Quaker ideals of religious freedom attract waves of immigrants from Ireland and Germany to Pennsylvania, but they cannot settle on land that has not been formally acquired through treaty from the Lenape.

In Episode 2, pressure builds on the Penn family as debt mounts and demand for expansion grows. William Penn’s original vision required fair treaties with Indigenous communities, but Penn’s sons, Thomas, Richard and John Penn, face debt and difficult choices. The future of Philadelphia, North America’s fastest growing city, lies in the balance.

At the center of it all is power broker James Logan. As he helps guide rising figures like Benjamin Franklin and John Bartram, he also becomes deeply involved in the colony’s push for land, industry and wealth. His authority is challenged by the revolt of an enslaved man, Sampson.

For the Lenape, land is meant to be shared. For Europeans, it becomes something to be owned. That difference leads Logan to attempt to defraud Lenape sachems (leaders), an act of dispossession we know as the Walking Purchase, which expands the colony’s developable land by the size of Rhode Island. Lenape sachem Teedyuscung authors a rebellion as Pennsylvania explodes into the violence of the French and Indian War.

This episode explores how ambition, economics and competing worldviews helped define the future of Philadelphia and the foundations of American democracy. Featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Inga Saffron, music legend Kenny Gamble, artist Aislinn Pentecost-Farren and Lenape leader Jeremy Johnson.

Director: Andrew Ferrett

Writer: Nathaniel Popkin

Executive Producer: Sam Katz

Producers: Wendy Cox, Andrew Ferrett, Jonathan Kohl, Nathaniel Popkin, Eva Roben

Episode Teleplay: Nathaniel Popkin, Andrew Ferrett

Episode Editor: Jonathan Kohl

Director of Photography: Paul Van Haute

Narrator: Michael Boatman

Music: Daniel Slatkin