Editing Charter of Pennsylvania (section)

== Later History ==

The charter remained the legal foundation of Pennsylvania's existence until the American Revolution. William Penn died in 1718, and the proprietorship passed to his sons John and Thomas Penn, who administered the colony with less idealism than their father. The Penn family continued to own Pennsylvania—and to profit from land sales—until the Revolution, when the new state government abolished proprietary ownership. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania paid the Penn heirs £130,000 in compensation, ending the arrangement that had begun with Charles II's grant nearly a century earlier.<ref name="illick"/>

The original charter document has survived and is preserved in the collections of the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg. Written on vellum in formal legal script, the charter bears the Great Seal of England and the signature of Charles II. It stands as one of the most important founding documents in American history, the legal instrument that created Pennsylvania and made possible the development of Philadelphia. The principles of religious freedom and representative government that Penn sought to implement through the charter influenced the broader development of American political thought, contributing to the revolutionary ideals that would be articulated in Philadelphia a century later.<ref name="archives">{{cite web |url=https://www.phmc.pa.gov/Archives |title=Pennsylvania State Archives |publisher=Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |access-date=December 29, 2025}}</ref>