thumb|Under the Walking Treaty of 1737 during the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial era, the sons of Province of Pennsylvania founder William Penn acquired the shaded area of present-day Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania and the West Jersey region in colonial New Jersey.]]
The Walking Purchase, also known as the Walking Treaty, was a 1737 agreement between the family of William Penn, the original proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania, and the Lenape native Indians. In the purchase, the Penn family and proprietors produced a deed to claim that a 1686 treaty with the Lenape ceded an area of 1,200,000 acres (4,860 km<sup>2</sup>) in present-day Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania in colonial Pennsylvania, which included a western land boundary extending as far west as a man could walk in a day and a half - its namesake.
The area is along the northern reaches of the Delaware River, on Pennsylvania's border with what was called, at the time, West Jersey. Encyclopædia Britannica refers to the treaty as a "land swindle". The Lenape appealed to the Iroquois Indian tribe to their north for aid on the issue, but the Iroquois refused their request, ultimately siding with the Penn interests.
Nearly 300 years later, in 2004, a lawsuit was filed over the continuing dispute. In the case, Delaware Nation v. Pennsylvania, the Delaware Tribe, one of three later federally-recognized Lenape tribes, and its descendants in the 21st century claimed of land included in the original purchase in 1737, but the U.S. District Court granted the Commonwealth's motion to dismiss. It ruled that the case was nonjusticiable, even if the Delaware Nation's allegations of fraud were factually accurate. This ruling was upheld through several appeals in the United States courts of appeals, which culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear the case, thereby upholding the lower courts' decision.
History
17th century
thumb|[[Thomas Penn, governor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1746 to 1775, ]]
thumb|[[Lappawinsoe, who sold regions of present-day eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey to the sons of William Penn in the Walking Purchase, ]]
thumb|A historical marker in [[Nockamixon Township, Pennsylvania|Nockamixon Township, erected in 1949 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission commemorating the Walking Purchase]]
In 1681, the founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, William Penn, enjoyed a reputation for fair dealing with the Lenape. reaching the modern vicinity of present-day Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, 70 miles (113 km) to the north. At the end of the walk, Sheriff Smith drew a perpendicular line back toward the northeast, and claimed all the land east of these two lines ending at the Delaware River that now represents the border between eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey.
This resulted in an area of 1,200,932 acres (4,860 km<sup>2</sup>), only slightly smaller than the size of Rhode Island, located in seven present-day counties in eastern Pennsylvania: Pike, Monroe, Carbon, Schuylkill, Northampton, Lehigh, and Bucks.
The Delaware Tribe leaders appealed for assistance to the Iroquois confederacy tribe to the north, who claimed hegemony over the Delaware River, but the Iroquois leaders decided that it was not in their best interest to intervene on behalf of their southern neighbors since Iroquois leader Captain Logan already made a deal with the Iroquois to support the colonial side. As a result, the Lenape vacated the Walking Purchase lands in present-day eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey.
Lenape chiefs Lappawinsoe, Manawkyhickon, Sassoonan, Nenatcheehunt, and others continued protesting the arrangement, since the Lenape were forced into Shamokin and Wyoming River valleys, which were already crowded with other displaced tribes. Some Lenape later moved further west into the Ohio Country in present-day Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and to southern and western regions in colonial New France in present-day Quebec. Because of the Walking Purchase, the Lenape grew to distrust the Pennsylvania government, and later brought suit in federal court.
Delaware Nation v. Pennsylvania
Eastern District federal court (2004)
In 2004, Delaware Nation, representing the Lenape, filed suit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, seeking included in the 1737 Walking Purchase and patented in 1741, which was known as Tatamy's Place. The court granted the Commonwealth's motion to dismiss. According to the federal Eastern District Court: