Pennsylvania Frame of Government

Timeline

1. 1682Philadelphia and the Province of Pennsylvania · PennsylvaniaActing under Charles II's charter, Penn issued the Frame of Government in 1682, calling it a 'charter of liberties': freemen elected the council and assembly, and landowners could stand for office; those acknowledging God could worship freely and could not be compelled to support a particular clergy; defendants could plead their own case, with twelve neighbors as jurors. In the two-chamber structure the council drafted and the assembly could only pass or reject, and with the proprietor's veto it was soon criticized by settlers as impractical.
2. 1683Philadelphia · PhiladelphiaThe first Frame failed after a year of operation, as the assembly refused to accept the division of powers proposed by the proprietors. In 1683 Penn and colonial representatives agreed on a new Frame, reducing the council's size and adjusting the relationship between the two chambers so that the representative mechanism better matched settlers' expectations. This text served as the operating charter for the following decade, but the proprietor's veto and the allocation of initiative rights remained focal points of conflict.
3. 1696Philadelphia · PhiladelphiaWhile Penn remained long in England, his cousin Deputy Governor William Markham pushed through a new Frame in 1696, granting the lower house greater initiative rights in response to Quaker elites' dissatisfaction with proprietary rule. Penn himself did not endorse all the changes. After he returned to Philadelphia in 1699, both Frames coexisted, and pressure from the possible royal revocation of proprietary rights forced all parties to seek a more stable fundamental law.
4. 1701–1776Philadelphia · PhiladelphiaOn October 28, 1701, before departing to defend proprietary rights in England, Penn accepted the assembly's Charter of Privileges: legislation became unicameral, with the council withdrawing from legislation; the assembly gained parliamentary privileges including drafting bills, choosing officers, appointing committees, judging members' qualifications, and impeachment; liberty of conscience was again confirmed as a permanent clause. The charter lasted until 1776, when it was replaced by the Pennsylvania state constitution of the independence era, and its influence on bills of rights and unicameral experiments has been discussed by later constitutional historians.