Celebrate Constitution Week! We will be.

DAR invites you to learn more about your freedom. Study the Constitution.

Teaching 1-6 America’s most important document.
Elizabeth Crockett Champ of the DAR
Celebrate Freedom – Celebrate the Constitution
Pictures from Constitution Camp:
Native Americans writing the Constitution?
Treaty of Lancaster was shared often by Ben Franklin.
A treaty conference was held in 1744 between representatives of the colonial governments of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia and delegates from the Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora tribes of the Iroquois Confederation. The purpose was to settle disputes with the Iroquois over the ownership of lands at the western margin of the three colonies. The representatives from Virginia at the conference were Thomas Lee and William Beverley, with William Black as secretary.
At the conclusion of the conference, the Virginia commissioners believed they held a deed for all of the land west of Virginia to the Mississippi River and north to the Great Lakes. This included all of present West Virginia. However, the Iroquois believed that they had sold land only in Virginia south of the Potomac River and between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Allegheny Mountains, excluding most of the present state of West Virginia. The disagreement over the land title continued until the Iroquois formally relinquished all ownership rights to the disputed territory during the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768.
The Treaty of Lancaster was a milestone in the history of Western Virginia. It allowed more than 1,000 European immigrants to settle in what is now eastern West Virginia between 1745 and 1755 unopposed by the Iroquois and other tribes. These pioneers established a firm enough toehold that not all were driven away during the French and Indian War (1754–63). Those that remained after the war set the stage for the remainder of Western Virginia to be settled at a rapid pace during the last quarter of the 18th century.
This Article was written by Greg Adamson
Last Revised on October 26, 2010
MAP THIS ARTICLE
View a Map of This Article »
ARTICLE TIMELINE
View Key Dates & Timeline »
Sources
Bailey, Kenneth P. The Ohio Company of Virginia and the Westward Movement. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1939, Reprint, Wennawoods Pub., 2000.
Mulkearn, Lois, ed. George Mercer Papers Relating to the Ohio Company of Virginia. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 1954.
Cite This Article
Adamson, Greg “Treaty of Lancaster.” e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 26 October 2010. Web. 13 August 2017.
Comments?
There aren’t any comments for this article yet.
Click here to read and contribute to the discussion →
Constitution Camp
Free For Kids having finished 1st thru 6th grade…
We the People… have the right to:
Meet King George, the Founding Fathers and Mothers
Great Games:
George’s Cannon Balls, Games Wet and Dry
Constitution Camp is an event for children having finished the 1st – 6th grades to learn about America’s most important document. June 19th-23th from 9 am to 12 noon in 2017.
The United States Constitution stands as a testament to the tenacity of Americans throughout history to maintain their liberties, freedoms and inalienable rights.