Another gem from the Philadelphia yearly meeting, on why Quakers were invested in Indian welfare:
“While endavouring amid many obstacles, to discharge the duties which devolve upon them, the Committee are at times encouraged by the belief, that this interesting concern, which for half a century has engaged the attention of the yearly meetings, originated in a sense of religious duty towards these poor oppressed people; and that however little may seem to have been accomplished in proportion to the time and means expended it is but discharging a debt of gratitude and love, due to the descendants of those who showed kindness to our forefathers when they were few in number and strangers in the wilderness; and that an obligation still rests upon us to lend our sympathies and our aid to them, now they have become a feeble remnant in the midst of a great nation, unable to shield themselves from the grasp of the oppressor.”