"Governments, like Clocks": A Contextualization of William Penn's Horological Simile

Abstract: In his 1682 Frame , in which he outlined his vision for Pennsylvania's government, William Penn wrote that " Governments , like Clocks, go from the motion Men give them." The simile has been occasionally acknowledged by scholars, but no one has considered it closely. An attentive analysis of the passage, though, reveals that it meaningfully related to both republican notions of responsible governance and relevant developments in horology, which had recently yielded increasingly accurate timepieces and a nascent literature recommending specific strategies for regular maintenance in response to changing conditions. Penn's simile thus united two discourses in a deliberate manner that illuminates his moderate republicanism, embodies his interest in appealing to wealthy investors, and suggests that he anticipated that the Pennsylvania government would require periodic interventions.