Treaty of Shackamaxon
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Treaty_of_Penn_with_Indians_by_Benjamin_West.jpg/220px-Treaty_of_Penn_with_Indians_by_Benjamin_West.jpg)
The Treaty of Shackamaxon, also called the Great Treaty and Penn's Treaty, was a treaty between William Penn and Tamanend of the Lenape signed in 1682.[1] Tamanend and Penn gifted each other and the people they represented with welcoming peace and friendship, vowing to "live together in peace as long as the creeks and rivers run and while the sun, moon, and stars endure."[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Description
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/City_%26_Port_of_Philadelphia_Birch%27s_Views_Frontispiece.jpg/220px-City_%26_Port_of_Philadelphia_Birch%27s_Views_Frontispiece.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/The_belt_of_wampum_delivered_by_the_Indians_to_William_Penn_at_the_%22Great_Treaty%22_%281682%29.jpg/220px-The_belt_of_wampum_delivered_by_the_Indians_to_William_Penn_at_the_%22Great_Treaty%22_%281682%29.jpg)
The site of the treaty was a meeting place that was used by the Lenape Native American tribe in North America. Situated near the Delaware River, this site was located within what now comprises the borders of present-day Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[15]
Its name was derived from the Lenape term "Sakimauchheen Ing" (pronounced Sak-i-mauch-heen Ing) which means "to make a chief or king place"; called "Shackamaxon" by the English, Dutch, and Swedes. It was where the Lenapi "crowned" their many family "sakima" (chief) or their three clan "kitakima" (big or clan chief) of the Lenape Nation. Others have interpreted the name to mean "the place of eels", which refers to it as being an important summer fishing spot for the Native Americans. The area is the modern neighborhoods of Fishtown, Kensington, and Port Richmond in Philadelphia.[16]
William Penn, who purportedly did not arrive in North America until late October 1682, made a treaty with the Lenni Lenape under an ancient elm tree. Francis Jennings argues that William Penn very likely signed a treaty, but that his less scrupulous sons, William Jr., John, and Thomas, destroyed the original document. Through such means, according to Jennings, the younger Penns sought to renege on the treaty to which their father had agreed.[17] Curators of the Philadelphia History Museum at Atwater Kent claim that a wampum belt in their possession serves as authentication that such a meeting did indeed take place; however, the wampum belt cannot prove or disprove whether the Lenni Lenape and the colony came to a formal agreement, and if so, what the provisions of such an agreement entailed.
The legend of such a treaty was immortalized in several works of art (in particular, Benjamin West's paintings) and was mentioned by the French author Voltaire. The legendary elm tree marking the spot blew down in a storm on March 5, 1810. Its location was memorialized by the placing of an obelisk in 1827 by the Penn Society. The event was further memorialized by the founding of a park in 1893, known as Penn Treaty Park.
Six Swedish families were recorded as living in this area before Penn's arrival. The Swedes sold out to the new English settlers. During the eighteenth century, the territory of Shackamaxon was developed as part of the Port Richmond, Fishtown, and Kensington sections of Philadelphia. Today, there is a Shackamaxon Street in Philadelphia, which runs several blocks through Fishtown.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission refers to the Shackamaxon treaty on its website.[18]
See also
Philadelphia portal
References
- ^ "Respectfully Remembering the Affable One". 7 May 2014.
- ^ "Chief Tamanend". Upper Southampton Township. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Respectfully Remembering the Affable One". Hidden City Philadelphia. 2014-05-07. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Tamanend Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Peace Treaty - Penn Treaty Museum". 2014-01-08. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Friends of Tamanend - History". www.friendsoftamanend.org. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Introducing Rowan University's New Land Acknowledgement". sites.rowan.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Reconsidering Thanksgiving and Native American heritage". News. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/DRB-Restoration-Roadmap_Shad-River-Herring_2022.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Course Locations". Philadelphia Outward Bound School. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "History | Rush Township". rushtownship.org. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ https://www.delawarenation-nsn.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Volume_8_Edition_4_Delaware_Nation_October_-November_-December_2023_Newspaper_website.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "about". Hurleyville Arts Centre. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "Home - MuOmicronChapter". thecircle.sigmanursing.org. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ "gilwell.com: the Lenape / English Dictionary". Retrieved 30 January 2017.
- ^ "gilwell.com: the Lenape / English Dictionary". Retrieved 30 January 2017.
- ^ Jennings, Francis (1975). The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and the Cant of Conquest. W.W. Norton. p. 201. ISBN 0-393-00830-4.
- ^ "www.phmc.state.pa.us. Shackamaxon Treaty". Archived from the original on 2015-08-13. Retrieved 2014-11-23.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission: Shackamaxon Treaty history website.
- Penn Treaty Museum
39°57′58″N 75°07′44″W / 39.966°N 75.129°W / 39.966; -75.129