ed from among the hardy Scottish Highlanders and the veterans of
some German regiments. Besides being the advance guard of civilization
in the Indian country, the colony was threatened with the rival claims
of the Spaniards in Florida, the boundaries of whose territory were very
vague and uncertain. Happily for Georgia, Mr. Oglethorpe, the original
founder of the settlement, succeeded in establishing a lasting
friendship with the powerful Creek Indians, the natives of the country;
but the Spaniards never ceased to alarm and threaten the colony till
British arms had won the whole Atlantic coast. Owing to this
disadvantage, and still more to certain humane restrictions upon the
Indian trade,[365] no great influx of population took place until 1763,
when peace restored confidence, and men and money were freely introduced
from England.

One of the most important of the great American states that declared
their independence in 1783, was, with the exception of Georgia, the
latest in its origin. Under the wise and gentle influence of the
founders, however, it progressed more rapidly than any other. When time
and reflection had cooled the ardor and softened the fanaticism of the
early Quakers, the sect attracted general and just admiration by the
mild and persevering philanthropy of its most distinguished members. The
pure benevolence and patient courage of William Penn was a tower of
strength to this new creed; well born, and enjoying a competent
fortune, he possessed the means as well as the will powerfully to aid in
its advancement. He endured with patience, but with unflinching
constancy, a continual series of legal persecutions, and even the anger
of his father, until the unspotted integrity of his life and his
practical wisdom at length triumphed over prejudice and hostility, and
he was allowed the privilege of pleading before the British Parliament
in the cause of his oppressed brethren.

William Penn inherited from his father a claim against the government
for L16,000, which King Charles gladly paid by assigning to him the
territory in the New World now called Pennsylvania,[367] in honor of the
first proprietor.[368] This was a large and fertile expanse of inland
country partly taken from New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. It was
included between the 40th and 43d degrees of latitude, and bounded on
the east by the Delaware River. The enlightened and benevolent
proprietor bestowed upon the new state a Constitution that