ABSTRACT
William Penn is best known as the founder of Pennsylvania. Throughout his life, he struggled to ensure what he saw as the basic freedoms to which all people were entitled: life, liberty, and property. Penn quickly became involved in efforts to end persecution of Quakers, and in 1670 he was arrested for preaching at an illegal gathering. Despite repeated arrests, Penn continued to publish tracts calling for the establishment of what he believed were natural and ancient rights. Because the Whigs supported religious toleration, Penn became active in Whig politics. Penn arrived in America in 1682 and immediately went to work to establish for Pennsylvania a government that would protect those basic freedoms he valued so highly. Penn's devotion to the cause of religious toleration led not only to the founding of Pennsylvania but also to his continued efforts in that regard in England.
