America, and under his daughter, Queen Christina, Peter Minuit, formerly Governor of New Netherland, built Fort Christina within the present limits of Delaware, in 1638, and began to trade with the Indians. John Printz arrived with other colonists in 1643, and built New Gottenburg on Tinicum Island, the first settlement within the present limits of Pennsylvania. The Dutch looked with jealousy upon these and other Swedish settlements afterwards founded, and to offset the advance made by the Swedes, built Fort Casimir, at the site of the present town of New Castle, Del. This was captured by the Swedes in 1654; but in September, 1655, Governor Stuyvesant, of New Netherland, appeared in the bay with seven vessels and overthrew the Swedish authority. The city of Amsterdam had furnished much of the money for this conquest, and in return the southern settlements were assigned to that city under the name of New Amstel. The ‘Company’ colony was left in charge of Governor Stuyvesant, but in 1663 the two were reunited. When the Duke of York took possession of New Netherland in 1664 the settlements on the Delaware were included and remained attached to New York until 1682. On March 4, 1681, William Penn (q.v.), in return for a debt of £16,000, owed to his father by Charles II., secured a grant of the territory west of the Delaware River between 40° and 43°, extending to the west five degrees, at an annual rent of two beaver skins and one-fifth of the gold and silver ore discovered in the region. As New Castle was supposed to be on or near the 40th degree, the eastern boundary was to begin where a circle, having its centre at that settlement, twelve miles in radius, intersected the Delaware River and the southern boundary at the point where that circle intersected the 40th degree. Full feudal rights, both to the soil and to the government, were granted. On December 6, 1682, Penn secured from the Duke of York the grant of the soil of the lower settlements, and by consent assumed governmental rights. These settlements were within the original Maryland patent, but Lord Baltimore complained in vain. They remained attached to Pennsylvania, though with separate legislatures after 1703, until the Revolution, under the names ‘the Lower Counties’ or ‘the Territories.’ The southern boundary caused much trouble later. When it was found that the 40th degree was north of the present site of Philadelphia, the ingenious theory was announced that the beginning of the 40th degree was at 39°. The matter was finally settled by a compromise in 1760 (see Mason and Dixon's Line), when also the northern boundary was fixed at 42°.
Upon receiving the grant Penn sent over his kinsman, William Markham (q.v.), as Deputy Governor, and followed himself in 1682, arriving at Uplands (now Chester) October 27th. A few days later he concluded a treaty with the Indians, though the purchase of the lands could not have taken place until later. The ‘Frame of Government’ previously published in England was submitted to the first General Assembly in December, 1682, and was adopted together with the ‘great law,’ made up largely of the suggestions of the Proprietor. Universal suffrage and entire religious toleration made the scheme notable. Settlers came over in great numbers, chiefly Quakers and Germans from the Palatinate. Philadelphia, which had been planned before Penn left England, grew rapidly, and before 1683 contained more than five hundred inhabitants, while more than 3000 settlers had come to the province. Land was offered at forty shillings the hundred acres, subject to a quit rent of a shilling a year. Penn returned to England in 1684, leaving the Council in charge, but its authority was soon disputed by the Lower House, which had a veto power on legislation, though it could not originate measures. Slanders were circulated in England, and in 1693 the province was resumed by William III., and attached to New York. Governor Fletcher met with little success in his attempts to secure aid for his Indian wars, and had several contests with the Legislature. The province was restored to Penn in August, 1694, and in 1696 a new and more democratic constitution was adopted with the Proprietor's consent. Penn's second and last visit to the province lasted from December, 1099, to October, 1701. During this time he granted the ‘Charter of Privileges,’ adopted October 26, 1701, which served as a constitution until the Revolution. The governors whom Penn appointed were involved in frequent disputes with the Assembly, and in consequence the Proprietor grew discouraged. In 1712 he was on the point of selling the province to the Crown for £12,000, but a paralytic stroke prevented the completion of the sale. Though the province was a constant source of expense to him, it made his descendants rich. After Penn's death in 1718, the disputes between the Assembly and the Proprietors continued with renewed vigor.
Immigration was large. There were Scotch-Irish in the province as early as 1698, and after 1730 they came in great numbers. These generally pushed on to the frontier, as did also the later influx of Germans. The first years were free from Indian warfare, but after 1740 the Indians were restless and soon became openly hostile. The efforts of the French were successful, and forts were established on the Ohio. The province sent few men to the aid of General Braddock in his expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1755; but his defeat aroused the Assembly, and a chain of forts was erected at a cost of £85,000. Until after 1764 danger from the Indians was constant. Meanwhile, in 1753, Connecticut laid claim to a tract of land on the Susquehanna, seventy miles west of the Delaware, under the charter of 1662, which granted to Connecticut the land to the 41st degree. A company was formed, the land was purchased from the Indians in 1754 (though previously purchased by Pennsylvania), and Susquehanna County was formed. Settlers went in and the formation of a distinct colony was considered. The Indians claimed that the purchase was made by fraud and protested vigorously. Armed forces were sent from eastern Pennsylvania and brought on the so-called Pennamite War; the dispute had its influence in causing the Wyoming Massacre in 1778. See Wyoming Valley.
The colony's agent, Benjamin Franklin, vigorously resisted the Stamp Act, and in July, 1774, a Provincial Congress met at Philadelphia, adopted resolutions, and elected delegates to the first Continental Congress, to be held at Philadelphia. The Provincial Convention in 1775 authorized the Committee of Safety to prepare a system of defense for the colony. Troops were raised
