Lappawinsoe of the Delaware/Lenape and the Walking Purchase

Europeans used different inducements to Native leaders to persuade them to cede tribal land.  Sometimes threats of force were effective, forcing leaders to balance the need to fight for what was there against the reality that irreplaceable men would die, leaving women and children at risk.  Other inducements were more subtle, including alcohol or bribery.  Still, other leaders were the victims of outright fraud.  When it comes to fraud, anyone can be duped.  White concepts of land ownership and the legality of documents differed from Native viewpoints, often leading to confusion about what was being asked, or signed away.

One of the most egregious versions of this was the Walking Purchase of 1737.  William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, had always treated the Native fairly.  As a Quaker, his word was his bond and they trusted it.  So much so that sources differ as to whether Penn actually signed any treaties, at all, since none survived.  However, Penn's sons, particularly Thomas Penn, were of a different caliber.  Pennsylvania was a proprietary colony, owned by the Penn family.  Colonization was business and businesses needed money, resources and customers in the form of settlers.  Thomas was willing to do whatever it took to have land available for more Settlers to farm, even if it meant duping the Natives. 

He approached Lappawinsoe with documents purported to be signed by William Penn, granting the Penn family possession of all the land a man could walk in a day.  Lappawinsoe believed the documents to be genuine and was wiling to accommodate the son of William Penn.  He also knew how far most men could walk in a day, and it wasn't very far.  What he didn't know was that Thomas intended to make the walk a footrace.  The three fasted runners in the colony ran as far as they could for a day and a half.  This allowed the Penns to claim far more Lenape land than Lappawinsoe had bargained.  Faced with Penn's demand, the elderly chief was indignant.  "The white runners should have walked along by the Delaware River or the Next Indian path to it," he exclaimed.  "They should've walked for a few miles, then sat down and smoked a pipe or now and then have shot a squirrel and not kept up the run, run all day!" 

Nevertheless a bargain was a bargain and Lappawinsoe and his people were forced to move further west, eventually making their home in the Ohio Valley.