The document is a secondary source, and Merritt, a historian, is directing her work toward scholars and students of early American history. Merritt discusses how before 1750, Natives and settlers traded, coexisted, and were tolerant of each other. William Penn, the Quaker who founded Pennsylvania, was credited with promoting harmony between the two communities. During that time, Indians and white settlers worked in unison to diminish the authority of the colonial authorities and the Six Nations. Colonial leaders began to see whites and Indians as threats to the social order. After the Seven Years' War, however, the two groups harbored much animosity towards each other and an "us versus them" mentality began to take shape which subsequently destroyed decades of cooperation between them. Chief Kanickhuno told William Penn's son that his father was well-liked because he did not restrict Indian travel and was for peaceful relations. He told his son he didn't meet the standards set by his father. None of them, however, did, as the author states, "[William Penn's heirs]…had failed to sustain his legacy of peace" (14). By the 1760s, whites and Indians began to “… assert their… group solidarity”