Hannah Callowhill Penn Becomes Governor

After William Penn's death in 1718, Hannah Callowhill Penn inherited his estates and the responsibilities of colonial stewardship, becoming governor. She was governor for 12 years and is the only female ever to hold the role.

People involved

• Hannah Callowhill Penn
• William Penn

When this happened

Hannah Callowhill Penn Becomes Governor occurred in 1718–1726, during the colonial period period of American history. The event spanned from 1718 to 1726.

Where this happened

Hannah Callowhill Penn Becomes Governor took place in Delaware. Explore the full history of Delaware and primary source records from this era.

European colonization of North America accelerated after 1600, with England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands establishing competing settlements along the Atlantic coast, the St. Lawrence River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mississippi Valley. The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) struggled with starvation and conflict; the Plymouth colony (1620) and the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630) followed. By the mid-1700s, thirteen English colonies stretched along the Atlantic seaboard, governed through a mix of royal charters, proprietary grants, and elected assemblies. The colonial economy depended on tobacco in Virginia and Maryland, rice and indigo in the Carolinas, and maritime trade in New England — all increasingly reliant on enslaved African labor after 1619. Conflict with Indigenous peoples over land was continuous, punctuated by major wars including King Philip's War (1675–1676) in New England and the Yamasee War (1715–1717) in the South. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of the global Seven Years' War, ended French power in North America and left Britain deeply in debt — triggering the taxation disputes that would lead to revolution.

Content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source: Wikipedia: English Pennsylvania.