A very scarce work, not offered at auction since 1965, involving the disastrous Paxton Boys Massacre of the Conestoga Indians.
Tensions between Quakers and Presbyterians by the mid-1760's had reached a boiling point. Pennsylvania had been founded as a Quaker colony, and though Quakers were declining as a proportion of the population, they retained enormous political and economic influence. The Presbyterians, largely Scots-Irish and concentrated in the western counties, were growing rapidly in numbers and increasingly resentful of what they saw as Quaker dominance of provincial affairs. This was not merely a political disagreement — it carried the full weight of ethnic, theological, and cultural differences.
The relationship reached a bursting point during what came to be known as The Paxton Boys Massacre, or more politely, The Paxton Boys Affair. It occurred when a mob of Scots-Irish Presbyterians from western Pennsylvania massacred a group of Conestoga Indians and then marched on Philadelphia, demanding that the Quaker influenced assembly move to a more aggressive posture toward Indian affairs.
[Paxton Boys Massacre]. An Address to the Rev. Dr. Alison, the Rev. Mr. Ewing, and others, Trustees of the Corporation for the Relief of Presbyterian Ministers, their Widows and Children: Being a Vindication of the Quakers from the Aspersions of the said Trustees in their Letter published in the London Chronicle, No. 1223. To which is Prefixed the Said Letter. By a Lover of Truth. N.P. [Philadelphia]. 1765. 47pp.
Original rather nicely preserved pamphlet with hand-stitched reinforcement as shown. Half title present [scarce], with handling, personal family records, etc., The remainder generally clean with some marginal handling and folds. One page with a small ink stain.
