This is a list of colonial governors of Pennsylvania.
Three generations of Penns acted as proprietors of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Lower Counties (Delaware) from the founding of the colony until the American Revolution removed them from power and property. William Penn was granted the new proprietary colony in 1681 by Charles II of England in payment for debts owed to Penn's father. After Penn became ill in 1712, his second wife Hannah Callowhill Penn served as acting proprietor.
After William's death in 1718, interest in the proprietorship passed to his three sons by Hannah: John Penn "the American", Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, Sr., with John inheriting the largest share and becoming the chief proprietor. When John died without children, his brother Thomas inherited his share and became chief proprietor.
When Richard Penn, Sr. died, his share passed to his son Governor John Penn. When Thomas Penn died, his share (and the chief proprietorship) passed to his son John Penn "of Stoke".
# | Chief proprietor | Years | Percentage interest | Other proprietors |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | William Penn | 1681–1718 | 100% | Hannah Penn served as acting proprietor after 1712 |
2 | John Penn ("the American") | 1718–1746 | 50% | 25%: Thomas Penn, 25%: Richard Penn, Sr. |
3 | Thomas Penn | 1746–1775 | 75% | 25%: Richard Penn, Sr. (1746–71), Governor John Penn (1771–75) |
4 | John Penn "of Stoke" | 1775–1776 | 75% | 25%: Governor John Penn |
The government of Colonial Pennsylvania (and the Lower Counties) was conducted by a set of administrators in the name of the proprietors.
During the British occupation of Philadelphia from 26 September 1777 until June 1778, Joseph Galloway was "in charge of policing the city, and of imports and exports". [1] [2]
Benjamin Chew was a fifth-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer, slaveowner, and chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania and later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chew was known for precision and brevity in his legal arguments and his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law. His primary allegiance was to the supremacy of law and the constitution.
Hannah Margaret Penn was an Anglo-American governor. The second wife of Pennsylvania founder William Penn, she effectively administered the Province of Pennsylvania for six years after her husband suffered a series of strokes, and then for another eight years after her husband's death. She served as acting proprietor from 1712 until her death in 1726.
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from "Penn's Woods", referring to William Penn's father Admiral Sir William Penn.
John Penn may refer to:
John Penn was an English-born colonial administrator who served as the last governor of colonial Pennsylvania, serving in that office from 1763 to 1771 and from 1773 to 1776. Educated in Britain and Switzerland, he was also one of the Penn family proprietors of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1771 until 1776, holding a one-fourth share, when the creation of the independent Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution removed the Penn family from power.
William Allen was a wealthy merchant, attorney and chief justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, and mayor of Philadelphia during the colonial era. At the time of the American Revolution, Allen was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Philadelphia. A Loyalist, Allen agreed that the colonies should seek to redress their grievances with British Parliament through constitutional means, and he disapproved of the movement toward independence.
Andrew Hamilton was a Scottish lawyer in the Thirteen Colonies who settled in Philadelphia. He was best known for his legal victory on behalf of the printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. His involvement with the 1735 decision in New York helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel. His eloquent defense concluded with saying that the press has "a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth."
Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore was an English peer and colonial administrator. He inherited the province of Maryland in 1675 upon the death of his father, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. He had been his father's Deputy Governor since 1661 when he arrived in the colony at the age of 24. However, Charles left Maryland for England in 1684 and would never return. The events following the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 would cost Calvert his title to Maryland; in 1689 the royal charter to the colony was withdrawn, leading to direct rule by the British Crown. Calvert's political problems were largely caused by his Roman Catholic faith which was at odds with the established Church of England.
Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, was a British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. He inherited the title to Maryland aged just fifteen, on the death of his father and grandfather, when the colony was restored by the British monarchy to the Calvert family's control, following its seizure in 1688. In 1721 Charles came of age and assumed personal control of Maryland, travelling there briefly in 1732. For most of his life, he remained in England, where he pursued an active career in politics, rising to become Lord of the Admiralty from 1742 to 1744. He died in 1751 in England, aged 52.
Robert Hunter Morris, was a prominent governmental figure in Colonial Pennsylvania, serving as governor of Pennsylvania and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Thomas Penn was an English landowner and mercer who was the chief proprietor of Pennsylvania from 1746 to 1775. He was one of 17 children of William Penn, the founder of the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania in British America. In 1737, Thomas Penn negotiated the Walking Purchase, a contested land cession treaty he negotiated with Lenape chief Lappawinsoe that transferred control over 1,200,000 acres (4,860 km2) of territory in the present-day Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania regions of Pennsylvania and a portion of West Jersey in colonial New Jersey from the Lenape tribe to the Province of Pennsylvania.
William Penn Jr. was the eldest surviving son of William Penn, proprietor and founder of the colony of Pennsylvania.
John Penn was an English politician and writer who was the chief proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1775 to 1776. He and his cousin, John Penn held unsold property, of 24,000,000 acres (97,000 km2), which the Pennsylvania legislature confiscated after the American Revolution.
Richard Penn Jr. served as the lieutenant governor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1771 to 1773, and was later a member of the British Parliament.
Richard Penn Sr. was a proprietary and titular governor of the Province of Pennsylvania and the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, which then included present-day Delaware. He served as governor from 1746 to 1771. His father was William Penn, founder of the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania, one of the original Thirteen Colonies in British America
William Penn was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era. Penn, an advocate of democracy and religious freedom, was known for his amicable relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans who had resided in present-day Pennsylvania prior to European settlements in the state.
Charles Carroll, sometimes called Charles Carroll the Settler to differentiate him from his son and grandson, was an Irish-born planter and lawyer who spent most of his life in the English Province of Maryland. Carroll, a Catholic, is best known for his efforts to hold office in the Protestant-dominated colony which eventually resulted in the disfranchisement of Maryland's Catholics. The second son of Irish Catholic parents, Carroll was educated in France as a lawyer before returning to England, where he pursued the first steps in a legal career. Before that career developed, he secured a position as Attorney General of the young colony of Maryland. Its founder George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore and his descendants intended it as a refuge for persecuted Catholics.
John Penn was an American-born merchant who was proprietor of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania, which became the U.S. state of Pennsylvania following American independence obtained in victory in the American Revolutionary War.
The Protestant Revolution, also known Coode's Rebellion after one of its leaders, John Coode, took place in the summer of 1689 in the English Province of Maryland when Puritans, by then a substantial majority in the colony, revolted against the proprietary government led by the Catholic Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore.
The John Welsh House, also known as "Rauhala," is an historic American home that is located in Wyndmoor in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.