Lower Counties resented political domination by the Quaker newcomers, and they feared the economic decline of their downriver ports as Philadelphia became the regional entrepôt. More vulnerable to French and pirate attacks by sea, the Lower Counties also demanded defense appropriations to arm their militia and strengthen their coastal fortifications. But the Quaker assemblymen balked, for their constituents were more securely located upriver, committed to pacifism, and determined to minimize their taxes. Unable to reconcile the two regions, Penn consented to their division in 1704 into the
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