Lectures
Good Living, Good Neighborhood, and Cordial Friendship: William Penn’s Philadelphia
Synopsis
The social thought of William Penn (1644-1718) was forged out of his experience as a member of a persecuted English sect and his reading of some of the leading liberal political thinkers of his era. The task of government, he believed, was to preserve civil society by promoting virtue among its members. Government was responsible for bringing moral order to society and Penn believed that the cultivation of such morality was accomplished best by promoting religion. He taught that society could improve itself by encouraging Protestant diversity, a view that departed from the traditional belief that religious freedom bred chaos, disorder, and revolution unless carefully guarded by a national religious establishment. Penn applied this vision to all of his colonial experiments in America, but none has received more attention than Philadelphia, his planned city on the banks of Pennsylvania’s Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. This lecture will examine Penn’s vision for Philadelphia as a unique chapter in the history of early American urban development. How did the design of the city reflect Penn’s moral philosophy? Did Philadelphia, especially during its first century of existence, fulfill its founder’s hopes for a city where humans might flourish amidst the blessings of economic and religious liberty? In what ways does Philadelphia offer a historical model for thinking about the kind of pluralism that would later come to characterize life in the United States? What can those interested in urban development today learn from Penn? Dr. Fea’s lecture will explore the life, thought, and legacy of this important and unfortunately neglected American founder.
