William Penn: William Penn’s vision

Roger Williamson considers the life and ideas of William Penn

'The Treaty of Penn with the Indians' (detail) by Benjamin West. | Photo: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia / Wikimedia Commons.

The Quakers were one of many religious, social and radical groups emerging from the febrile atmosphere of the English revolution of the seventeenth century, so memorably documented by Christopher Hill in The World Turned Upside Down. As one of the ‘next generation’, who came after the early founders emerged in the 1650s, William Penn would have been concerned with how the Quakers could continue their life and witness.

You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.