[WHARTON, Samuel]. Plain Facts: Being an Examination into the Rights of the Indian Nations of America

Book

18th Century Medicine in Philadelphia

Name/Title

Description

Philadelphia: R. Aitken, 1781. 164, [2]pp. Disbound. With the signature of George Morgan on the title page along with the signature of Robert Goodloe Harper on the rear free endpaper. "...Declared by all to be the ablest treatise on the tenure of the Indian claim to the title of lands occupied by them, ever written" - Field. Though long thought to be written by Benjamin Franklin (and was clearly influenced by his writings), PLAIN FACTS was written by William Wharton, a Philadelphia merchant and land speculator who was also one of the principal members of the Indiana Land Company. The Company acquired a large tract of land in what is presently West Virginia, and before the Revolution tried unsuccessfully to secure a Royal charter. Virginia later claimed the area, and in 1779 voided the title which the Indians had given to the Company. In 1781 Wharton, Benjamin Franklin and others set out to secure a charter from Congress; PLAIN FACTS... was written to rally support for their cause. This is one of several tracts Wharton wrote in the cause of the Indiana Company (see Vail and Howes for the others), but certainly the most important, especially in the land claims in America from the papal bulls of Alexander VI to the delegates of the Six Nations quoting the first sentence of the Declaration of Independence to the Governor of New York. Includes a section of "authentic documents proving that the territory westward of the Allegany (sic) Mountain never belonged to Virginia." Wharton was a frequent correspondent of Franklin's. He lived in London from 1769 to 1779 and visited Franklin in Paris and later served as a Continental Congress delegate from Delaware in 1782- 1783. Wharton then served as a judge in the Philadelphia area. Many of his letters with Franklin deal with land speculations and other business interests. Rare to the trade. RareBookHub lists one copy sold in 2008, one in 1999, and before that none since 1965.

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

References

Other Number

Howes W-307. Field 1224. Vail 672. Hildeburn 4133. Sabin 63221. Streeter Sale 1302. The only edition.

Condition

Overall Condition

Very Good

Date Examined

Jun 4, 2025

General Notes

Note Type

Historical Note

Note

George Morgan (February 14, 1743 – March 10, 1810) was a merchant, land speculator, and United States Indian agent during the American Revolutionary War, when he was given the rank of colonel in the Continental Army.[1] He negotiated with Lenape and other Native American tribes in western Pennsylvania to gain their support during the American Revolutionary War. An associate of the Lenape chief White Eyes, Morgan cared for his son George Morgan White Eyes for several years after White Eyes died. George Morgan worked as a clerk for John Bayton and Samuel Wharton at the mercantile firm Bayton & Wharton in Philadelphia. After receiving inheritance, he became a junior partner at Baynton, Wharton & Morgan in 1760.[4] In 1764, he married John Baynton's daughter Mary. Enjoying the patronage of Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the firm started to trade with Illinois Country ceded to Great Britain by France after the end of the French and Indian War, using Fort Pitt Trading Post in present-day Pittsburgh as a forward base.[5] Morgan made frequent business trips to the frontier and developed good relations with Native Americans. Lenape made Morgan a member of their tribe naming him Tamanend in honor of one of their great warriors. George Morgan was made an agent for Indian affairs in the Middle Department in 1776, and commissioned on January 8, 1777, as colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was assigned to Fort Pitt to oversee diplomacy with Native Americans in the area: Lenape, Shawnee, and others. The American rebels hoped to gain them as allies, or at least convince them to be neutral and not ally with the British. While there Morgan worked closely with the Lenape chief White Eyes; the two became trusted friends. (Wikipedia)