William Penn demonstrated civic engagement to Native Americans by buying their lands without using force, by celebrating treaties with them and by respecting their traditions and beliefs.
Explanation:
In 1681, King Chales II granted William Penn a large territory in North America. Before going personally, William Penn sent his cousin William Markham to the American colony on his behalf, to ensure the loyalty of the inhabitants of the territory and buy land from the Indians. In 1682, after his cousin took the necessary steps, Penn traveled to his colony. Once there, he personally celebrated an equitable treaty with the indigenous peoples in Shackamaxon (present-day Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia). The scene with the Lenape tribe is remembered as one of the most notable moments of tolerance and pacifism in the colonies. Penn was disarmed and without escorts to conclude a deal. Therefore, the Pennsylvania colony never suffered from Indian attacks. Â
Penn was the first to suggest the idea of constitutional amendments and established a government in which, unlike the Europe of the time, guaranteed rights such as separation and limitation of political powers, freedom of worship, the pursuit of social equality, material equity, and the greatest possible respect for civil liberties. It also sought the vindication of the dignity of women and their active participation in public life, the free entry into the colonist territories (with great influence of the antiauthoritarian ethics of Quakerism), and the absence of an army, the prison reform, and the peaceful coexistence with Native Americans, since Quakers opposed war and the use of violence.
