William Penn provides his interesting perspecitve on how the government of Pennsylvania should function. He begins by stating that god has given the power tand ability to men to justly rule. He believes that if a man can love and live his life with intergrity then just laws will have no power over him because he will already be living by those laws. Penn clarifys by stating that "every soul shall be subject to higher powers, for there is no power but of god." He thinks that mankind only have need for higher power to recieve the consequeces of their choices and to continue living those just laws; which are also the reasons that men need a government over them. However, Penn also states that a government cannot have to much power of they would begin to abuse that power that has been given to them. A government must set a frame of laws that the people must obey and beneath those laws he believes that the people should be free to make their own choices. He states that "liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery."
Penn had a great hope in the people of Pennsylvania. Through his writing I felt the great compassion and trust that he had in the people around him. He believed that as long as theycontinued to live by those good virtues that god told them to live by, their government would be successful and their nation would be a peacful place. At the same time he did caution the people on the mistakes that could still be made. He expressed that if the people continued to be good the government, but if one began making decisions that were against the laws made by god then it would result in a corrupt society.
Your text analysis has great information to learn about William Penn’s ideas about the frame of the government. You are right when I read the document, I noticed that Penn was very considerate and trustful individual who wanted to make life better for colonists. William Penn was a religious person who wanted to build government with holy laws. As you said, when a men lives by righteous ways, then the law has no power on him because he is already abiding to the laws. I think this document was historical significance because it was first step into democracy and freedom of religion within the colony of Pennsylvania. Overall great job with T.A. - very interesting topic to learn
ReplyDeleteThis analysis was very well written and I feel that all of Penn's ideas were conveyed nicely.
ReplyDeleteOnto Penn, I especially liked him for saying the bit about obedience and liberty because it really managed to open my eyes to the fine lines that these new comers on their own were dealing with. I couldn't imagine being out on my own new colony with all sorts of people that disagree and have no set rules for government. I like the fact that Penn touches on principals that we still have in use today, such as the boundries that must be set to establish no one person or group of people with too much power. I do disagree with the fact that he included religion into the government though, even though this was not out of the ordinary for the time. I feel this may be one of the key places he went wrong.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteGood job on your Text Analysis. I like how you said in your Analysis that William Penn believed that if people lived by gods laws they would be successful in their goverment and also have peace. I liked how William Penn had so much faith in god and he trusted god. He was very religious and he did want to make life better for colonist by just having faith in god. I did like how he said that if the colonist could follow the goverment laws that they should try to follow gods laws as well. Very well writin I liked how you wrote your Analsis.
Great job on the analysis. William Penn did concieve a pretty clear idea on what Government was to the people, the people to Government, and how the order of things should be. God gave men power along with integrity to use it wisely. Fleshly desires corrupted this balance, which put mans self before his duties. Laws were created for those who needed them; those who were “disobedient and ungodly”, and were not meant for those who lived right. Those who refuse laws are refusing God; since God gave governments power over man, the powers given is in the same. Government is as complex as religion, with its own rules and regulations, as well as a God per se. Governments created laws to scare those who disobey those ordained with powers, yet blesses those who live by them. It does not cure the cause of injustice, it mearly puts those accountable for the effects. Men choose desire over knowledge and understanding which then affects their reasoning and obligations.Abuse of ordained powers occurs when the agenda of government exceeds the system of the people checking government and vice versa. Governement is to serve the people that serve itself. Good men should be the heads of Governemnt or the corruption of the government as a whole will be tainted and tarnished. If those who uphold the laws are righteous, then so shall the government for which they serve.The government has been given power to serve people, to the best of its ability. Government holds power that the people can not, and therefor are administered guidance, and persuaded to obedience. This article really showed how important role religion played upon society during this era, how it affected everything they were. I found that we had similar interpretations of this reading; good job!
ReplyDeleteEmily- Wow! Your Text Analysis is great. You definitely made perfect sense out of what John Penn’s views of law abiding citizens and God abiding citizens meant to him. I personally thought his view on the entire thing was very interesting and makes sense to me. I enjoyed that you inserted his quote “Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.” The quote is genius. I also agree with when you described the way Penn interacted with the people in Pennsylvania “compassion and trust”, those words are exactly how I would describe how Penn acted toward people. Too bad there aren’t many people like him in the government now. Good job, again!
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was very well written and I agree very highly with some of your thoughts. I thought Penn, too was very mindful of the people he was writing about and took into great consideration his comments about how the law wasn't made for the righteous man but for those that were ungodly and disobedient and for those that were basically without conscience and remorse, I think Penn felt that in his letter he was speaking to those that were wholly good and that they needed help for those that weren't and that help could be provided by the government and the laws. He also stated, to support that statement, that the government is not just about laws and making people obey them and that to have a successful government there has to be good men running it. I very much agree with the fact that the government is in part like a religion in and of itself although I do not agree with bringing religion into the government if that makes any sense. I think that because the subject of religion is left up to the interpretation of man, there is too much "wiggle" room that allows for the interpretation of laws.
ReplyDeleteA job well done with your analysis. I think that Penn was a very righteous man. He strongly believed in God and that "there is no power but of God." I think that the Frame and the Laws of Penn are straight forward. Penn wanted the lives of people living in Pennsylvania to be better. He was indeed a very compassionate man. One of my favorite quotes from the text is "liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery." I agree with you about seeing the good side of people. Though it's hard sometimes to see the good side of a person if you've only seen the bad. I gave up on some people because I don't see any changes or efforts of changing with them. Surprisingly, I enjoyed reading this text. It's hard for me to enjoy reading documents like this. I tend to read some parts and then go back to it later.
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I agree with you about there aren't many people like Penn. The government back from where I'm from is loaded with corrupted leaders. Name any dirty deed in the book and best believe they've done it.
I appreciated your analysis of this document. I thought it was interesting how Penn stated "the law was added because of transgression:"In another place." To which he was reffering to The Garden of Eden and Adam defying Gods command and eating the apple thus causing evil and corruption to enter the world. One might wonder if Adam hadnt gone against God's will would there be a need for laws and government to this day? Nether the less, Penn was extremely religious. He thought that most people were out to do the right thing however in regards to laws, they had to be set to "first, terrify evil doers:secondly, to cherish those that do well. When Penn states that rules were made for the disobedient man, and not for the righteous I believe that he means the rules are for everyone to obey, but that the "righteous" are already living that way and the "disobedient" people (murders,sinners,ect) have to be accountable for breaking the laws. I think you gave a good explination when you stated that the government sets the laws and the people must obey these laws, however Penn understood people must be free to make their own choices. It was interesting to me also that Penn compared government to being a part of religion. I think he truly cared about his position of leadership. I enjoyed reading this document, I had to read it quite a few times to get the full meaning, not to mention I had computer issues so my first three times of trying to post a response was deleted for some reason, but I will take that as a positive in that I was able to learn more every time I started over.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your text analysis this was very well written summing up what William Penn was writing about and his feelings towards this topic. When reading the document I realized that Penn was a person that wanted what's best for the people. In his point of view he was going to make laws that gave power to the people but not too much power so then they wouldn't misuse it in a bad way. I like the quote you quoted Penn "liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery." Penn was a smart man and all of his ideas are used to this day. It is very interesting how Penn managed to fit in religion in his laws and said "if one began making decisions that were against the laws made by God then it would result in a corrupt society. I agree with all of Penn's ideas and with religion involved in his laws I think his laws were the best at the time that lead to democracy.
ReplyDeleteThe “Frame of government of Pennsylvania,” shows how William Penn displayed how Pennsylvania’s government should function. And I believe you did a good job writing how it should have been displayed. I read quite a bit to understand it. Your paper was well written, so it made it easier for me to understand the text even more. I also felt the compassion he had towards Pennsylvania. How he connected the government with Pennsylvania was so heart warming to me. His use of words were so good such as, “he did not only qualify him with skill and power, but with integrity to use them justly.” I think this applies to all of us too. God has given us skill and power but we don’t know how to use them justly. Therefore the power that was given to us has been took from upon us. I feel that he’s trying to say that god has given us these skills and powers and were just sitting around and not doing anything to help change things such as the government of Pennsylvania.
ReplyDeleteGreat conversation guys!
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