Among the parcels of the estate inherited from his father, Penn held a claim against Charles II to the amount of £16,000, then a huge sum. How to extract that debt from the Merry Monarch long perplexed the young creditor; but finally, aided by the gentle arts of the courtier, he managed to obtain in payment a large territorial grant—Pennsylvania, as the king insisted on calling it. In form the charter effecting this transfer was modeled after that of Maryland; by express terms Penn was made the true and absolute lord of his domain and given a wide range of governmental authority, subject to the advice and consent of the freemen, including the power of making war, raising troops, and vanquishing his enemies "by God's assistance."
Finding that the territory covered by this royal charter had no coast line, Penn induced the Duke of York to turn over to him the Delaware region to the south which had been wrested from the Swedes by the Dutch and from the Dutch by the English. Although these lower counties were assigned to Penn on the same terms as his original grant, they were transformed into the separate colony of Delaware in 1702 and remained in that status under the Penn family until the declaration of American independence.
As soon as Penn was in secure possession of his estate, he set to work as a practical man of affairs to develop his territory—already inhabited by about six thousand people, Swedes and Dutch on the Delaware and Quakers who had preceded him in their quest for a refuge. Committed by his faith to the mild and healing principle of toleration, he made it known that all who settled in his colony should enjoy religious liberty. Making the most of this assurance, he collected a band of followers and at their head set sail for America in 1682. On his arrival, in conformity with Quaker pacifism, he made peace with the Indians and paid them for their claims. His title once cleared to the satisfaction of his conscience, Penn created a popular assembly, put into effect a liberal Frame of Government, and laid out
