Penn And The Delaware example essay topic

Penn was born in London on October 24, 1644, the son of Admiral Sir William Penn. Despite high social position and an excellent education, he shocked his upper-class associates by his conversion to the beliefs of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, then a persecuted sect. He used his inherited wealth and rank to benefit and protect his fellow believers. Despite the unpopularity of his religion, he was socially acceptable in the king's court because he was trusted by the Duke of York, later King James II.

King Charles II owed William Penn lb 16,000, money that Admiral Penn had lent him. Seeking a haven in the New World for persecuted Friends, Penn asked the King to grant him land in the territory between Lord Baltimore's province of Maryland and the Duke of York's province of New York. With the Duke's support, Penn's petition was granted. The King signed the Charter of Pennsylvania on March 4, 1681, and it was officially proclaimed on April 2. The King named the new colony in honor of William Penn's father. It was to include the land between the 39th and 42nd degrees of north latitude and from the Delaware River westward for five degrees of longitude.

Other provisions assured its people the protection of English laws and kept it subject to the government in England to a certain degree. Provincial laws could be annulled by the King. In 1682, the Duke of York deeded to Penn his claim to the three lower counties on the Delaware, which are now the state of Delaware. Although William Penn was granted all the land in Pennsylvania by the King, he and his heirs chose not to grant or settle any part of it without first buying the claims of Indians who lived there. In this manner, all of Pennsylvania except the northwestern third was purchased by 1768. The Commonwealth bought the Six Nations' claims to the remainder of the land in 1784 and 1789, and the claims of the Delawares and Wyandot's in 1785.

The defeat of the French and Indian War alliance by 1760, the withdrawal of the French, the crushing of Chief Pontiac's Indian alliance in 1764, and the failure of all attempts by Indians and colonists to live side by side led the Indians to migrate westward, gradually leaving Pennsylvania. Penn's relationship with Native Americans should be viewed in specific manner. I mean by this simply that there was neither uniform 'white' colonist nor 'standard Indian'. Instead, there existed numerous tribes, with complex inter and cross tribal affiliations, as well as colonists from several different countries all vying power. Once Penn received his charter, he realized that much of the land he wanted was held by Indians who would expect payment in exchange for a quitclaim to vacate the territory.

The tribe he would have to deal with most often was the Delaware (Leni Le nape), who had never been defeated militarily by the Swedes or the Dutch. Penn, not surprisingly, had no military ambitions; he even refused to fortify Philadelphia. As such, the only practice and legal way to get their land and secure their friendship was the treaty. The treaty also demonstrated Penn's claim to the land to his investors, who would have been much less interested in the venture without clear title. And so, Penn and his agents began the process of buying land from its Native 'holders'. These holders were various Delaware chiefs, and not as legend has it the Iroquois.

Despite the fact that this (mostly) New York State Confederacy of the 'Five Nations' had defeated the Delaware, they did not have the power the sell the land. What is less assuredly myth or fact is whether Penn ever signed a 'Great Treaty' in 1682 at the village of Shackamaxon. As we have seen, for many Americans (and non-Americans such as Voltaire) this deed proved the most inspiring 'event' of Penn's life. We do know that Penn did buy much land, so must have made at least one such agreement, instituting what was known in Indian terminology as a 'chain of friendship'. Moreover, there do exist several references to this chain being made between Penn and the Delaware.

Penn paid a total of 1200 pounds for the land, which though a large sum, was probably fair for both sides. Penn took the advice of Dutch and Swedish colonists who had already set some parameters for treaty agreements. These earlier settlers provided invaluable assistance in delineating who to contact, and who to pay for the land. On the other side of the 'covenant chain', the Delaware had many years of negotiating such treaties, and were ready to sell their land to Penn, on their terms. Though Penn was generally fair in his purchases, he also had to be a shrewd businessman, especially as he competed with Lord Baltimore for territorial rights. He out-maneuvered Maryland agents in his purchases, thus insuring that his future city would not be largely subsumed by its southern neighbor.

Penn had competitors to the North as well. In addition, any northern land transactions meant tangling with New York State for land, and perhaps more importantly, trading rights with the Iroquois Confederacy. The treaty of 1701 is both the first full treaty text that remains extant (there exist parts of earlier ones), and the last agreement brokered directly by Penn rather than his agents. As he had done before, Penn rewarded 'his' Indians. His policies helped make Pennsylvania, as Penn's successors were much less fair and scrupulous in dealing with the Indians. By 1701, Penn had returned to England for good, trying to administer to his declining fortunes at home, as well as to his colony, until he had a debilitating stroke in 1712.

His legacy in dealing with the Indians was much more than ephemeral though, despite the fact that his heirs to the colony were much less fair than was its founder. The Iroquois rebuilt their empire after the French and Indian war, and as they did, were linked into Pennsylvania's covenant chain of friendship. This relationship was formalized in a series of treaties in the first half of the 18th century, and gave the colony access to valuable trading routes and partners. Penn's relationship with the Natives ties in with his overall concept of his colony.

He had a just and fair plan, though one formed by a conception of himself of lord of his domain. His planning was simultaneously 'idealistic' and pragmatic; he had grand visions of life in the New World, and realized them as much as was practicable. And as the various iconographers of Colonial America, including the Capitol sculptors, realized, his method did stand out from his contemporaries. While those who would argue that he essentially sought the same imperialistic goals, only in a kinder, gentler manner, may have a point, one must argue that this 'kindness' was relatively speaking, better than much of the outright hate and distrust that characterized Indian-White relations.