Quakers attempted to live in peace with Native Americans

Penn was born in London to a wealthy family. As a young adult he joined the Society of Friends and began preaching and writing to defend Quakerism. He was imprisoned several times for his views. In 1676 Penn became involved in Quaker settlements of West Jersey, and there conceived a plan for a "holy experiment" in religious toleration. In 1681 King Charles II paid a debt to the Penn family by granting to William Penn a huge parcel of land in North America; the grant of land may also have provided the Crown a place to send religious dissenters. Penn used this land grant to found the colony of Pennsylvania, where religious toleration was guaranteed to all colonists, and fair treatment was sought for the native peoples of the area. Penn welcomed groups which had known persecution in Europe or North America; he granted a parcel of 18,000 acres of land to be settled by Mennonites. Pennsylvania's example of religious pluralism anticipated the constitutional settlement for religious freedom in the United States.