The Free Society of Traders was a company of merchants, landowners, and personal associates of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

who were granted special concessions in order to direct the economy of what was at the time a young colony. Most were

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

merchants from London and Dublin. It was originally a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

launched in London in 1681 by Nicholas More, James Claypoole, and Philip Ford, after Penn received his Royal charter from Charles II that March. Some of the concessions made to these men in order to attract financial support, Penn offered early (100) investors a bonus of 5,000 acres each, plus exclusive rights to property in the capital city. Said property was to be meted out as property

dividends A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...

in proportion to their country land at an annual 2% interest in their initial purchase. Penn also fashioned a rudimentary form of own government from the Traders' members. Such offers were extended to entice early colonizers.Nash, Gary B
"The Free Society of Traders and the Early Politics of Pennsylvania."
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 89.2 (1965): 147-173.

Society Hill Society Hill is a historic neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 6,215 . Settled in the early 1680s, Society Hill is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Philadelphia.The Center ...

, a neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, is named after the Free Society of Traders, which had its offices at Front Street on the hill above Dock Creek.

References

Chartered companies Trading companies of the United States Companies based in Philadelphia {{US-company-stub