The Walking Purchase transferred roughly 1.2 million acres from the Lenape to Pennsylvania's Penn family proprietors through a disputed 1737 agreement widely described as fraudulent.
Key Facts
- Land claimed
- 1,200,000 acres (4,860 km²)
- Region affected
- Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania
- Original treaty cited
- Alleged 1686 treaty with the Lenape
- Walking boundary rule
- As far west as a man could walk in a day and a half
- 2004 lawsuit land claim
- 314 acres (1.27 km²)
- Britannica characterization
- "Land swindle"
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Penn family proprietors of Pennsylvania sought to expand colonial landholdings by invoking an alleged 1686 deed with the Lenape people. The Lenape's lack of unified political backing and the Penn family's dominant position in colonial Pennsylvania created conditions for a disputed land transfer.
In 1737, the Penn family presented a deed purportedly from 1686 to claim approximately 1.2 million acres along the northern Delaware River. The boundary was defined by the distance a man could walk in a day and a half, which was exploited by using trained runners rather than ordinary walkers, greatly expanding the claimed territory.
The Lenape appealed to the Iroquois for support but were refused, leaving them without recourse. The land was absorbed into colonial Pennsylvania. Centuries later, a 2004 federal lawsuit by the Delaware Nation was dismissed as nonjusticiable, and appeals through to the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that dismissal, leaving the original transfer legally intact.
Political Outcome
The Penn family secured approximately 1.2 million acres of Lenape territory; the Lenape lost their appeal to the Iroquois and the land claim was upheld through 21st-century U.S. courts.
Lenape held territorial rights over the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania region
Penn family proprietors claimed approximately 1.2 million acres, displacing Lenape from the region