Over this series, we've uncovered many hidden, unexpected, and surprising things. Today we get the most head-spinning of all. 

Because the Paxtons, in their wake, kicked off another war. A war that would shortly blow up the political landscape and ultimately the government of Pennsylvania and send Benjamin Franklin fleeing for help. To the King of England.

In this episode, we look at two of the foundational treatises of America. One explores the rights of men the other explores the justification for exterminating Native Americans. The two documents could not be more different but they share some shocking similarities and convergences -including the same editor - Benjamin Franklin. 

After destroying Conestoga Town and massacring its inhabitants a new larger Paxton army rises in the backcountry of Lancaster County and marches east over frozen fields to destroy Indians sheltered in Philadelphia and anyone helping them. They are stopped by a man with a pen.

In this episode, we see that- it didn't have to be like this. Not all powerful men seek to make their massacres seem just. And that the brave can seek justice and are swayed by mercy.

Evidence not seen for nearly 300 years is discovered in a long-forgotten archive. Evidence that reveals an answer to the question of why the Conestoga was murdered, who knew about it even before it happened - and could have stopped it. 

In the wake of the destruction of the Conestoga Town community, Native Americans react with outrage; in the Settler community, women and men of letters respond with shock and horror. Among the colonial elites supporters of the Paxtons emerge from the shadows.

The Paxton militia, believing that all Indians are now the enemy, launch a genocidal campaign and ride to Conestoga Town. 

1763: English America gets a continent. Native America launches a war of independence. And on the Frontier between the two, pacifist Quakers fund an army. The Paxton Rangers.

The first, First World War begins—not in Sarajevo, but in Pennsylvania—when a young Virginia Plantation owner and part-time Army officer walks into a room full of gunpowder with a lit match. And sets the world ablaze.

With William Penn gone, Pennsylvania begins its transformation from a Peaceable Kingdom to a violent frontier. Leading this, a new wave of settlers establish a base of operation at a place they name Paxton.