The Walking Purchase (or Walking Treaty) was a 1737 agreement between the
Penn family, the original proprietors of the
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
, later the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
, and the
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
native Indians (also known as the Delaware Indians). In the purchase, the Penn family and proprietors claimed a 1686 treaty with the Lenape ceded an area of 1,200,000 acres (4,860 km
2) along the northern reaches of the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
at the northeastern boundary between the Province of Pennsylvania and the West New Jersey area, east of the
Province of New Jersey
The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the ...
, and forced the Lenape to vacate it.
''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
'' refers to the treaty as a "land swindle".
The Lenape appealed to the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
Indian tribe to their north for aid on the issue, but the Iroquois refused their request, ultimately siding with the Penn interests.
A legal suit was filed almost 300-years later over the continuing dispute. In the court case ''
Delaware Nation v. Pennsylvania'' (2004), the
Delaware nation
Delaware Nation ( del, Èhëliwsikakw Lënapeyok), also known as the Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma and sometimes called the Absentee or Western Delaware, based in Anadarko, Oklahoma[Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...]
tribes) and its descendants in the 21st century claimed of land included in the original so-called "purchase" in 1737, but the
U.S. District Court granted the Commonwealth's motion to dismiss. It ruled that the case was
nonjusticiable
Justiciability concerns the limits upon legal issues over which a court can exercise its judicial authority. It includes, but is not limited to, the legal concept of standing, which is used to determine if the party bringing the suit is a party ...
, even if the Delaware Nation's allegations of fraud were true. This ruling held through several appealed actions made through several levels of the
United States courts of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals fr ...
. The
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
refused to hear the case, thereby upholding the lower courts' decision.
History
The founder of the Colony,
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
(1644–1718) in 1681, enjoyed a reputation for fair dealing with the
Lenape
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
(including the Delaware Indians).
[ However, his heirs, ]John Penn ("the American")
John Penn (January 28, 1700 – October 25, 1746) was a proprietor of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania (later the American state – the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania after 1776). He was the eldest son of the colony's founder, W ...
and Thomas Penn
Thomas Penn (8 March 1702 – 21 March 1775) was an English landowner and mercer who was the chief proprietor of Pennsylvania from 1746 to 1775. Penn is best known for his involvement in negotiating the Walking Purchase, a contested land cessi ...
, were known for not following many of their father's moderate practices. In 1736, they claimed a deed from 1686 by which the Lenape promised to sell a tract beginning at the junction of the upper Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
and the tributary Lehigh River
The Lehigh River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward pat ...
(near present day Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river tha ...
) and extending as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half, later to become known as the "Walking Purchase" or the Walking Treaty of 1737. The original 17th century document might have been a verbal agreement, an unsigned treaty, an unratified treaty, or an outright forgery. Regardless, the Penns' agents began selling land in the Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...
in the disputed area along the Lehigh River as if the treaty were in force and prior to the Lenape vacating the still inhabited area.
To allay the Lenapes' misgivings and suspicions, Penn Land Office Agent and provincial secretary James Logan (1674–1751), had a map produced that misrepresented the farther Lehigh River as the closer Tohickon Creek
Tohickon Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River. Located entirely in Bucks County, in southeastern Pennsylvania, it r ...
, and including a dotted line showing a seemingly reasonable path that the "walkers" would take. Satisfied that the land in question was not so terrible a price to honor the old deed, the Lenape signed on, making the now 1737 treaty official.[
According to the popular account, Lenape leaders assumed that about 40 miles (60 km) was the longest distance that could be covered under these conditions. Provincial Secretary Logan hired the three fastest runners in the colony, Edward Marshall, Solomon Jennings, and James Yeates, to run on a prepared trail. They were supervised during the "walk" by the Sheriff of ]Bucks County
Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...
Timothy Smith. The walk occurred on September 19, 1737; only Marshall finished,[Gilbert, Daniel. "What Ye Indians Call 'Ye Hurry Walk'", The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Pennsylvania State University]
/ref> reaching the modern vicinity of present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Jim Thorpe is a borough and the county seat of Carbon County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is historically known as the burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe.
Jim Thorpe is loc ...
, 70 miles (113 km) away. At the end of the walk, Sheriff Smith drew a perpendicular line back toward the northeast, and claimed all the land east of these two lines ending at the Delaware River.
This resulted in an area of 1,200,932 acres (4,860 km2), only slightly smaller than the size of Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
, located in the modern seven eastern Pennsylvania counties of Pike
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to:
Fish
* Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus''
* Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes
* ''Esox'', genus of ...
, Monroe, Carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
, Schuylkill, Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
, Lehigh and Bucks.
The Delaware leaders appealed for assistance to the Iroquois confederacy
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
tribe to the north, who claimed hegemony over the Delaware. The Iroquois leaders decided that it was not in their best interest to intervene on behalf of their southern neighbors, the Delaware since, James Logan had already made a deal with the Iroquois to support the colonial side. As a result, the Lenape had to vacate the Walking Purchase lands.
Chief Lappawinsoe
Lappawinsoe was a Lenape chief. His name signifies "gathering fruit" or "going away to gather food". Lappawinsoe sold the land of his tribe to Thomas Penn (1702-1775), and John Penn ("the American")
John Penn (January 28, 1700 – October 25 ...
, Manawkyhickon, Sassoonan
Sassoonan or Allumapees (c. 1675 - 15 October, 1747) was a Lenni Lenape chief who lived in Pennsylvania in the late 17th and early 18th century. He was known for his negotiations with the Provincial government of Pennsylvania in several land purc ...
, Nenatcheehunt
Nenatcheehunt (d. 30 April, 1763), also spelled Nenacheehunt, or Nenatchehan, and sometimes referred to as Menatochyand, was a Lenape chief known for participating in peace negotiations at the end of the French and Indian War. He is referred to a ...
, and other Lenape leaders continued to protest the arrangement, as the Lenape were forced into the Shamokin and Wyoming River valleys, already crowded with other displaced tribes. Some Lenape later moved further west into the Ohio Country and the southern and western claims of the Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...
in their territory of New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...
(Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
), west of the French Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne (, ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed a ...
(later Fort Pitt and finally Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
) at the "Forks of the Ohio
Point State Park (locally known as The Point) is a Pennsylvania state park on in Downtown Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, forming the Ohio River.
Built on land acqui ...
". Because of the Walking Purchase, the Lenape grew to distrust the Pennsylvania government.
''Delaware Nation v. Pennsylvania''
District Court (2004)
In 2004, the Delaware Nation
Delaware Nation ( del, Èhëliwsikakw Lënapeyok), also known as the Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma and sometimes called the Absentee or Western Delaware, based in Anadarko, Oklahoma[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, E.D. Pa.) is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Phila ...]
, seeking included in the 1737 Walking Purchase and patented in 1741, which was known as Tatamy's Place. The court granted the Commonwealth's motion to dismiss. According to the District Court:
The District Court recounted the Delaware Nation's allegations:
The Delaware conceded that Thomas Penn had "sovereign authority," but challenged the transaction on the ground that it was fraudulent. The court held that the justness of the extinguishment of aboriginal title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
is nonjusticiable
Justiciability concerns the limits upon legal issues over which a court can exercise its judicial authority. It includes, but is not limited to, the legal concept of standing, which is used to determine if the party bringing the suit is a party ...
, including in the case of fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
. Because the extinguishment occurred prior to the passage of the first Indian Nonintercourse Act in 1790, that Act did not avail the Delaware.
Circuit Court (2006)
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:
* District of Delaware
* District of New Jersey
* Ea ...
affirmed the decision of the District Court.[''Delaware Nation v. Pennsylvania'', 446 F.3d 410 (3d Cir. 2006).] The Third Circuit upheld that aboriginal title may validly be extinguished by fraud, and further held that the tribe had waived the issue of whether Penn was actually a sovereign purchaser. Moreover, the Circuit held that any grants to the tribe subsequent to the extinguishment could not re-establish aboriginal title. Therefore, the Circuit did not consider the merits of the tribe's argument that:
Specifically, the Circuit found it insufficient that the complaint had alleged that Penn was "accountable directly to the King of England."
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case on appeal.[''Delaware Nation v. Pennsylvania'', 549 U.S. 1071 (2006).]
See also
*Phelps and Gorham Purchase
The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of of land in what is now western New York State from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $1,000,000 ( £300,000), to be paid in three annual installments, and the pre-emptive right to th ...
References
External links
The Walking Purchase at the Lenape Tribe official site
The Walking Purchase
from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
on the Pennsylvania State Archives
The Pennsylvania State Archives is the official archive for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, administered as part of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Located at 350 North Street in the state capital of Harrisburg, it is a part o ...
website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walking Purchase
Lenape
Native American history of Pennsylvania
Political scandals in the United States
Political scandals in Pennsylvania
Former regions and territories of the United States
Pre-statehood history of Pennsylvania
1737 in Pennsylvania
Aboriginal title in the United States
1737 in law
Unratified treaties
Treaties of indigenous peoples of North America
1737 treaties