odes" of
operation represented a consensus, equally, freely, and fairly arrived
at--a common "law" based upon general agreement and practical
acceptance. There were subsequent appeals to regular courts of law, but,
surprisingly enough, in every instance the fairness of the judgments was
sustained. No Fair Play decision was reversed. Furthermore, the
frequency of elections and the use of the principle of rotation in
office were additional assurances against the usurpation of power by any
small clique or ruling class. Popular sovereignty, political equality,
and popular consultation--these were the basic elements of fair play.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Colonial Records_, X, 95. The Fair Play settlers were outlawed by a
proclamation of the Council signed by Governor John Penn on Sept. 20,
1773. The proclamation was issued "strictly enjoyning and requiring all
and every Person and Persons, already settled or Residing on any Lands
beyond the Boundary Line of the Last Indian Purchase, immediately to
evacuate their illegal Settlements, and to depart and remove themselves
from the said Lands without Delay, on pain of being prosecuted with the
utmost rigour of the Law." The "Last Indian Purchase" referred to here
is, of course, the Stanwix Treaty of 1768.

[2] Smith, _Laws_, II, 195.

[3] Richard W. Leopold and Arthur S. Link (eds.), _Problems in American
History_ (Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1957), p. 22. The entire first
problem in this excellent text deals with the question of authority in
American government.

[4] This Fair Play system was certainly not unique, for other frontier
societies employed the same technique, even down to the ruling tribunal
of three members. See Solon and Elizabeth Buck, _The Planting of
Civilization in Western Pennsylvania_ (Pittsburgh, 1939), pp. 431, 451.
However, it must be pointed out that the Bucks' "Fair Play" reference is
based on Smith, _Laws_, II, 195, which Samuel P. Bates used in "a
general application of the practice to W. Pa. areas after 1768," in his
_History of Greene County, Pennsylvania_ (Chicago, 1888). This was the
interpretation given in a letter from Dr. Alfred P. James to the author,
July 17, 1963. Dr. James also says that "It is possible that there are
evidences of Fair Play Men titles in the court records of Washington and
Greene Counties."

[5] This designation was often employed to classify those settlers who
took up lands beyond the limits of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in