Does Understanding the American Project Begin with William Penn?

“He was the first to negotiate with Native Americans as a Christian, keeping the Christian-Quaker pacifist traditions in his negotiations. He actually regarded the Native Americans as equals…”

On Friday, November 20th, Olivia Malloy was joined by author Jim Proser for a discussion about his latest book concept, America’s Original Architects. Exploring his Bucks County, Pennsylvania roots, Mr. Proser found that the roles of William Penn and the Lenni Lenape people in American history are not given the attention they are arguably due. Penn’s Quakerism and the Lenape’s commitment to peace worked in tandem to shape the United States, Mr. Proser argues. As such, he hopes to rewrite the narrative, which he believes developed through Marxism, of a systematically racist nation by sharing the values of pre-Constitution Americans.

Can you tell me a little bit about America’s Original Architects and how this all started for you?

I’ve been thinking about it for a few years. I have a very close friend who is a descendent of William Penn. I grew up in this area—Bucks County, Pennsylvania—so the Lenni Lenape have always been a legend and an interest of mine. We actually had a Lenape canoe in our yard for many years as a child, growing up. My friend, whom I met later in life, is the genealogist and historian of his clan of the William Penn descendants. He always told me about these remarkable stories about the Indians and how they helped the Quakers and were very instructive and helpful to them as they had their first winter in Bucks County. These are all places that I knew as a child—what happened there, as far as Indian villages and Indian hunting arrowheads and the various camping spots of Indians around the Bucks County area.