Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 “Gentlemen, Tradesmen, Serving-men, Libertines”
- 3 “A City upon a Hill”
- 4 “The Seed of a Nation”
- 5 Immigration and the Formation of the Republic
- 6 Building a Nation: 1830–1880
- 7 The Golden Door: 1880–1917
- 8 The Triumph of Restrictionism: 1882–1924
- 9 Turning Inward: 1924–1964
- 10 “A Nation of Immigrants”: 1965–1994
- 11 A Nation of Refuge
- 12 The Pennsylvania Model at Risk: 1993–2009
- 13 Looking Ahead
- References
- Index
4 - “The Seed of a Nation”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 “Gentlemen, Tradesmen, Serving-men, Libertines”
- 3 “A City upon a Hill”
- 4 “The Seed of a Nation”
- 5 Immigration and the Formation of the Republic
- 6 Building a Nation: 1830–1880
- 7 The Golden Door: 1880–1917
- 8 The Triumph of Restrictionism: 1882–1924
- 9 Turning Inward: 1924–1964
- 10 “A Nation of Immigrants”: 1965–1994
- 11 A Nation of Refuge
- 12 The Pennsylvania Model at Risk: 1993–2009
- 13 Looking Ahead
- References
- Index
Summary
A different model of immigration developed in the middle colonies, particularly in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania's founder, William Penn, actively sought immigrants from continental Europe to join the British Quakers, and offered them equal treatment and rights. Soon after he received the charter to the colony, Penn prophesied: “There may be room for such a Holy Experiment. For the nations want a precedent and my God will make it the seed of a nation. That an example may be set up to the nations. That we may do the thing that is truly wise and just.”
Although like John Winthrop in his underscoring of the religious principles underlying the new colony, Penn differed significantly from Winthrop and the other Massachusetts leaders in his commitment to religious freedom as a defining characteristic of Pennsylvania. Penn's Charter of Privileges (1701) provided for liberty of conscience, specifying that
no Person or Persons, inhabiting in this Province or Territories, who shall confess and acknowledge One almighty God, the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the World; and profess him or themselves obliged to live quietly under the Civil Government, shall be in any Case molested or prejudiced, in his or their Person or Estate, because of his or their conscientious Persuasion or Practice, nor be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious Worship, Place or Ministry, contrary to his or their Mind, or to do or suffer any other Act or Thing, contrary to their religious Persuasion.
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- Information
- A Nation of Immigrants , pp. 44 - 59Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010