State Library of Pennsylvania - Benjamin Franklin

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  • Location Covered = Lancaster, Pa.

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Materials by and about Benjamin Franklin from the State Library collection digitized in commemoration of his 300th birthday.
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Narrative of the late massacres, in Lancaster County, of a number of Indians, friends of this province, by persons unknown : With some observations on the same.
Narrative of the late massacres, in Lancaster County, of a number of Indians, friends of this province, by persons unknown : With some observations on the same.
Paxton boys, Conestoga Indians, Pennsylvania -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
Benjamin Franklin decries the recent massacre by the self-styled Paxton Boys of peaceful Native Americans belonging to the Conestoga tribe in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the subsequent murder by mob action against those remaining Indians who had been taken to the county workhouse for protection. By contrast, he recounts examples of the "rite of hospitality" exercised on behalf of their enemies by ancient Greeks in Homer's Ulysses, by Muslim Moors under the Saracens, by native Africans in Guinea, and by Native Americans. Franklin also includes copies of proclamations by Governor John Penn against the outrage. The pamphlet concludes with calls for justice against the perpetrators.