THOMAS] Pennsylvania's policy toward the Indians .oiil 



From tlie facts set forth above, nearly all of which are matters of 

 official record, it is apparent that the policy adopted and carried out by 

 this colony was just and honorable. Not only were all the lands pur- 

 chased from the native occupants, but in cases of subsequent disputes 

 and claims the wiser course of yielding' in part and buying out these 

 claims was adopted. As a couseqvxence, the people of New Jersey, as 

 a general rule, dwelt in peace and safety when Indian wars were raging 

 in the contiguous colonies. 



PENNSYLA'ANIA 



The task of writing up in general terms the policy of Pennsylvania 

 during its colonial history is a pleasant one, first, because it seldom 

 varied, so far as it related to its lands, from that consistent with honor 

 and justice; and, second, because it was so uniform that a comi^ara- 

 tively brief statement will suffice to present all that is necessary to 

 be said. 



The Dutch claim of land on the Schuylkill purchased in 1C33 by 

 Arent Corsen of "Amettehooren Alibakiune, Siuqvies, sachems over 

 the district of country called Armenveruis," may be dismissed as 

 doubtful. Xevertheless, it is consistent with their general rule of 

 basing claims to land on purchases from the Indians. 



If the statement by Smith, given above (under New Jersey), that the 

 Swedes in 1G27 "pui'chased of some Indians the land from Cape Inlo- 

 pen to the Falls of the Delaware" be correct, this is the first purchase 

 of land in Pennsylvania. It is denied, however, that the Swedes made 

 any settleHients on the Delaware until after 10.33, and the fact that the 

 Dutch based their claim on the above-mentioned purchase in 1(533 

 would agree with the latter opinion. This, however, is a question of 

 no importance in the present discussion. 



In 1638 Minuet, who had gone over from the Dutch to the Swedes, 

 landed with colonists near the mouth of Miinjuas creek, where, after 

 having purchased the land from the Indians, he erected a fort, or trad- 

 ing house, which he named Christina. 



At the same time Minuet purchased from the Indians the whole 

 western shore of the Delaware to the falls near the present site of 

 Trenton. Acrelius, speaking of this transaction, says' that immediately 

 land was bought from the Indians, a deed was given, written in Low 

 Dutch (as no Swede could yet interpret the Indian). By this agree- 

 ment the Swedes obtained all the western land on the river from Cape 

 Henlopen to the falls of Trenton, then called by the Indians Santican, 

 and as much inward from it, in breadth, as they might want. It is 

 more than probable that this is really the transaction referred to by 

 Smith,- which has been antedated and made to include "both sides of 

 the Delaware." 



* Peiinaylvania Mag.azine, Hist. Soc. Peuii., vol. iii, p. 280. 

 2 History of New Jersey, p. 22. 



