The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 | Page 4

PLAY 30
IV. THE FARMERS' FRONTIER 47
V. FAIR PLAY SOCIETY 58
VI. LEADERSHIP AND THE PROBLEMS OF THE FRONTIER 76
VII. DEMOCRACY ON THE PENNSYLVANIA FRONTIER 89
VIII. FRONTIER ETHNOGRAPHY AND THE TURNER THESIS
100
BIBLIOGRAPHY 113
INDEX 119

[Map]

CHAPTER ONE
Fair Play Territory: Geography and Topography
The Colonial period of American history has been of primary concern
to the historian because of its fundamental importance in the
development of American civilization. What the American pioneers
encountered, particularly in the interior settlements, was, basically, a
frontier experience. An ethnographic analysis of one part of the
Provincial frontier of Pennsylvania indicates the significance of that
colonial influence. The "primitive agricultural democracy" of this
frontier illustrates the "style of life" which provided the basis for a
distinctly "American" culture which emerged from the colonial
experience.[1]
While this writer's approach is dominantly Turnerian, this study does
not necessarily contend that this Pennsylvania frontier was typical of
the general colonial experience, nor that this ethnographic analysis
presents in microcosm the development of the American ethos.
However, on this farmer's frontier there was adequate evidence of the
composite nationality, the self-reliance, the independence, and the
nationalistic and rationalistic traits which Turner characterized as
American.
In his famed essay on "The Significance of the Frontier," Turner saw
the frontier as the crucible in which the English, Scotch-Irish, and
Palatine Germans were merged into a new and distinctly American
nationality, no longer characteristically English.[2] The Pennsylvania
frontier, with its dominant Scotch-Irish and German influence, is a case
in point.
The Fair Play territory of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna
River, the setting for this analysis, was part of what Turner called the
second frontier, the Allegheny Mountains.[3] Located about ninety
miles up the Susquehanna from the present State capital at Harrisburg,
and extending some twenty-five-odd miles westward between the
present cities of Williamsport and Lock Haven, this territory was the

heartland of the central Pennsylvania frontier in the decade preceding
the American Revolution.
The term "Fair Play settlers," used to designate the inhabitants of this
region, is derived from the extra-legal political system which these
democratic forerunners set up to maintain order in their developing
community. Being squatters and, consequently, without the bounds of
any established political agency, they formed their own government,
and labeled it "Fair Play."
However, despite the apparent simplicity of the above geographic
description, the exact boundaries of the Fair Play territory have been
debated for almost two centuries. Before we can assess the democratic
traits of the Fair Play settlers, we must first clearly define what is meant
by the Fair Play territory.
The terminal points in this analysis are 1768 and 1784, the dates of the
two Indian treaties made at Fort Stanwix (now Rome), New York. The
former opened up the Fair Play territory to settlement, and the latter
brought it within the limits of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thus
legalizing the de facto political structure which had developed in the
interim.
According to the treaty of 1768, negotiated by Sir William Johnson
with the Indians of the Six Nations, the western line of colonial
settlement was extended from the Allegheny Mountains, previously set
by the Proclamation of 1763, to a line extending to the mouth of
Lycoming Creek, which empties into the West Branch of the
Susquehanna River. The creek is referred to as the Tiadaghton in the
original of the treaty.[4] The question of whether Pine Creek or
Lycoming Creek was the Tiadaghton is the first major question of this
investigation. The map which faces page one outlines the territory in
question.
Following the successful eviction of the French in the French and
Indian War, the American counterpart of the Seven Years' War, the
crown sought a more orderly westward advance than had been the rule.
Heretofore, the establishment of frontier settlements had stirred up

conflict with the Indians and brought frontier pleas to the colonial
assemblies for military support and protection. The result was greater
pressure on the already depleted exchequer. The opinion that a more
controlled and less expensive westward advance could be accomplished
is reflected in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
This proclamation has frequently been misinterpreted as a definite
effort to deprive the colonies of their western lands. The very language
of the document contradicts this. For example, the expression "for the
present, and until our further pleasure be known" clearly indicates the
tentative nature of the proclamation, which was "to prevent [the
repetition of] such irregularities for the future" with the Indians,
irregularities which had prompted Pontiac's Rebellion.[5] The orderly
advancement of this colonial frontier was to be accomplished through
subsequent treaties with the Indians. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix in
1768 is one such example of those treaties.[6]
The term "Fair Play settlers" refers to the residents of the area