Editing Treaty of Shackamaxon (section)

== The Meeting at Shackamaxon ==

Shackamaxon (from a Lenape phrase meaning "place of eels" or "eel fishing place") was a Lenape village and gathering site located along the Delaware River, in the area that would become the neighborhood of [[Fishtown]] and [[Kensington]]. The precise nature of what occurred at Shackamaxon has been debated by historians, as no contemporary written record of a treaty signing survives. What seems clear is that Penn met with Lenape leaders on one or more occasions at or near Shackamaxon during his first visit to Pennsylvania, and that these meetings involved land transactions and the establishment of friendly relations.<ref name="jennings">{{cite book |last=Jennings |first=Francis |title=The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies |year=1984 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York}}</ref>

The legendary account of the treaty, which became famous through Benjamin West's 1771 painting "Penn's Treaty with the Indians," depicts Penn meeting with Lenape chiefs beneath a great elm tree. In this version, Penn—dressed simply in Quaker gray without weapons or military escort—exchanges wampum belts with the Lenape and concludes a peace agreement that would never be broken. The elm tree became a sacred symbol, visited by dignitaries and tourists throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries until it finally fell in a storm in 1810. Whether this specific scene actually occurred as depicted is uncertain, but the legendary treaty captured a genuine truth about Penn's approach to indigenous relations: he sought peace and fair dealing when many colonial leaders sought only conquest.<ref name="west">{{cite journal |last=Abrams |first=Ann Uhry |title=Benjamin West's Documentation of Colonial History: William Penn's Treaty with the Indians |journal=The Art Bulletin |year=1982 |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=59-75}}</ref>