William Penn Signed Land Grant.

PENN, William.

Item Number: 120848

Rare autograph land grant signed by the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, William Penn, as the first governor of Pennsylvania. One page, script on vellum, the document is dated June 4, 1684 and grants a tract of land in the county of Philadelphia to one of the earliest Quaker colonists to settle in Philadelphia county, John Longworthy. Signed by William Penn at the conclusion of the document. Retaining the paper seal. In very good condition. Rare.

In 1677 a group of prominent Quakers that included Penn purchased the colonial province of West Jersey (half of the current state of New Jersey), and soon East Jersey in 1682. With the New Jersey foothold in place, Penn pressed his case to extend the Quaker region. Whether from personal sympathy or political expediency, to Penn's surprise, the King granted an extraordinarily generous charter which made Penn the world's largest private (non-royal) landowner, with over 45,000 square miles. Penn first called the area "New Wales", then "Sylvania" (Latin for "forests" or "woods"), which King Charles II changed to "Pennsylvania" in honor of the elder Penn. Penn then traveled to America and while there, he negotiated Pennsylvania's first land-purchase survey with the Lenape Indian tribe. Penn purchased the first tract of land under a white oak tree at Graystones on July 15, 1682 and, drawing heavily from John Locke, drafted a charter of liberties for the settlement creating a political utopia guaranteeing free and fair trial by jury, freedom of religion, freedom from unjust imprisonment and free elections.