We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone.

We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone.

– Canassatego

Iroquois chief arguing for his tribe’s property rights with Lt. Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania, in 1742.

Canassatego Quotes