Captain George W. Ryan of the Independent Guards of Fredericksburg issued this discharge certificate to his brother-in-law Simon Stroh, who had served as a corporal and drummer for seven successive years from May 2, 1842, to May 7, 1849. With this certificate, Stroh was discharged from compulsory militia duty, “except in time of an Invasion, Insurrection, or Actual War,” according to the Pennsylvania militia law of 1818.

Pennsylvania founder William Penn supported James II during the Glorious Revolution, James’s attempt to regain the English throne. When William and Mary ascended the throne, Penn was suspected of treason.

The Maryland ratifying convention suggests some amendments along with their approval of the Constitution.

This issue of Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette reports the speech of Deputy Governor Morris of Pennsylvania to the General Assembly, urging them to prevent the French and their Native American allies from gaining control of the colony’s western border. The General Assembly responded that they were eager to assist but lacked any “Instructions from the Crown how to conduct ourselves on this important Occasion” and requested a recess until called together again.

Edward Hand apprises a Pennsylvania political ally of recent developments at the state convention for framing a new constitution. “Some time ago I forwarded you the plan of the Legislative Branch, & now send those for the Executive & Judicial, as agreed on by the Committee of the whole.”

This issue of Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette reports addresses by two students at the Academy of Philadelphia, including seventeen-year-old Francis Hopkinson, who went on to write music and poetry, sign the Declaration of Independence, and design the American flag. Founded in 1751, the Academy provided classical education and instruction in practical skills. Most of the trustees had received a classical education and favored a similar curriculum for the academy, but trustee Benjamin Franklin favored an education that stressed practical skills. He advocated teaching all classes in English and emphasizing mathematics and science.

This issue of Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette includes communications between Lieutenant Governor Robert Hunter Morris and the Pennsylvania General Assembly regarding the proper mode of funding military forces to resist the French threat on the western border of the colony. Conflict between French and English forces there erupted into the French and Indian War, and globally into the Seven Years’ War.

It also includes details of a lecture by Ebenezer Kinnersley, a partner of Benjamin Franklin in experiments on electricity, and a brief notice of George Whitefield’s sermons in Philadelphia.

This issue of Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette includes communications between Lieutenant Governor Robert Hunter Morris and the Pennsylvania General Assembly regarding responses to the French threat on the western border of the colony. Conflict between French and English forces there erupted into the French and Indian War, and globally into the Seven Years’ War.

It also includes details of a lecture by Ebenezer Kinnersley, a partner of Benjamin Franklin in experiments on electricity, and a brief notice of George Whitefield’s sermons in New York City.

Financier of the Revolution forced into bankruptcy court: “Sixty days after date, I promise to pay unto Mr. Mathias Kurlin Junr or Order Thirteen Hundred & forty six Dolls & Sixty Seven Cents for value recd.”

William Penn deeds 2,500 acres of land in Pennsylvania to English yeoman Thomas Herriot in September 1681 for £50. A year later, Herriot accompanied Penn on the Welcome, bound for Pennsylvania but died on the voyage.

William Penn signed this birth certificate as a witness during his final two-year sojourn in Pennsylvania. This document is signed by a midwife and five other women, including Penn’s second wife Hannah, who were present at the birth of Isaac Penington on November 22, 1700. In addition, William Penn, his daughter Latitia (1678-1746), and three others also signed the document because they were present at the naming of the child on December 13, 1700. The baby was the only child of Penn’s first wife’s half-brother Edward Penington, making William Penn the baby’s uncle by marriage.

Document signed by Pennsylvania’s political leaders during a stormy period in the province’s history, which saw chronic tensions between Quakers and non-Quakers, between the “lower counties” of Delaware and the rest of the province, and between the proprietor (William Penn) and the Assembly. All the same, the separate signatures on two sheets of paper attests to the landmark commitment of Penn to religious tolerance.

Paine, as Clerk of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly, transmits a resolution to the state’s Supreme Executive Council [no longer enclosed- but about the boundary with Virginia] and requests that it be forwarded to the governor of that state. After years of wrangling, the two states had finally agreed that summer to settle their dispute by extending the Mason-Dixon line. 

Paine was involved in Pennsylvania politics for several years after his arrival in America in 1774 - he was associated with the men who drafted the state's new constitution in 1776, and Paine wrote a series of letters in local newspapers supporting the constitution.  In 1777 Paine was elected to the Committee of Correspondence of the Whig Society in Pennsylvania.  Needing other employment in order to supplement his income as a writer, he was appointed clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly in November, 1779, shortly after resigning his position as secretary of foreign affairs for the Continental Congress. Any manuscript material from Thomas Paine, especially during the era of the American Revolution, is rare.

“all Relations have much as they ware & give their Dear Love to Father & Mother…”

15-year old John, having just left the Penn household in Ruscombe, England, writes home. He mentions his mother’s cooking and the well-documented family love of chocolate. The recipient, John’s younger brother, Thomas Penn, who later owned ¾ of William Penn’s proprietary interest in Pennsylvania, practices signing his name on the address leaf. The “Black Cap” referred to in John’s postscript is a reference to the famous Quaker hat. Quakers, as a sign of their egalitarianism, refused to take their hat off for anyone, regardless of societal rank. “Addam” was William Penn’s nickname, a reference to the biblical first man.

“… there are ffour Comission^rs who by the order & command of y^e said Lord [Baltimore], have beene & are waiting … ever since y^e tenth day instant, for y^e Running y^e Division Lyne…”

“As the loadstone attracts Iron, so ought acknowledgem^ts to pursue faviours … [I] dare not presume any further having soe lately recd soe great a marke of your bounty….”

Deputy Governor Anthony Brockholls of New York extends a cordial note to Governor William Penn in the midst of continuing deliberations between Penn and Lord Baltimore over the southern boundary of Pennsylvania and possession of Delaware.