The letters that make up this book present a vivid account of the life of an active and successful businessman in the latter seventeenth century. They give a fresh, absorbing picture of the early years of the colony of Pennsylvania and of the inner (as well as outer) life of London Quaker merchant James Claypoole, who was by turns generous and penny-pinching, forbearing with important clients, intolerant with others, deeply religious, often irritable--but certainly never dull. He loaned large sums of money to his brothers and friends, knowing he would never get it back, yet he haggled for months over tiny debts. A man of peace, he quarreled with most of his correspondents, writing them verbose sermons but continuing to do business with them. He was strictly honest in all his business dealings, but he cheated the Customs when he could and was furious when they caught and fined him. He was a good friend of William Penn and George Fox, and of all the leading Quakers of the day. He was hard-working and popular in his Meeting, and one can only conclude that he had charm. Claypoole also had intelligence, as Fox and Penn consulted him about their writings, and he helped Penn draft the Frame of Government for Pennsylvania. He held a prominent post in the Free Society of Traders. As the letter book begins about the time Penn was granted his colony, the reader can follow, week by week, the founding of the state, in which Claypoole played an important part. The reader can also see the frustrations in the life of a seventeenth-century merchant and the workings of an expanding colonial trade. Although Claypoole was in debt when he left London to follow Penn to Philadelphia, when he died a few years later he was one of the richest merchants in that infant town.

The letters that make up this book present a vivid account of the life of an active and successful businessman in the latter seventeenth century. They give a fresh, absorbing picture of the early years of the colony of Pennsylvania and of the inner (as well as outer) life of London Quaker merchant James Claypoole, who was by turns generous and penny-pinching, forbearing with important clients, intolerant with others, deeply religious, often irritable--but certainly never dull. He loaned large sums of money to his brothers and friends, knowing he would never get it back, yet he haggled for months over tiny debts. A man of peace, he quarreled with most of his correspondents, writing them verbose sermons but continuing to do business with them. He was strictly honest in all his business dealings, but he cheated the Customs when he could and was furious when they caught and fined him. He was a good friend of William Penn and George Fox, and of all the leading Quakers of the day. He was hard-working and popular in his Meeting, and one can only conclude that he had charm. Claypoole also had intelligence, as Fox and Penn consulted him about their writings, and he helped Penn draft the Frame of Government for Pennsylvania. He held a prominent post in the Free Society of Traders. As the letter book begins about the time Penn was granted his colony, the reader can follow, week by week, the founding of the state, in which Claypoole played an important part. The reader can also see the frustrations in the life of a seventeenth-century merchant and the workings of an expanding colonial trade. Although Claypoole was in debt when he left London to follow Penn to Philadelphia, when he died a few years later he was one of the richest merchants in that infant town.

The transatlantic story of how the English settlers of seventeenth century North America became Americans - from the near-calamitous first settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the drama of the Salem witch trials.

This landmark volume is the first in a century to examine the “Second Period” of Quakerism, a time when the Religious Society of Friends experienced upheavals in theology, authority and institutional structures, and political trajectories as a result of the persecution Quakers faced in the first decades of the movement’s existence. The authors and special contributors explore the early growth of Quakerism, assess important developments in Quaker faith and practice, and show how Friends coped with the challenges posed by external and internal threats in the final years of the Stuart age—not only in Europe and North America but also in locations such as the Caribbean. This groundbreaking collection sheds new light on a range of subjects, including the often tense relations between Quakers and the authorities, the role of female Friends during the Second Period, the effect of major industrial development on Quakerism, and comparisons between founder George Fox and the younger generation of Quakers, such as Robert Barclay, George Keith, and William Penn. Accessible, well-researched, and seamlessly comprehensive, The Quakers, 1656–1723 promises to reinvigorate a conversation largely ignored by scholarship over the last century and to become the definitive work on this important era in Quaker history. In addition to the authors, the contributors are Erin Bell, Raymond Brown, J. William Frost, Emma Lapsansky-Werner, Robynne Rogers Healey, Alan P. F. Sell, and George Southcombe.

On March 5, 1681, one day after receiving his royal charter for Pennsylvania, William Penn wrote that he believed God would make his colony "the seed of the nation." Penn wanted his Pennsylvania to be a land where people of differing languages and customs could live together, where men and women could worship as they pleased, where men could participate fully in their government. Such a land, Penn believed, would indeed be blessed. Beginning with his petition to the king in May 1680 and ending with his departure to England in August 1684, this book contains the most important documents describing the founding of Pennsylvania. The letters, orders, petitions, charters, laws, pamphlets, maps, constitutional drafts, legislative journals, newspaper articles, memoranda, deeds, and other business records assembled here include Penn's own explanations of his desire to found a Quaker colony, his invitation to settlers, and his design for government.