The Walking Purchase: The Story Of William Penn

Now we have all heard about the story of Pocahontas, unfortunately many of the stories we were told growing up are not completely true. Camilla Townsend, the author of “Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma”, intends to inform its readers about the evolution of the many lies written and told by the Englishmen regarding their relationships with the Native America peoples that many of us have heard about today. However, Townsend has ineffectively given her readers information about the whole truth to the stories she has written about the many relationships of the English and Native Americans.

Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land. On the other hand, Cynthia J. Van Zandt argues that despite military disputes among the two bodies, trade alliances between the groups continued. Van Zandt further claimed that relational failure stemmed from conflict among various Europeans nations advocating for dominance over the New World. The overarching purpose of the argument is to determine

“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives. The argument that seems to be made (how Columbus

The Cherokee Indians were forced to move out of there home land when President Jackson refused to enforce the court 's ruling. This was also called the Treaty of New Echota, this occurred on December 29th, 1835. The agreement gave the Cherokee territory to the government for exchange in new lands west of the Mississippi as well as approximately 5$ Million dollars. But yet the Treaty was not supported by Most of the Cherokee and was in direct violation of the law that forbade the sale of the cherokee

The name “Sioux” is short for “Nadouessioux”, meaning “little snakes”, given to them by their spiteful long time rival the Ojibwa tribe. The Sioux community was divided into a organized nation of seven different, smaller tribes; later becoming known as: Oceti Sakowin, which translates into “Seven Council Fire” in the Sioux indigenous language. To keep their history alive, the Sioux practiced oral tradition in sharing their past, through the Siouan language and occasionally, they communicated through sign language. They were a dominant tribe in Minnesota that later migrated continuously through the northern Great Plains region following buffalo patterns. The Sioux depended on bison for most of their food source, clothing, and shelter. They

with this legacy. One of the six bands of the Lakota branch of the Sioux

In 1742 the chief of Onondaga of the Iroquois Confederacy knew that his land that the people shared would become more valuable than it has ever been. (Doc B)The reason for this was because the “white people” also known as the Americans wanted the land of the chief. The feelings of the Chief result in complaining to the representatives of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia,

Pennsylvania, chartered in 1682, was a colony with the goal of religious freedom, successful economy, ethnic and racial diversity. Pennsylvania was the meeting point for many conventions and signings throughout history, especially during the time of the American Revolution. Many leaders from this colony contributed greatly to America and what it is today, despite some resistance from other significant figures. As a whole, Pennsylvania was in agreement with uniting with the other 12 colonies and ratifying the Constitution due to Philadelphia’s large role as a central city for conventions in addition to many valued pro-independence political figures coming from this colony.

This led to a Native and Quaker treaty being formed in 1682 which was signed in 1683 and 1684. It gave Indian equal rights in Pennsylvania and began the longest-lasting era of peace between colonists and Natives. Pennsylvania became the first colony to receive the Native’s trust and have an era of peace which made Pennsylvania into a prominent frontier in an idea-based way. In the textbook Creating the Thirteen Colonies, Hakim outlines the effects Quaker beliefs had on Pennsylvania by explaining how Penn wanted all people to be treated fairly and given equal rights: even servants, Negroes, and the Native Americans. (Making Thirteen Colonies, Hakim, 107) Another idea that made Pennsylvania into a frontier religiously/politically was that Penn also incorporated his ideas of religious toleration and “natural right” into the founding of his colony. Pennsylvania offered religious tolerance of all religions and all individuals were given rights. During his time in Pennsylvania, Penn wrote the Charter of Liberties which told the world that Pennsylvania was “free to the people under it, where laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws.” Penn gave personal rights to everyone including Natives and Negros. All other colonies offered one or the other: tolerance or equal rights. One could practice any religion but in the end, one may not be able to vote unless one belonged in a majority religion. This is one of the many ideas that Pennsylvania and Quakers apart from everyone else. Another aspect that made Pennsylvania unique in its time was the Frame of Government that was developed on April 25, 1682. The Frame of Government gave the governor was given a minor role, the Council and Assembly were elected, murder and treason were the only acts punishable by death, etc. But perhaps the most important part of

To those who did stay however, disaster fell. In 1835, a hundred Cherokees signed the Treaty of New Echota, which gave all land east of the Mississippi away in exchange for five million dollars, relocation assistance, and promise of food and tools. The Indians who signed that were only a select few out of 17,000, known as the “Treaty Party”. The rest of the Cherokee killed the “Treaty Party” and opposed the removal, an act lead by their chief John Ross. The Cherokee Nation wrote a petition in 1830 requesting to be exempt from the Indian Removal Act, according to The Trail of Tears: A Journey of Loss. It said the Cherokees disagreed this act would benefit them and they wanted to remain in the land of their ancestors. They pointed out their right to stay there with their laws and treaties with the U.S. and asked them to respect those laws. They explained how there was only failure ahead if they went out to the unknown, but none of this mattered. The U.S. government refused these petitions, even with 16,000 signatures, but Congress used the treaty to force all Cherokees off their land

Many Americans believed that the Indian Removal Act would be a series of treaty making with the Native Americans, to form alliances and give them the land that the Americans didn’t believe the US would ever extend to, and the original Supreme Court ruling in 1831 also invalidated Cherokee sovereignty over their land. However, the Indian Removal Act quickly became an excuse for Jackson’s tantrum over the Supreme Court’s second ruling in 1832, which confirmed Cherokee sovereignty in 1832. Though the US believed that they had owned the land, the Cherokee had been there for much longer and held the rights to the land. The US also did not have the legal right to the land though they had the treaty because the treaty had been signed by renegade Cherokee who believed in relocation, not by the actual government of the Cherokee Nation. Chief John Ross argued that it had been made illegally, but it was ratified by a single vote and signed by Jackson. This violation of Cherokee rights and Supreme Court rulings were morally wrong in their own right, but the real moral horror of the Trail of the Tears possibly was the most terrible

Around 1735 Governor Penn suggested that this “Walking Purchase” be used to settle a dispute over land that the Pennsylvania government said had been sold in 1696 and 1697. The Delaware denied that the

The layout of cities in Europe were clustered and not symmetrical; William Penn wanted the city of Philadelphia to have order and spaciousness, which no other city at that time had. Penn wanted the cities ' design to be different after visiting numerous European cities including, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Hamburg, and seeing the poverty and disease that had run rampant. He was influenced greatly by both the Bubonic plague and the Great Fire of 1666 for the rectilinear layout of the city, as the fire and disease spread quickly due to poor planning of the city. Penn and Thomas Holme were the first to design a city layout in that way and their ideas were then made the model for cities that followed in America.

Thesis: The English were a prideful group, entangled in ethnocentrism, that caused a condescending and harsh treatment of the Native Americans, while the Native Americans were actually a dynamic and superior society, which led to the resentment and strife between the groups.

The General Court absolves the white squatters, reducing the reservation down to its last 12