William Penn (October 14, 1644 – July 30, 1718) was an English preacher, Quaker leader, and founder of Pennsylvania whose ministry bridged spiritual conviction with social reform, shaping early American religious liberty. Born in London near the Tower to Admiral Sir William Penn and Margaret Jasper, a Dutch merchant’s daughter, he grew up privileged but rebellious, expelled from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1662 for criticizing Anglican formalism. Sent to Europe by his father, he studied at a Huguenot academy in Saumur, France, and managed family estates in Ireland, where, at 22 in 1667, he attended a Quaker meeting in Cork and converted under Thomas Loe’s preaching, arrested soon after for nonconformity. This marked his shift from law studies at Lincoln’s Inn to a life of faith, rejecting his father’s naval ambitions. Penn’s preaching career began with his first tract, The Sandy Foundation Shaken (1668), landing him in the Tower of London for eight months over its anti-Trinitarian leanings—penning No Cross, No Crown (1669) in captivity. Released in 1669, he preached across England, Ireland, Holland, and Germany, often in homes or fields, facing 15 imprisonments by 1671 for defying the Conventicle Act. His 1670 trial with William Mead established jury rights in English law, galvanizing his advocacy for toleration. In 1681, King Charles II granted him Pennsylvania to settle a £16,000 debt, where Penn founded a “holy experiment” in 1682, preaching to settlers, Quakers, and Lenape Indians, negotiating treaties like the 1682 Shackamaxon agreement. His Frame of Government (1682) ensured religious freedom, drawing thousands to his colony.