Wednesday 20 September 2023

Today Is – The Pennsylvania Walking Purchase Concludes

I have no idea where in the USA Pennsylvania is and cannot even spell it correctly without Googling it but i did find out that it came about when King Charles II paid off his debt to William Penn by handing him a large piece of his North American land holdings which would become present-day Pennsylvania.
William Penn was an English writer, religious thinker and Quaker who was an advocate of democracy and religious freedom known for his amicable relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans who lived Pennsylvania at the time but relations took a swift turn for the worse when his family took control and demanded more area from the Native Americans who, not ones to argue with armed men at a meeting, agreed to a deal which would give over some of their land in the West of the area to the expanding colonists, as much land as a man could walk in a day.
Known as the Walking Purchase, the Native Americans put that distance at about 40 miles but the Penns hired the three fastest runners and set them off and they got to 70 miles which they somehow unfairly rounded up to equaling 1876 square miles (calculator's hadn't been invented yet obviously) and they have been arguing over it ever since.
Why is an English woman concerned with Pennsylvania you may ask? Well because last year i became an honorary Pennsylvanian after getting onto the Democrat email list and regularly receive updates on what Jo Biden (when he's awake) and his gang is doing and it always comes with a request for a donation from 'your area'.
This got me wondering where did they think i was because my area is the UK and last time i looked at an atlas (admittedly quite a while ago), the UK was not an area in the USA.
Another email cleared it up as it was from the computer of John Fetterman, the Candidate for Pennsylvania, who is asking people from my area, from Erie to Pittsburgh to Scarnton to Philly to contribute $10, $25, $50, $100 or $250.
As a non-yankee doodle i obviously contributed a big fat nothing but i did offer something more valuable than financial help to Mr Fetterman, i advised that in his picture he was obviously trying for serious and statesmanlike and i am sure he was a lovely man but to be fair it makes him looks like the sort of person i would phone the police about if i saw you hanging around my car. Try for a smile rather than the 'You wanna keep those kneecaps?' glare.
I then wished him good luck in his upcoming election and signed off with a cheery Go Steelers!! (in whatever sport it is that they play)

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