TheTreaty of Easton was a colonial agreement signed inEaston, Pennsylvania in October 1758 during theFrench and Indian War (Seven Years' War) between British colonials and the chiefs of 13Native American nations, representing tribes of theIroquois,Lenape (Delaware), andShawnee.
Negotiations over more than a week were concluded on October 26, 1758, at a ceremony held in Easton, between theBritish colonial governors of the provinces ofPennsylvania andNew Jersey, and representatives of 13 Indian nations, including the Iroquois, who sentchiefs of three of their nations to ensure their continued domination of theirOhio Country region; the eastern and western Lenape (Delaware), represented by two chiefs and headmen, Shawnee, and others. More than 500 Native Americans attended the outdoor ceremony, after lengthy negotiations to bring peace to the regions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the Ohio Country.[1]
Conrad Weiser served as an interpreter and arbitrator for the British colonial governments.Charles Thomson served as secretary and advisor toTeedyuscung, who was referred to asKing of the Delawares. The negotiations were held to hopefully resolve conflicts created byThe Walking Purchase of 1737, which had lasting effects on the relationships between the Native Americans and the colonists. Attorney General of Pennsylvania,Benjamin Chew, Esq. attended the negotiations of the Treaty of Easton and documented the proceedings in hisJournal of a Journey to Easton.[2]Charles Thomson also wrote about the Easton treaty negotiations in 1759 in a work entitledAn Enquiry into the Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians from the British Interest, which blamed the war on the proprietors, including the sons ofWilliam Penn.
The treaty specified that the Native American nations would not fight on the side of theFrench against the British in the current war. In return, Pennsylvania returned large blocks of land which the Iroquois had ceded a few years before; the British colonial governors promised to recognize Iroquois and other tribes' rights to their hunting grounds in theOhio River valley; and to refrain from establishing colonial settlements west of theAllegheny Mountains after the conclusion of the war. This clause of the treaty contributed tothe Crown's subsequentProclamation of 1763, by which it attempted to reserve territory west of the Appalachians for Native Americans and prohibit European-American advancement into the area. In addition, colonial governor William Denny of Pennsylvania agreed to negotiate directly with the Lenape-Delaware again without Iroquois intervention and marked the agreement by rekindling a "council fire."[1] The conference concluded on October 26, 1758, and in November, Governor Denny announced to the Pennsylvania Assembly that "a general peace was secured at Easton."[3]
By the treaty, the Lenape ceded all remaining claims to land within theProvince of New Jersey for the sum of one thousandSpanish dollars. They received payment immediately.
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