Speech #620191057

The national importance of the commemoration of that settlementSays exGov. Pennypacker. president of the Pennsylvania Historical Societyconsists not alone in the fact that there. In 1683. was the beginning of that vast immigration of Germans to North America which bad so great an influence upon our civilization. nor upon the further fact that there. in 1688. began the struggle against slavery in this country. In 1523 a sect arose in Germany which taught the doctrine of the separation of church and state and that there was no authority upon the part of the state to control questions of belief. Its doctrine. promulgated over Europe. led to the establishment 6f the Quakers in England and to the settlement of two American coloniesRhode Island and Pennsylvaniaand became the foundation stone of the National Constitution and Goverlnent.