Who would have guessed, three centuries ago, that William Penn's "greene" province and "countrie towne" on the Delaware would become the keystone of American industrialization and the source of some of the nation's most important business institutions?
Penn's colony was a haven of toleration for people of many origins and beliefs; later, the state of Pennsylvania was a place where human talents and natural resources converged to make possible an affluent industrial society. Both the freedom and the wealth are treasured legacies of the state to the nation.