Shillings the Bushel There are also very good Pease and Beans of several sorts The Beef is good but Pork is very Sweet The Beef at three pence the Pork at two pence half-penny the pound Batter at six pence a pound Peaches to Eat or make Drink of at eight pence the Bushel a Cow and Calf about the Spring of the Year at five pounds a pair of Oxen at ten pounds a good Breeding Sow at thirty Shillings a Young good Breeding Mare at eight pounds But it is to be Noted that these foregoing prises and sums are to be paid with one half of the Value in English Goods at the Rates they are bought at in England for example four pounds English paies for the Breeding Mare
A brief Account of the Province of Pennsylvania Lately Granted by the KING Under the GREAT Seal of England TO WILLIAM PENN AND HIS Heirs and Assigns SInce by the good Providence of God and the Favour of the King a Country in America is fallen to my Lot I thought it not less my Duty then my Honest Interest to give some publick notice of it to the World that those of our own or other Nations that are inclin'd to Transport Themselves or Families beyond the Seas may find another Country added to their Choice that if they shall happen to like the Place Conditions and Government so far as the present Infancy of things will allow us any prospect they may if they please fix with me in the Province hereafter described I. The KING'S Title to this Country before he granted it It is the Jus Gentium or Law of Nations that what ever Waste or unculted Country is the Discovery of any Prince it is the right of that Prince that was at the Charge of the Discovery Now this Province is a Member of that part of America which the King of Englands Ancestors have been at the Charge of Discovering and which they and he have taken great care to preserve and Improve A Map of Some of the South and east bounds of PENNSYLVANIA in America being parâ—ly Inhabited Sold by John Thornton at the Signe of England Scotland and Ireland in the Minories and by John Setler at his Shop in Popes head Alley in Cornhill LONDON II. William Penn's Title from the KING An Abstract of the Patent GRANTED BY THE KING To VVilliam Penn. c. The Fourth of March 1681. I. VVE do Give and Grant upon divers considerations to William Penn his Heirs and Assigns for ever all that Tract of Land in America with all Islands thereunto belonging That is to say from the beginning of the fortieth degree of North Latitude unto the forty third Degree of North Latitude whose Eastern bounds from Twelve English Miles above New-Castle alias Delaware Town runs all along upon the side of Delaware River II. Free and undisturb'd use and passage into and out of all Harbours Bays Waters Rivers Isles and Inlets belonging to or leading to the same Together with the Soyl Fields Woods Vnderwoods Mountains Hills Fenns Isles Lake Rivers Waters Rivulets Bays and Inlets Scituate in or belonging unto the Limits and Bounds aforesaid Together with all sorts of Fish Mines Mettles c. To have and to hold to the only behoof of the said William Penn his Heirs and Assigns for ever To be holden of us as of our Castle of Windsor in free and common soccage paying only two Beaver skins yearly III. And of our further Grace we have thought it fit to erect and we do hereby erect the aforesaid Countrey and Islands into a Province and Seigniory and do call it Pennsilvania and so from henceforth we will have it call'd IV. That reposing special confidence in the wisdom and justice of the said William Penn we do grant to him and his Heirs and their Deputies for the good and happy Government thereof to ordain and enact and under his and their seals to publish any Laws whatever for the publick uses of the said Province by and with the Advice and Approbation of the Free-holders of the said Countrey or their delegates so as they be not repugnant to the Law of this Realm and to the Faith and Allegiance due unto us by the legal Government thereof V. Full power to the said William Penn c. to appoint Iudges Leiutenants Iustices Magistrates and Officers for what causes soever and with what Power and in such Form as to him seems convenient also to be able to Pardon and Abolish Crimes and Offences and to do all and every other thing that to the compleat Establishment of Iustice unto Courts and Tribunals forms of Iudicature and manner of proceedings do belong and our pleasure is and so we enjoyn and require that such Laws and Proceedings shall be most absolute and available in Law and that all the Leige People of us our Heirs and Successors inviolably keep the same in those parts saving to us smal appeals VI. That the Laws for regulating Property as well for the discent of Lands as enjoyment of Goods and Chattels and likewise as to Felonies shall be the same there as here in England until they shall be altered by the said William Penn his Heirs or Assigns and by the Freemen of the said Province or their Delegates or Deputies or the greater part of them VII Furthermore that this new Colony may the more happily encrease by the multitude of People resorting thither therefore we for us our Heirs and Successors do hereby grant License to all the Leige People present and future of us c. excepting such as shall be specially forbidden to Transport themselves and Families into the said Country there to Inhabit and Plant for the publick and their private Good VIII Liberty to Transport what Goods or Commodities are not forbidden paying here the Legal Customs due to us c. IX Power to divide the Countey into Counties Hundreds and Towns to Incorporate Towns into Burroughs and Burroughs into Cities to make Fairs and Markets with convenient Priviledges according to the merit of the Inhabitants or the fitness of the place And to do all other thing or things touching the premises which to the said William Penn his Heirs or Assigns shall seem meet and requisite albeit they be such as of their own nature might otherwise require a more special commandment and warrant then in those presents is express'd X. Liberty to Import the Growth or Manufactures of that Province into England paying here the Legal duty XI Power to erect Ports Harbours Creeks Havens Keys and other places for Merchandizes with such Iurisdiction and Priviledges as to the said William Penn c. shall seem expedient XII Not to break the Acts of Navigation neither Governour nor Inhabitants upon the penaltys contained in the said Acts. XIII Not to be in League with any Prince or Country that is in War against us our Heirs and Successors XIV Power of safety and defence in such way and manner as to the said William Penn c. seems meet XV. Full power to Assign Alien Grant Demise or Enfeoff of the premises so many and such parts and parcels to those that are willing to purchase the same as the said William Penn thinks fit to have and to hold to them the said Persons their Heirs or Successors in fee Simple or fee Tail or for term of Life or Lives or years to be held of the said William Penn c. as of the said Seigniory of Windsor by such Services Customs and Rents as shall seem fit to the said William Penn his Heirs and Assigns and not immediately of us our Heirs or Successors and that the said Persons may take the premisses or any Parcel thereof of the said William Penn c.
that is Rated at eight pounds the like with the rest The Country also abounds with several sorts of Wild Creatures as Elkes Deer Beavers Racoons Mincks Martins Wild Catts Otters c. some of which are good Food and Cheap as a Fat Buck at two Shillings English Goods others of them considerable for their Furs The way of Traffique is to send to the Southren Plantations Corn Beef Pork Fish Sider and Pipe-staves the Skins and Furs for England The Conveniency that belongs to the Province in point of Navigation is two fold the one through Chesapeak Bay and the other Delaware Bay by which Ships of great Burthen may come and Trade to the said Province V. Of the present Inhabitants That part of the Country which is at all Inhabited is at the head of Chesapeak Bay and on the West side of Delaware River they are by Nation Sweeds Dutch English who are capable of giving Entertainment to New Commers till they can provide for themselves VI. What the Country is believed capable of It is thought by several knowing Persons that have Travelled those parts of America and have been well acquainted with places in Europe of the same degree that there may be Silke and Wine if not Oyle and for Flax Hemp Woad Madder Liquorish Pot-ashes and Iron there needs to be no question VII Of the Government 1st The Governour and Free-holders have the power of making Laws so that no Law can be made nor Money raised But by the Peoples consent 2ly That the Rights of the People of England are in force there 3ly That making no Law against Allegiance they may make all Laws requisite for the Prosperity and Security of the said Province VIII Of the Conditions The Province is cast at a penny an Acre But he sets apart several parcels which he calls Shares these he sells saving a Quit-rent necessary for to secure the Title and Tenure That is whereas 5000. Acres which makes a Share comes at a penny an Acre to 20. l. 16. s. 8. d. yearly for 100 l. down he sells off the yearly Rent of 18. l. 6. s. 8. d. and reserves but 50. s. which may be reduc'd as the purchaser pleases but something must be reserved for the Security of the Title To which the Royalties proper to Mannors in England as Hunting Fowling Fishing with all common Mines Minerals and a Proportion of Royal Mines also if sound within any ones propriety is affixed by the general Concessions And that such as are not able to purchase yet willing to go and capable to pay their Passage and their Servants may not be excluded It is hereby Declared that every such Person for himself and Wife and every Child Male or Female if sixteen Years of Age shall have right to take up at 1. d. per Acre Fifty Acres by the Head to him and his Heirs for ever in lieu of Purchasing which shall be by the Surveyor of the Country set out so soon as the said person comes to take it up And to encourage such Children and Servants to serve their Parents Masters or Mistresses the full time for which they are Engaged Diligently and Faithfully Every such Child or Servant shall have Right to take up 50. Acres at but two Shillings Quit-Rent for ever which makes him a Free-holder of the Country IX Persons fittest for Plantations Those persons that Providence seems to have fitted for Plantations are Industrious Husbandmen Laborious Handicrafts As Carpenters Ship-wrights Rope-makers Smiths Brick-makers Weavers Taylors Tanners Coopers Mill-wrights Joyners Shooe-makers Turners Potters such as dress Flax Hemp and Wool With many others It seems also a fit place for Younger Brothers and Men of small Estates who with the Industry of a few Servants may in two or three years time be plentifully accommodated Also all Ingenious Men that are lovers of Planting Gardening and the like quiet and useful Imployments A Plantation seems a fit place for those Ingenious Spirits that being Low in the World are much clog'd and oppressed about a Lively-hood for the means of Subsisting being easy there they may have time and opportunity to Gratify their Inclinations and thereby improve Science and help Nurseries of People There are an other sort of Persons not only fit for but necessary in Plantations and that is Men of Universal Spirits that have an Eye to the good of Posterity and that both understand and delight to promote good Discipline and Just Government among a Plain and Well intending People Such Persons may find room in Colonies for their good Counsil and Contrivance who are shut out from being of much use or service to great Nations under settled Customs But they that go must wisely count the Cost For they must either work themselves or be able to imploy others A Winter goes before a Summer and the first work will be Countrey Labour to clear Ground and raise Provision other things by degrees X. What is fit for the Journey and first to be done there 1st The Passage for Men and Women is Five Pounds a head for Children under Ten Years Fifty Shillings Sucking Children Nothing for Freight of Goods Forty Shilling per Tun but one Chest to every Passenger Free 2ly The Goods fit to take with them for use or sale are all Utensils for Husbandary and Building and House-hold-stuff Also all sorts of things for Apparrel as Cloath Stuffes Linnen c. Wherein all that desire may be more particularly Informed by Philip Ford at the Hood and Scarf in Bow-lane in London Lastly Being by the Mercy of God safely Arrived be it in October Two Men may clear as much Ground for Corn as usually brings by the following Harvest about Twenty-Quarters In the mean time they must buy Corn which they may have as aforesaid and if they buy them two Cows and two Breeding Sows with what the Indians for a small matter will bring in of Fowl Fish and Venison which is incredibly Cheap as a Eat Buck for Two Shillings that and their industry will supply them It is Apprehended that Fifteen Pounds stock for each Man who is first well in Cloaths and provided with fit working Tools for himself will by the Blessing of God carry him thither and keep him till his own Plantation will Accommodate him But all are most seriously cautioned how they proceed in the disposal of themselves 'T is true The Earth is the Lords and the Fullness thereof and it seems to many to be the time wherein those desolate Western parts of the World are to be Planted and have their Day as Asia Africa and Europe have had of which theâ— are divers Prophesies extant yet let all have a Reverend regard â—o God's Providence in their Removal and be serious in it rather seeking the Comforts of retirement and a sufficiency for Life like the Blessed Patriarke of Old thâ— Ease Fulness and Wealth And it is further Advised that all such as go would at least get the Permission if not the good Likeing of their near Relations for that is both Natural and a Duty incumbent upon all And by this means will natural Affection be Preserved and a Friendly and Profitable Correspondence maintained between them In all which God Almighty who is the Salvation of the Ends of the Earth Direct us that His Blessings may attend our Honest Indeavours and then the Consequence of all our Undertakings will be to the Glory of His Great Name and the true Happiness of Us and our Posterity Amen William Penn. POSTSCRIPT WHoever are desirous to be concern'd in this Province they may be treated with and further Satisfied at Philip Fords in Bow-lane in Cheap-side and at Thomas Rudyards or Benjamin Clarks in George-yard in Lombard-street London There is likewise Printed a Map of Pennsylvania together with a Description at the End of it and some Proposals THE END LONDON Printed for Benjamin Clark in George-yard in Lom-bard-street 1681. ☞