Pennsylvania's Settlers Came Primarily from England

The Pennsylvania Colony was founded by William Penn, an English Quaker, under a 1681 charter from King Charles II. The vast majority of early settlers were English Quakers seeking religious freedom denied under the Church of England.

Migration Waves

• 1681–1683: ~2,000 English Quakers on 23 ships.
• Late 1600s–early 1700s: Welsh Quakers (the "Welsh Tract" west of Philadelphia).
• 18th century: Large German (Palatine) and Scots-Irish immigration—but the founding stock was English.

Why England?

• Penn's networks: Quaker meetings across England.
• Persecution: Quakers jailed, fined, barred from universities.
• Charter terms: "Freehold" land ownership attractive to English yeomen.

Later diversity (Germans, Scots-Irish, Africans, others) built Pennsylvania's multicultural character, but its origin was distinctly English.