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[[Image:Wp1.jpg|right|thumb|William Penn as a young soldier]]

[[Image:Wp1.jpg|right|thumb|William Penn as a young soldier]]

'''William Penn''' (October 14, 1644 - July 30, 1718) is the father of [[Democracy]] in the United States; who [[Thomas Jefferson]] called "the greatest law giver the world has produced."<ref name=phmc>Ries, Linda A. & Stewart, Jane S. "[http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/DAM/charter/charter.html This Venerable Document]." Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.</ref>  He was a pacifist [[Religious Society of Friends|Quaker] whose founding of the [[Christian]] government of [[Pennsylvania]] in 1682 inspired the later [[United States of America]]; his family kept ownership of it until the American Revolution.<ref>Engels, A. "[http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/penn.html William Penn]." ''Discovers Web''. Technical University Eindhoven.</ref> {{cquote|If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him....''Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.

'''William Penn''' (October 14, 1644 - July 30, 1718) is the father of [[Democracy]] in the United States; who [[Thomas Jefferson]] called "the greatest law giver the world has produced."<ref name=phmc>Ries, Linda A. & Stewart, Jane S. "[http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/DAM/charter/charter.html This Venerable Document]." Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.</ref>  He was a pacifist [[Religious Society of Friends|Quaker]] whose founding of the [[Christian]] government of [[Pennsylvania]] in 1682 inspired the later [[United States of America]]; his family kept ownership of it until the American Revolution.<ref>Engels, A. "[http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/penn.html William Penn]." ''Discovers Web''. Technical University Eindhoven.</ref> {{cquote|If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him....''Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.

-William Penn [http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/founding.html#wp]}} Penn's new government originated the principles of [[Representative Government|representative government]], [[Separation of Church and State|separation of church and state]], and elimination of nobility and ranks<ref name=phmc />, while producing almost exactly a century before the [[U.S. Constitution]] concepts such as an elected 2-house Congress to pass bills, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and a [[Bill of Rights]]. He also, in 1693, drafted a lengthy proposal for a future European Union or as he called it, a "European League, or Confederacy".<ref>Penn, William (1693). "[http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/library/penn.pdf An Essay  Towards  the Present and Future Peace of Europe by the Establishment of an European Dyet, Parliament, or Estates]."</ref> {{cquote|William Penn might, with reason, boast of having brought down upon earth the Golden Age, which in all probability, never had any real existence but in his dominions.  -[[Voltaire]]<ref name=powell>Powell, Jim. [http://www.quaker.org/wmpenn.html William Penn, America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace]." ''The Freeman'': Ideas on Liberty.</ref>}}

-William Penn [http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/founding.html#wp]}} Penn's new government originated the principles of [[Representative Government|representative government]], [[Separation of Church and State|separation of church and state]], and elimination of nobility and ranks<ref name=phmc />, while producing almost exactly a century before the [[U.S. Constitution]] concepts such as an elected 2-house Congress to pass bills, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and a [[Bill of Rights]]. He also, in 1693, drafted a lengthy proposal for a future European Union or as he called it, a "European League, or Confederacy".<ref>Penn, William (1693). "[http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/library/penn.pdf An Essay  Towards  the Present and Future Peace of Europe by the Establishment of an European Dyet, Parliament, or Estates]."</ref> {{cquote|William Penn might, with reason, boast of having brought down upon earth the Golden Age, which in all probability, never had any real existence but in his dominions.  -[[Voltaire]]<ref name=powell>Powell, Jim. [http://www.quaker.org/wmpenn.html William Penn, America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace]." ''The Freeman'': Ideas on Liberty.</ref>}}