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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 8, 2024 11:35 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Bryan Cutler |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | William Penn Statue |
| Members, In the near future, I plan to introduce a resolution honoring the life and accomplishments of William Penn and encouraging the Biden administration and National Park Service to immediately halt their announced plans to permanently remove Penn’s statue from Welcome Park in Philadelphia as part of an effort to make the park more inclusive. Welcome Park is built on the site of William Penn’s home and is named after the ship that brought him to the place that would be known as Pennsylvania – “Penn’s Woods”. What people may forget about Penn is that he was, by the standards of his day, radically inclusive. The Penn Treaty was historic. Not just in its occurrence, but in the mutual respect shown between Penn and Native tribes. As Voltaire so aptly put it, the Penn Treaty was the only treaty with Native Americans ‘never sworn to or broken.’ In fact, it was Penn’s commitment to the Quaker principle of pacifism that led to a long and lasting peace between Native Americans and settlers in Pennsylvania. While the National Park Service has announced plans to permanently remove Penn’s statue from Welcome Park, I believe the Pennsylvania House of Representatives — as the caretakers of Penn’s legacy of creating this august and historic body with the Provincial Assembly – should speak with one voice in opposition to this move and set the record straight on the legacy of William Penn. I hope you will join me in sponsoring this important resolution. |