The Treaty of Easton was a colonial agreement in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

signed in October 1758 during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

(

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...

) between British colonials and the chiefs of 13 Native American nations, representing tribes of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

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 inclu ...

(Delaware), and

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

. Negotiations over more than a week were concluded on October 26, 1758, at a ceremony held in

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 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware Ri ...

between the British colonial governors of the provinces 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, ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, and representatives of 13 Indian nations, including the

, who sent chiefs of three of their nations to ensure their continued domination of their Ohio Country region; the eastern and western

(Delaware), represented by two chiefs and headmen;

and others. More than 500 Native Americans attended the outdoor ceremony, after lengthy negotiations to bring peace to the regions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the Ohio Country.Burton Kummerow,"Treaty of Easton gives sides new hope for peace", ''THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW'', 19 Oct 2008, accessed 19 Mar 2010
/ref>

Conrad Weiser Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760), born Johann Conrad Weiser, Jr., was a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) pioneer who served as an interpreter and diplomat between the Pennsylvania Colony and Native American nations. Primarily a f ...

served as an interpreter and arbitrator for the British colonial governments.

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...

served as secretary and advisor to

Teedyuscung Teedyuscung (c. 1700–1763) was known as "King of the Delawares". He worked to establish a permanent Lenape (Delaware) home in eastern Pennsylvania in the Lehigh, Susquehanna, and Delaware River valleys. Teedyuscung participated in the Treaty ...

, who was referred to as ''King of the Delawares''. The negotiations were held to hopefully resolve conflicts created by The Walking Purchase of 1737, which had lasting effects on the relationships between the Native Americans and the colonists. Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Chew, Esq. attended the negotiations of the Treaty of Easton and documented the proceedings in his ''Journal of a Journey to Easton''.

also wrote about the Easton treaty negotiations in 1759 in a work entitled
An Enquiry into the Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians from the British Interest
', which blamed the war on the proprietors (i.e. the sons of

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 ...

). The treaty specified that the Native American nations would not fight on the side of the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

against the British in the current war. In return, Pennsylvania returned large blocks of land which the Iroquois had ceded a few years before; the British colonial governors promised to recognize Iroquois and other tribes' rights to their hunting grounds in the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

valley; and to refrain from establishing colonial settlements west of the

Allegheny Mountains The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

after the conclusion of the war. This clause of the treaty contributed to

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

's subsequent Proclamation of 1763, by which it attempted to reserve territory west of the Appalachians for Native Americans and prohibit European-American advancement into the area. In addition, colonial governor William Denny of Pennsylvania agreed to negotiate directly with the Lenape-Delaware again without Iroquois intervention and marked the agreement by rekindling a " council fire." The conference concluded on October 26, 1758 and in November, Governor Denny announced to the Pennsylvania Assembly that "a general peace was secured at Easton."Konkle, 1932, p. 87. By the treaty, the Lenape ceded all remaining claims to land within 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 t ...

for the sum of one thousand

Spanish dollars The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...

. They received payment immediately.

Notes

External links

Chew Family Papers
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania possesses the documents pertaining to the ''Journal of a Journey of Easton''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty Of Easton 1758 treaties 1758 in the Thirteen Colonies Easton Easton French and Indian War Pre-statehood history of Pennsylvania Native American history of New Jersey Iroquois Lenape Northampton County, Pennsylvania Shawnee history

See also

Notes

External links