FRAME OF GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA—1696[1]
Whereas, the late king Charles the Second, in the three and thirtieth year of his reign, by letters patent under the great seal of England, did, for the considerations therein mentioned, grant unto William Penn, his heirs and assigns, for ever, this colony, or tract of land, thereby erecting the same into a province, called Pennsylvania, and constituting him, the said William Penn, absolute Proprietary thereof, vesting him, his Deputies and Lieutenants, with divers great powers, pre-eminences, royalties, jurisdictions and authorities, necessary for the well-being and good government of the said province. And whereas the late Duke of York and Albany, &c., for valuable considerations, did grant unto the said William Penn, his heirs and assigns, all that tract of land which hath been cast, or divided into three counties, now called Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, together with all royalties, franchises, duties, jurisdictions, liberties and privileges thereunto belonging; which last mentioned tract being intended as a beneficial and requisite addition to the territory of the said Proprietary, he, the said Proprietary and Governor, at the request of the freemen of the said three counties, by their deputies, in Assembly met, with the representatives of the freemen of the said province at Chester, alias Upland, on the sixth day of the tenth month, 1682, did (with the advice and consent of the Members of the said Assembly) enact, that the said three counties should be annexed to the province of Pennsylvania, as the proper territories thereof: and whereas king William and the late queen Mary, over England, &c., by their letters patent and commission, under the great seal of England, dated the twenty-first day of October, in the fourth year of their reign, having, (for the reasons therein mentioned) taken the government of this said province and territories into their hands, and under their care and protection, did think fit to constitute Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York, to be their Captain General, and Governor in Chief, over this province and country. And whereas, also the said king and queen afterwards, by their letters patent, under the great seal of England, dated the twentieth day of August, in the sixth year of their reign, have thought fit, upon the humble application of the said William Penn, to restore him to the administration of the government of the said province and territories; and that so much of their said commission as did constitute the said Benjamin Fletcher, their Captain General and Governor in Chief of the said province of Pennsylvania, country of Newcastle, and the territories and tracts of land depending thereupon, in America, together with all the powers and authorities thereby granted for the ruling and governing their said province and country, should, from the publication of the said last recited letters patent, cease, determine and become void; and accordingly the same are hereby declared void; whereupon the said William Penn did commissionate his kinsman, William Markham, Governor under him,
- ↑ Idem. Appendix, VIII-XII.
