The American Tradition in Literature Vol. 1 4th ed. By Bradley, Beatty, Long, Perkins, 1974.
The seed of American toleration was produced here in the
melting pot of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. The Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French-Huguenot
refugees and the Jewish merchants settled here.
Of all the colonies, the middle colonies enjoyed the best geographical
location, easy access with the great inland waterways. By 1750, the Quaker city of Philadelphia had
become the unofficial colonial capital.
Their basic conditions and ideas were important aspects for building our
national character and framing a democratic government. These people were from the humbler ranks of
the English middle classes – artisans, tradesman, farmers- and their leader,
William Penn was one of the best-trained men in the colonies and one of the
greatest. The early Quakers’ were
fundamentally closer to Luther’s theology than to Calvin’s. It was less concerned with the original
depravity of man than with the abounding grace of God. William Penn exercised great powers by
writing his famous “Frame of Government” which ordained a free commonwealth,
bestowing wide privileges of self-government upon the people. Like the Puritans, the Quakers provided
education: Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, University of Pennsylvania,
Princeton, Columbia (King’s College), Rutgers (Queen’s College). The energy of these mixed cultures fostered
the development of science and medicine, technical enterprise and commerce,
journalism and government. Penn made the
first proposal for a union of the colonies.
