William Penn, the Englishman who invented the European Parliament

William Penn was granted ownership by Charles II, of a vast territory south of New York in 1681. His father, Admiral William Penn, Sr., had been a valuable servant of the king, and the king celebrated his memory by baptizing those possessions Pennsylvania, 'Penn's woods'. In the intent of William, Jr., it would be a refuge not only for the followers of his confession persecuted in Britain, but for all oppressed religious minorities in Europe. Penn had gone over there, laying the foundation for a harmonious coexistence also with the native peoples. Penn took a major step forward being not only in favour of peace, but also searching out ways of resolving conflicts through nonviolent means. Although intertwined with bloody dynastic events, the English Parliament had frequently offered a counterweight to sovereign power. If parliamentary control had worked in Britain and promised to do so in the newborn federative system of the Netherlands, why could it not work for the whole of Europe?