Passport 1756 For American Indians – Outstanding!
Issued to three Delaware Indians who had assisted with treaty negotiations – Outstanding! Passport Native American Indians
“…RENDERED SUBSTANTIAL SERVICES . . . AT THE RISQUE OF THEIR LIVES” (AMERICAN INDIANS.) Morris, Robert Hunter. Passport issued to three Delaware Indians who had assisted with treaty negotiations. Manuscript draft proclamation issued as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, apparently in the hand of Secretary Richard Peters (1704-1776). 2 pages, 12 1/2 x 8 inches; partial separations at folds. Philadelphia, 13 August 1756. Passport Native American Indians
What a fantastic document of early American (passport) history!
The Treaty of Easton was a colonial agreement in North America signed in October 1758 during the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War) between British colonials and the chiefs of 13 Native American nations, representing tribes of the Iroquois, Lenape (Delaware), and Shawnee. 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. Passport Native American Indians
Key Transcript
Whereas John Pumpshire, Thomas Story, and Joseph Michtee [Michty], three Delaware Indians residing in the province of New Jersey, have been employed to accompany Newcastle, one of the chiefs of the six United Nations of Indians by me in transacting business with ye Indians living on ye River Susquehannah, whereas they have acquitted themselves with care and fidelity and have thereby rendered substantial services to his Majesty & the colonies at the risque of their lives, and whereas ye sd Indians are now returning to their families at Cranberry in ye sd province of New Jersey, & have requested my passport & recommendations therein, the neighboring provinces to treat them with kindness as good friends.” These three men had all been at the signing of a treaty in Easton, PA, along with Captain Newcastle and Conrad Weiser, on 26 July 1756, just three weeks before.
See “Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania, and the First Nations: The Treaties of 1736-62,” page 195-9
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