Historical facts: William Penn’s sons in the 1700s wanted Lenape Indians removed from Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley so the land could be sold to European immigrants. New York’s powerful Iroquois and five allied tribal nations joined forces to make that happen.
That’s how esteemed Philadelphia educator George Wheeler sized up the situation in an address to the Doylestown-based Bucks County Historical Society 85 years ago. In his view, it was a double-edged conspiracy hatched without the Lenape tribe’s knowledge. Here’s my LaVO Notes distillation of Wheeler’s expose:
A confederation known as Six Nations headed by the Iroquois agreed to sell the upper Susquehanna Valley to the Penn Family, proprietors of the colony. Behind the scenes, the Penns had their eyes on the Lehigh Valley, Lenape ancestral territory. At the time, Six Nations expressed no ownership of that land. However, the Penns were aware the Iroquois overlorded the Lenape.
In 1736, Six Nations sent a delegation to Philadelphia to sell the Susquehanna. Normally the natives after such negotiations quickly headed home. Not in this case. During a 14-day layover, they “were the recipients of very kind treatment and valuable presents,” according to Wheeler. A second understanding was reached secretly to divest Lenape of their lands. “It could scarcely have been a mere coincidence that the Six Nations claimed the right to dispose of lands in the Delaware Valley just when provincial authorities were making their elaborate plans to have the Walking Purchase include as much land as possible,” according to Wheeler.