Journal Article

How to Buy a Continent: The Protocol of Indian Treaties as Developed by Benjamin Franklin and Other Members of the American Philosophical Society

POWELL, TIMOTHY B., WALLACE, ANTHONY F. C.

2015

Overview

In 1743, when Benjamin Franklin announced the formation of an American Philosophical Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, it was important for the citizens of Pennsylvania to know more about their American Indian neighbors. Beyond a slice of land around Philadelphia, three quarters of the province were still occupied by the Delaware and several other Indian tribes, loosely gathered under the wing of an Indian confederacy known as the Six Nations. Relations with the Six Nations and their allies were being peacefully conducted in a series of so-called \"Indian Treaties\" that dealt with the fur trade, threats of war with France, settlement of grievances, and the purchase of land. Franklin played an important part in Indian affairs in colonial and early federal America, particularly with regard to Indian treaties. The minutes of 13 of these treaties, from 1736 to 1762, amounting to about 300 pages, were printed in folio by Benjamin Franklin's press.

• Publisher: THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,University of Pennsylvania Press
• Subject: American Indians / Franklin, Benjamin / Franklin, Benjamin (1706-90) / Native North Americans / Society / Verbal aggression