Iroquois-Delaware Grand Council, 1742

[The Pennsylvania government claimed that the Delaware had given up their claims to land and the government claimed to have paid the Delaware for the land. The Delaware did not recognize this and did not want to leave their homeland. The government asked the Iroquois to intervene.]

Iroquois Chiefs to the Delaware:

"Cousins, Let this Belt of Wampum serve to Chastize You; You ought to be taken by the Hair of the Head and shaked severely till you recover your Senses and become Sober; you don't know what Ground you stand on, nor what you are doing.... We conquer'd You, we made Women of you, you know you are Women, and can no more sell Land than Women. Nor is it fitt you should have the Power of Selling Lands since you would abuse it. This land that you Claim is gone through Your Guts. You have been furnished with Cloaths and Meat and Drink by the Goods paid you for it, and now You want it again like Children as you are.... For all these reasons we charge You to remove instantly. We don't give you the liberty to think about it. You are Women; take the Advice of a Wise Man and remove immediately... Depart the Council and consider what has been said to you.”

Iroquois-Delaware Grand Council, 1742, Philadelphia: Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, 1851-53, 4: 578-80.