Editing William Penn (section)

== Later Years and Legacy ==

Penn's later years were marked by financial difficulties and personal tragedy. He spent only about four years total in Pennsylvania (1682-1684 and 1699-1701), spending most of his life in England dealing with colonial administration, legal disputes, and creditors. Poor investments and the dishonesty of his financial agent left Penn deeply in debt, and he was imprisoned for debt in 1708. He suffered a series of strokes beginning in 1712 that left him incapacitated, and he died on July 30, 1718, at his estate in Buckinghamshire, England. His wife Hannah administered the colony until her own death, after which it passed to Penn's sons, who proved less idealistic stewards of their father's vision.<ref name="dunn"/>

Penn's legacy in Philadelphia is inescapable. His statue atop City Hall, installed in 1894, stands 548 feet above street level—for decades the highest point in the city, as a "gentlemen's agreement" prevented any building from exceeding the statue's height. (This informal rule was broken in 1987 with the construction of One Liberty Place.) Penn's [[Philadelphia's Grid Plan|grid street plan]] still defines Center City, and his [[Five Public Squares|five squares]] remain public parks as he intended. The principles of religious freedom and democratic governance that Penn championed influenced the development of American political thought, and the Declaration of Independence and Constitution drafted in Philadelphia owe much to the traditions Penn established. Whatever his personal failings and the ultimate failure of his Native American policies, William Penn created a city and a tradition of liberty that have endured for more than three centuries.<ref name="weigley"/>