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William Penn was born on October 14, 1644

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Signed March 4, 1681 Pennsylvania to William Penn 

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William lacked money to repay the family so he wanted to give the family land in America. King Charles agreed and wrote a charter in an legal agreement. In the charter it granted Penn to be the proprietor/governor of the new colony -- Pennsylvania. Under the charter Penn was to rule the government and writing laws. Penn wanted the Quakers to live peace to have freedom of religion, and wanted others to come so that they can experience their freedom of religion to worship God the way that they want.

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When Penn arrived in the city of Philadelphia he starting thinking of making a capital. He named the new capital "Philadelphia" known for "Brotherly Love" because he wanted to make sure his peace and ideas were followed and promoted by the Quakers. Penn instructed to build houses out of brick, large gardens, wide streets and space between houses to be different than England, London.

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Penn's Treaty of Friendship (Treaty of Shackamaxon)

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Penn's Treaty of Friendship (Treaty of Shackamaxon)

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The Great Treaty was recognized as an exchange of peace, with Penn offering them gifts such as metal tools, knives, and guns. The Native Americans exchanged the Americans wampum belt which is a belt containing 1,000 beads made to in a design of Indians and Americans joining hands together. This signified peace between the Americans and the Indians.

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The Treaty of Shackamaxon, otherwise known as William Penn's Treaty with the Indians or "Great Treaty," is Pennsylvania's most longstanding historical tradition, a counterpart to the foundation stories of Virginia (John Smith and Pocahontas) and New England (the first Thanksgiving). According to the tradition, soon after William Penn (1644-1718) arrived in Pennsylvania in late October 1682, he met with Lenni Lenape Indians in the riverside town of Shackamaxon (present-day Fishtown). There, beneath a majestic elm, they exchanged promises of perpetual friendship. The tradition may well have a historical basis in an actual treaty meeting in Shackamaxon; however, as the term "tradition" indicates, the event is not recorded in original primary source documents, and its details and very occurrence have been debated.

The treaty's renown was amplified through literature and art. The French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) famously declared it "the only treaty between those people [the Indians] and the Christians that was not ratified by an oath, and was never infring'd." (Quaker doctrine prohibited Penn from making oaths.) The painter Benjamin West (1738-1820), commissioned by Penn's son Thomas (1702-75), created the ubiquitous emblem of colonial Pennsylvania and American Quakerism in William Penn's Treaty with the Indians When He Founded the Province of Pennsylvania in North America (1771-72). West's tableau (now at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts) informed early historical accounts of the treaty. It was adapted, and further popularized, in the Quaker folk artist Edward Hicks's (1780-1845) Penn's Treaty and Peaceable Kingdom paintings. To this day it illustrates history textbooks.

In eighteenth-century diplomatic records, Native Americans frequently invoke their original relations with William Penn. These references, however, are more consistent with the general idea of a treaty than the specifics of the Treaty tradition. In 1857, Granville John Penn donated to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania a belt of wampum (shell beads) depicting two men joining hands; the Lenapes had purportedly presented it to his great grandfather at the Treaty (it is now at the Philadelphia History Museum).

However, without a paper record issuing from the event itself, proponents of the tradition were unable to substantiate the location of the Treaty in Shackamaxon. Moreover, the traditional date, 1682, is unlikely because Penn's crowded schedule in the months after his arrival is otherwise well documented. Nevertheless, in 1827 the Penn Society erected an obelisk where the Great Elm had once stood. Its inscription reads:

TREATY GROUND

of

WILLIAM PENN

and the

INDIAN NATIVES

1682

UNBROKEN FAITH

Considered Philadelphia's first public monument, the obelisk has since been joined by other memorials in what is now Penn Treaty Park (1341 N. Delaware Avenue, in Fishtown).

Some academic commentators, especially critics of West's painting, argue that the tradition was invented to idealize Pennsylvania's past. Others suggest that it combines the memories of many documented treaties and land purchases, or that it aggrandizes a single such meeting into a Great Treaty. One possible basis is a treaty in June 1683 that resulted in several land deeds signed by Penn and the Lenape leader Tamanend (the legendary "Tammany"), among others. The location is unspecified, but it may have been Shackamaxon. Formal promises of friendship were likely exchanged, perhaps under the Great Elm. There is no evidence to the contrary.

Andrew Newman is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director for the Department of English at Stony Brook University. He is the author of On Records: Delaware Indians, Colonists, and the Media of History and Memory (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012). (Author information current at time of publication.)

Copyright 2013, Rutgers University.

Du Ponceau, Peter Stephen, and Joshua Francis Fisher. A Memoir on the History of the Celebrated Treaty Made by William Penn with the Indians: Under the Elm Tree at Shackamaxon, in the Year 1682. Philadelphia: Printed for M'Carty & Davis, 1836.

Jennings, Francis. "Brother Miquon: Good Lord!" In The World of William Penn, edited by Richard S. Dunn and Mary Maples Dunn, 195-214. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986.

Milano, Kenneth W. The History of Penn Treaty Park. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2009.

Newman, Andrew. On Records: Delaware Indians, Colonists, and the Media of History and Memory. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Symbols of Peace: William Penn's Treaty with the Indians: An Exhibition Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Dickinson College: The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 12-September 26. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1976.

Speck, Frank G. The Penn Wampum Belts. Leaflets of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. New York: De Vinne press], 1925.

Stone, Frederick D. "Penn's Treaty with the Indians: Did It Take Place in 1682 or 1683?" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 6, no. 2 (1882): 217-238.

Vaux, Roberts. "A Memoir on the Locality of the Great Treaty Between William Penn, and the Indian Natives in 1682." In Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, edited by Edward Armstrong, 1:87-106. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1864.

Voltaire. Letters Concerning the English Nation. London: Reprinted by and for George Faulkner, 1733.

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Treaty of Shackamaxon - Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia

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The Treaty of Shackamaxon (William Penn's Treaty with the Indians or "Great Treaty") is Pennsylvania's most longstanding historical tradition.

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1701 Penn wrote one of the most vital documents in history.

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Penn wrote a document of laws wanting to give more people liberty. Under the privileges it gave a more restricted role for the governor, and that the Assembly could elect and make laws. The Charter of Privileges was like the constitution of Pa, but it later changed because Pennsylvania became a state to many more.

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In 1701, William Penn created a Charter of Privileges for the residents of his colony. Penn envisioned a colony that permitted religious freedom, the consent and participation of the governed, as well as other laws pertaining to property rights. The Charter of Privileges recognized the authority of the King and Parliament over the colony, while creating a local governing body that would propose and execute the laws. Penn clearly states the responsibilities the citizens have in selecting virtuous men to lead and govern what many would refer to as the "Holy Experiment."

Topics

18th century

Colonial period

Government and civics

Pennsylvania

Politics

Big Ideas

Pennsylvania History

US History

Essential Questions

How can the story of another American, past or present, influence your life?

What document or physical representation best summarizes Pennsylvania and why?

Concepts

Textual evidence, material artifacts, the built environment, and historic sites are central to understanding the history of Pennsylvania.

Biography is a historical construct used to reveal positive and/or negative influences an individual can have on Pennsylvania's society.

United States history can offer an individual judicious understanding about one's self in the dimensions of time and space.

Competencies

Synthesize a rationale for the study of individuals in Pennsylvania and the history of the United States.

Analyze the interaction of cultural, economic, geographic, political, and social relations for William Penn's Charter of Privileges.

Background Material for Teacher

The unit and lesson plan are a part of Preserving American Freedom, which presents and interprets fifty of the treasured documents within the vast catalog of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In this project, documents are digitized with transcriptions and annotations, as well as with other user-friendly elements, that will help both teachers and students to better understand the materials in the lesson.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia has several essays on various people, events, and organizations that played a role in the history of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the United States.

The William Penn papers offer a brief historical summary of Penn and his family.

End of Unit Assessment

A variety of traditional assessment styles can be applied to these readings. Traditional assessments can include a variety of quizzes (multiple choice or fill in), an essay, or a short paper highlighting all three documents. Primary sources may also be incorporated into a larger paper, student presentation, or class discussion led by student based questions. An alternative for those students who are unfamiliar with primary sources may be assessing notes taken during the reading to be used later as an open-notebook quiz.

For a less traditional assessment, to demonstate their understanding of the document, have students re-write the charter of privileges in casual language, the kind they would use to talk to their friends. Then have students write about the importance of the document as if they were posting on a social media site.

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william penn created a charter of privileges for the residents of his colony. penn envisioned a colony that permitted religious freedom

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the consent and participation of the governed

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as well as other laws pertaining to property rights.

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In 1701, William Penn created a Charter of Privileges for the residents of his colony. Penn envisioned a colony that permitted religious freedom, the consent and participation of the governed, as well as other laws pertaining to property rights.

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1781, in England