Philadelphia County PA Archives Biographies.....William PENN, October 14, 1644 - July 30, 1718 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Thomas Smith Tomroysmith@aol.com The Ghost of William Penn: A Grand Tale of Justice for All Thomas R. Smith, a.k.a., William Penn Hear Yea! Order in the Court! Today’s Ghost of William Penn missive touts a court room scene and the glorious imprint it pressed in aftermath. The theme recalls a sterling tale of justice for all; one which beckons to be told. In the 1930’s a motion picture was Hollywood made of the “Tryal of William Penn, Gentleman, Esq., and William Mead, Draper.” That was the case title. The movie title is a blank to me; excuse the senior moment. Importantly, from the trial all members of juries take protection. The Month and year was September 1670, A.D., Charles II. Juror solidarity realized a golden principle of Jury Nullification. Since the Penn-Mead trial it is counted a fundamental right of a jury to decide a verdict according to its own conscience. The Penn-Mead trial firmly enshrined the jury fundamental into the British constitutional system, from whence it spread. Simply, the jury refused to convict Penn and Mead, despite being ordered to by the judge. The jury considered that the law in question was morally wrong and felt the defendants were unfairly treated. Which courageous stance bespoke an irony. The judge followed declared the jury in contempt of court and threatened to detain them without food or water until they delivered the verdict he pointedly wanted. For nine weeks a standoff sustained in which the jury refused to cave in, which time some of them were sent to Newgate Prison. Finally, the High Court of Common Pleas intervened and forced the trial judge to accept the jury’s verdict to release the defendants. William Penn and William Mead wrote a pamphlet about their courtroom ordeal. The men chronicled their trial and the protection the trial won for jurors; protection from willful Judges, who might threaten jurors to produce a certain decision. Several of the leading jurors were put into a loathsome jail cell. Co-authors, the Williams - Penn and Mead, began their pamphlet: “Well knowing, how industrious some will be, to mis-represent this Trial to the disadvantage of the cause and prisoners, it was thought requisite…” End quote: The case precedent, retold today, comes to readers from the first person memory of William Penn and William Mead. The case holds just fame among circles of jurist prudence, but it conditions dim-in popular minds. Shhh…. Governor Penn wishes to speak: William Penn speaking: “Excuse a necessary upfront pox-ing of a vanity. The case I am about tout has me listed as “Gentleman, Esq.” Once I became Quaker I ceased to affix my professional training. I insert, Quakers disdained all but one title: Doctor. Nor did Quakers, of better born happenstance - myself included - affix knit close the rank, “Gentleman.” “In my lifetime class ranking was taken seriously: “A Gentleman is a Gentleman, is always a Gentleman…” Anyone who chose to forsake his Gentle born class was a Traitor. As a Quaker I did not see it that way. When I was put on trial, however, I put the court in an awkward position, which awkwardness they simply ignored. Hence I was listed ‘Gentleman, Esq.’ It was counted too much an embarrassment for one of the better born, to be publically acknowledged a traitor to his class.” “To me, to be so styled, it was an embarrassment in the reverse. Now you know.” “It would be presumptuous to assume all readers are informed about me. Let me digress with a dressing of some basic William Penn facts.” “I was well born in 1644 the elder son of Admiral Sir William Penn.” “At age ten I experienced an awareness of a power Greater than myself. In after years I heard an early Quaker, Thomas Loe, witness his faith and express that Quakers believe in a personal relationship with God. It resonated.” “I became a Quaker in the 1660’s.” “Quaker founder George Fox shared with me is vision of a Quaker American settlement, east side opposite West Jersey, in a thinly settled area, which later realized into Pennsylvania.” “I earned my Proprietorship for Pennsylvania in 1681; I made landfall at Chester in 1682. I returned to England in 1684. Of cause of forced pause, I did not return until 1699. Between time I wrote a pamphlet which promoted a congress of member European nations, which delegate body would be devoted to promoting stability, general rise, and be a forum for sustaining understanding and sublime peace. It was never forgotten, but in my lifetime it was not realized.” “1n 1699 / 1700 I worked with others to fashion a charter issued in 1701. Fondness attached and it became famous as the Charter Privileges. It too had future influence beyond the immediate. My last missive touched this topic.” “Much happened after my 1701 return to England, but I simply note that I left this Earthly coil in 1718.” “Here, I return to focus, 1670. I was jailed with William Mead. We were targeted: because we witnessed publicly Quaker tenets of a personal God. William Mead ought to speak for himself.” William Mead speaking: “I speak little here as I did at my trial. I was a seller of linens and while Quakerism quickened my heart, a command of law was out of my ken. Gainsay the Lord well provided for me. My co-defendant was learned enough in law for the both of us. Were it not for my arrest and trial, in a court benchmark case, I would be no more singular than any who bore the name of Mead. Better back, I say, to William Penn.” W.P.: “Yes, into my pen sketch I could have put my law studies. My input, however, was no great leap of authority of law beyond a common Englishman’s grasp. Our arrest was based of prejudice against Dissenters. By implication the issue was right of personal conscience. I made the issue larger than mere a matter of not being an obedient Anglican.” “The judge retorted my press of the same question was insolence and blather. He distanced the matter of specific charge and implied it was a ploy to delay and confuse. Hard fast: The jury should not be put off from the swift delivery of a determination of ‘guilt.’ This the jury could-not – would-not do. The jury persisted. Week on week the case dragged sensational.” “The jury refused to amend and yield. Bench threats and jury box refusals stamped the case notorious. Centuries later this made for great flicker movie. Incidentally, I once saw the film and almost wished I could have claimed the same attire, which was hardly dress down Quaker.” “In 1670 real time, I profess, the real was surreal. Pure solidarity of the jury, however, won our freedom. The aftermath precedent, however, was glorious.” “Since the jury would not delivery a guilty verdict, we pair Williams were let free. More than specific case issue involved we two. Yes, the law charged against us related to a matter that ought to be individual conscious decided, which many would wish not dictated by government.” “But in a larger sense our case also dealt with what constituted a jury among peers. If a judge could threaten a jury to deliver a wanted charge the institution of peer jury would be in perpetual jeopardy to the bullying of a rogue judge.” “In colonial times, each county claimed a county court house. The 1724 erected court house in Chester is the oldest continuously used government building in Pennsylvania. In the early 1970’s President Richard Nixon visited the court house on Law Day. The decision of honor was based on the fact the Chester Court House was deemed the oldest continuously used government building in the nation. “Of sacred tradition one or more court cases use the site every year for judicial purposes. I frequent Chester and when in town I like to pause and sit in a particular seat on a particular bench.” “Your Governor thanks you for listening”. I close. William Penn This file is located at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/philadelphia/bios/penn-w3.txt