Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit:

SEAL.

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the fourteenth day of January, in the fifty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1829,

THOMAS F. GORDON,

of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, to wit:

"The History of Pennsylvania, from its discovery by Europeans to the Declaration of Independence in 1776. By Thomas F. Gordon."

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intituled, "An act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, “An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned," and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

PREFACE.

In the following pages, an attempt has been made to present a full and accurate history of the colony of Pennsylvania, from its discovery by Europeans to the declaration of independence.

The subject is wanting, perhaps, in that vivid interest which arises from frequent vicissitudes-the result of violent concussions in physical and moral nature. Pennsylvania was founded by deeds of peace, and, during many years, was directed by a philanthropic spirit, and sound principles of common sense, which extinguished or controlled those passions which create the subjects of ordinary historical interest. Her annals, during that period, contain little else than the successful efforts of a peaceful people to improve their private fortunes and their political happiness. Their progress in the latter only is matter for history. But, as their efforts were confined to the narrow theatre of an obscure province, and consisted of long and abstruse discussions, they have slight attractions for ordinary readers, and impose on the historian. scarce any other duty than that of accurate and perspicuous narration. In the performance of that duty a due mesne has been sought; avoiding, on the one hand, an extreme of generalization, productive of vagueness and dissatisfaction, and on the other, that minuteness of detail which wearies and disgusts. Still it may be objected, that the extracts from the legislative journals are occasionally too full. But their propriety will, perhaps, be admitted, when it is considered that the principal arena of public action was the legislative hall; and that in such details alone are to be found the sources of the public measures of the province, and the character of her most distinguished citizens.