The Walking Purchase: The Story Of William Penn

402 Words2 Pages
Signed on August 25th 1737 was one of history 's most disreputable treaties in the records of native-white relations. The agreement involving the Founder of Pennsylvania 's sons and the Delaware or Lenape was determined by “as far as a man could walk in a day and a half”. Unlike their father, William Penn, who had earned his reputation for being fair and respectful towards the natives, Richard, John and Thomas Penn had a different mindset. After his death, his sons faced problems with their father’s debt. In order to pay off the loans, the Penn brothers and their agent James Logan made an agreement with Lenape leaders known as The Walking Purchase. By this they would claim the land measured by the “walk” and sell it to the colonists for