UTOPIAN PROMISE - Annenberg Media

[2092] Constantin Brumidi, William
Penn and the Indians (ca. 1878), courtesy
of Architect of the Capitol. This is a
representation of Penn with the Lenni
Lenape (Delaware) Indians at the time of
the Treaty of Shackamaxon in 1682,
designed to ensure the friendship
between the Native American group and
Penn’s Pennsylvania Colony. William
Penn and the Indians is a panel from the
Apotheosis of Washington frieze, by
Brumidi, which lines the rotunda of the
United States Capitol.
[2094] Major, William Penn at the
Treaty-Signing in 1682 (1882), courtesy
of Annenberg Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, University of
Pennsylvania. Lithograph on title page of
Bicentennial March: 1682–1882:
William Penn’s March by Aug. Loumey
(Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1882). This
depiction of Penn at the signing of the
treaty with the Delaware Indians at
Shakamaxon shows him wearing a
Broadbrim or “Quaker hat,” usually
gray or brown and made of felt or
beaver.
[4092] William Penn, The Frame of the
Government of the Province of
Pennsylvania in America (1682), courtesy
of the Library of Congress, Rare
Book and Special Collections Division
[27].Title page from Penn’s charter.
[5214] Iroquois wampum belt, courtesy
of the University of Pennsylvania
Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology. Wampum, usually found
in bead form and made from Quahog
shells found along the southern New
England coast, was an important item
for exchange and political dealings
among Indians; after European settlement,
it came to resemble a type of currency.
[7175] Gary Nash, Interview: “Penn
and the Indians in Comparison to the
Puritans” (2001), courtesy of
Annenberg Media. Nash, the awardwinning
author of First City: Philadelphia
and the Forging of Historical Memory
and a professor of American history at
UCLA, discusses similarities and differences
between William Penn and the
Puritans, particularly their relations with
Native Americans.
24 UNIT 3, UTOPIAN PROMISE
Massachusetts. Ask your students to make a list of the differences
between Quakers and Puritans. Have them consider how the values of
each group have had a lasting effect on American values, politics, or
national character.
■ In his “Letter to the Lenni Lenape Indians,” Penn explains his
belief that the Indians and the Quakers (and indeed all people) share
the same God and are ruled by the same moral laws: “This great God
has written his law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded
to love and help and do good to one another, and not to do
harm and mischief one unto another.” This statement helps elucidate
the Quakers’ commitment to pacifism and their theological doctrine
of the “inner light,” or the manifestation of divine love that dwells
inside and thus unites all humans. Ask your students to consider
the implications of the idea that God “has written his law” in all people’s
hearts. Have them compare this notion to Puritan ideas about
spiritual election. How might these different views of spirituality have
affected the way Puritans and Quakers chose to deal with Native
Americans?
QUESTIONS
Comprehension: In his “Letter to the Lenni Lenape,” Penn acknowledges
that Europeans before him have treated Native Americans
with “unkindness and injustice.” What specific problems do you
think he is referring to? How does he propose to right these injustices?
What is new about his approach? Why do you think he decided
to acknowledge this history of European exploitation of Indians
in his letter? What effect do you think it would have had on the
Native Americans to whom the letter is addressed?
Context: Read the land deed documenting Penn’s purchase of land
from Machaloha, a member of the Delaware tribe, included in the
archival material. What assumptions underwrite this legal document?
Why do you think Penn decided to codify his purchase of
Native American land in this way? How does the deed compare to
the wampum belt included in the archival materials?
Context: Compare the migration legend of the Lenni Lenape
(Delaware) Indians to the migrations stories told by Bradford in Of
Plymouth Plantation. How does each speak of the place from which
the came and the home they made upon arriving?
Exploration: What role did the Quaker tradition in Pennsylvania have
in the development of America as a nation? Do you see any legacies
of Quaker thought and practice within our culture today?
Sarah Kemble Knight (1666–1727)
Sarah Kemble was born in Boston in 1666, the daughter of Thomas
Kemble, a successful merchant, and Elizabeth Trerice, who descended
from an old and established Massachusetts family. In 1689, she married
Richard Knight, a sea captain considerably older than herself.
Even before her husband’s death, Sarah Kemble Knight assumed