William Penn’s The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty & Property, 1687
Monday, July 20th, 2009
William Penn’s publication on The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty & Property was the first American printing of his translation of the Magna Carta and Haverford’s copy is the sole surviving example. In addition to the text of the Magna Carta, Penn includes in his pamphlet a summary of his charter for the colony of Pennsylvania, the Second Frame of government, and the Constitution of 1683. In all, the small publication serves to express Penn’s views on the political and civil rights of his colonists as English citizens. Once owned by Phineas Pemberton, an original member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, and passed down to his grandson John Pemberton, the volume was deposited at Haverford by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1932. Additional material relating to the establishment and early governance of Pennsylvania may be found in the Papers of William Penn and other parts of the Quaker Collection.