Pennsylvania - Timeline (Expand All)
1681: King Charles II of England grants William Penn a charter to land in America he names Pennsylvania; Penn and his heirs are "true and absolute Proprietaries."
1682: William Penn convenes a treaty council with the Delaware Indians near Philadelphia to purchase land; twelve Indian leaders (sachems) signed the treaty. [Hide Quote]
The English and they [Delawares] live very peaceably, by reason the English satisfies them for their Land. (Steven Craig Harper, "Promised Land: The Holy Experiment and the Walking Purchase." Ph.D. Dissertation. Lehigh University, 2001: 41)
We meet on the broad pathway of good faith and good will; no advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be open-ness and love. (William Penn's speech to Indians on this occasion.)
1701: William Penn holds a council in Philadelphia to set up a treaty with the Conestogas, Shawnees, and Conoys to confirm friendship, trade agreements, and sale to the province of lands on the lower Susquehanna River.
1718: William Penn dies after years of ill health, and the proprietorship of Pennsylvania eventually is handed down to Thomas and John Penn.
1720: Delawares become increasingly alarmed and agitated by the loss of their lands to settlers to whom land speculators have sold properties to which they had no clear title. [Display Quote]
1732: Six Nations Indians meet with Thomas Penn in Philadelphia; through an interpreter (German colonist Conrad Weiser), he bargains for more land.
1737: Thomas and John Penn formulate the Walking Purchase, a duplicitous swindle whereby the province acquires much more territory in the Delaware Valley than the Indians intended to grant; angry Delawares later dubbed this Purchase "ye Running Walk." (see essay by Elsie Hamel) [Display Quote]
1742: The Penns meet with Six Nations tribes to confirm the sale of Delaware territory; Indians feel cheated and abused when Pennsylvania government tells them to "remove either over to Jersey or beyond the hills."
1762: Treaty at Easton formally settles Delaware complaints about the Walking Purchase
