A Quaker Experiment in Government.

CHAPTER I.

PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

The principles upon which the settlers of Pennsylvania sought to base their government

were,

1. Perfect democracy. This hardly needs qualification. For while the governor was nonelective and to some extent thwarted the will of the people, this was probably not the orig inal intention, but rather an unexpected development of proprietary rights as construed by unsympathetic heirs of William Penn.

2. Perfect religious liberty. There was no restriction on the free worship of any orderly sect, and originally no religious test for office except a profession of belief in Jesus Christ. It is not unlikely that this limitation was imposed by English authority or from fear of English

veto.

3. Perfect justice and fairness in dealing with aborigines and neighbors. Without concerning themselves to define the Indian rights in the