Philadelphia, just laid out as the capital city, and soon after his arrival, summoned a General Assembly, called for uniting Delaware with Pennsylvania, and created the first three Pennsylvania counties of Bucks, Chester, and Philadelphia.

1682 Delaware Colony. James, The Duke of York, transferred ownership of the Delaware Colony to English Quaker William Penn. The “Lower Counties on Delaware” remained part of Pennsylvania until their declaration of independence in 1775.

1685 England. After the death of Charles II, who died without issue, his brother, the Duke of York, became King James II. Parliament was suspicious of his religious beliefs, thought he was too tolerant with Catholics, and he was disposed in 1688. His daughter, Mary, was placed on the throne, and James fled to France, where he lived out hislife and died in 1701.

1688. American colonies that had been given considerable religious tolerance after the Civil War in England, were now forced to purge Catholics from political office. The colony impacted the most by the edict was Maryland, founded by the Catholic Calvert family. Maryland was required to remove any Catholics from any county or provincial public office.

1689 England. Mary, daughter of James II, had married her first cousin, William of Orange, the sovereign of Holland. They were both staunch and outspoken protestants. In keeping with the anti-Catholic mind-set of the time, Parliament invited the two of them to become joint monarchs of England in 1689. During the reign of William III and Mary II, the American colonies grew rapidly, and the triangular trade route between the