A nearly naked American Indian shakes William Penn’s hand, sculpted in
sandstone in the United States Capitol. Having been in Philadelphia in August,
I can report that if this negotiation occurred then, Penn was near death through
heat exhaustion. Having also been in Philadelphia after Thanksgiving, I can
report that if this negotiation took place in winter, the Natives were suffering
from frostbite.
Axtell also criticizes textbooks for still using such terms as half-breed,massacre, and war-whooping.^7 Reserving milder terms such as frontier
initiative and settlers for whites is equally biased. If we cast off our