The Walking Purchase is the name given to an agreement in 1737 between the Penn family, the proprietors of Pennsylvania and the Lenape (Delaware) tribe of American Indians. Year 1737 ( MDCCXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern The shannon (later named Delaware Indians by Europeans were in the 17th century organized bands of Native American peoples with shared cultural and linguistic Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and a devout Quaker, made it a policy to deal fairly with the native tribes. William Penn ( October 14, 1644 – July 30, 1718) was founder and "Absolute Proprietor" of the Province of Pennsylvania, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern As a result, the traditional mistrust between natives and settlers that existed in most other colonies was not as pronounced in Pennsylvania.
But by 1737, William Penn was long dead and his heirs and their agents were running the colony. The colonial administrators claimed that they had a deed dating to the 1680s in which the Lenape-Delaware had promised to sell a portion of land beginning between the junction of the Delaware River and Lehigh River (near present Wrightstown, Pennsylvania) "as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half. The Delaware River is a river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. The Lehigh River, a Tributary of the Delaware River, is a 103 mile (166 km long river located in eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States "
The legal veracity of this document is greatly debated today and it is now generally believed that at best it was an unsigned, unratified treaty and at worst an outright forgery. In truth, the Penn's land agents had already sold vast areas of the Lehigh Valley and had to clear the Lenape before the land could be settled. The Lehigh Valley, also known as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton PA-NJ metropolitan area, is an official metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton Encyclopædia Britannica refers to the Walking Purchase as a "land swindle. The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc "
Since Chief Lappawinsoe and other Lenape leaders believed that the treaty was genuine, and because they assumed that about 40 miles (64 km) was the most a man could walk through the wilderness in a day and a half, they agreed to honor the treaty. But Provincial Secretary James Logan planned well, and hired the three fastest runners in the colony, Edward Marshall, Solomon Jennings and James Yeates to run out the purchase on a prepared trail. James Logan ( October 20 1674 – October 31 1751) a Statesman and scholar was born in Lurgan County Armagh, On September 19, 1737, the three began to run west from Wrightstown stopping only to sleep for the night. Events 335 - Dalmatius is raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I. Year 1737 ( MDCCXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The pace was so intense that only Marshall actually completed the "walk. " After a day and a half, Marshall had reached the vicinity of the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, a distance of about 70 miles (113 km). Jim Thorpe is a Borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 4804 at the 2000 census.
The Penns acquired 1,200,000 acres (4,860 km²) of land in what is now northeastern Pennsylvania, an area roughly equivalent to the size of the state of Rhode Island in the purchase. Rhode Island ( officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States The area of the purchase covers all or part of what are now Pike, Monroe, Carbon, Schuylkill, Northampton, Lehigh and Bucks counties. Pike County is a County located in the US state of Pennsylvania. Monroe County is in the US state of Pennsylvania. Named in honor of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, the County Carbon County is a County located in the US state of Pennsylvania. Schuylkill County is a County located in the US state of Pennsylvania where the Schuylkill River starts Northampton County is a County located in the US state of Pennsylvania. Lehigh County is a County located in the US state of Pennsylvania. Bucks County is a County located in the US state of Pennsylvania.
Lenape Chief Lappawinsoe and other leaders felt that they had been swindled by the British colonists, but felt that they had no choice but to agree to the deal. Lappawinsoe was a Lenape - Delaware chief He sold the land of his tribe to Thomas Penn, the son of William Penn, through the Walking Purchase The Lenape tribe fought for the next 19 years to have the treaty annulled, but to no avail. The Lenape-Delaware were forced into the Shamokin and Wyoming Valleys, which were already overcrowded with other displaced tribes. Many Lenape-Delaware eventually moved west into the Ohio Country. The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains
Sources
The Walking Purchase, as described by:
- Encyclopædia Britannica
- The Lenape Tribe
- Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
- Pennsylvania State Archives
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