Early Republic · 1784

Treaty with the Six Nations, 1784

Concluded at Fort Stanwix

ID T-0002

Date 1784-10-22

Articles 4

Instrument Note

Parties

United States and the Six Nations (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga)

Context

Executed at Fort Stanwix on October 22, 1784. The Six Nations Confederacy had been one of the most powerful political forces in North America for centuries. Most of the confederacy allied with Britain during the Revolution. This is the post-war settlement.

Significance

The language is notably different from the Delaware treaty. The United States does not acknowledge the Six Nations as an equal party — it 'gives peace' to them and 'receives them into protection.' That framing — the U.S. as grantor of peace, the Six Nations as recipient — inverts the previous relationship and establishes the legal basis for the territorial demands in the articles that follow.

Legal Observation

Compare the preamble language here to the Delaware preamble. The Delaware treaty opens as a mutual agreement between parties. The Six Nations treaty opens with the United States giving peace and the Six Nations receiving it. That asymmetry in framing tracks the shift in military balance after 1783.

ARTICLES Concluded at Fort Stanwix, on the twenty-second day of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, between Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, Commissioners Ple- nipotentiary from the United States, in Congress assembled, on the one Pars, and the Sachems and Warriors of the Six Nations, on the other. Tue United States of America give peace to the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas and Cayugas, and receive them into their protection upon the following conditions :

ARTICLE I

Six hostages shall be immediately delivered to the commissioners by the said nations, to remain in possession of the United States, till all the prisoners, white and black, which were taken by the said Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas and Cayugas, or by any of them, in the late war, from among the people of the United States, shall be delivered up.

ARTICLE II

The Oneida and Tuscarora nations shall be secured in the possession of the lands on which they are settled.

ARTICLE IIL

A line shall be drawn, beginning at the mouth of a creek about four miles east of Niagara, called Oyonwayea, or Johnston's Landing-Place, upon the lake named by the Indians Oswego, and by us Ontario; from thence southérly in a direction always four miles east of the carrying- path, between Lake Erie and Ontario, to the mouth of Tehoseroron or Buffaloe Creek on Lake Erie; thence south to the north boundary of the state of Pennsylvania; thence west to the end of the said north boundary; thence south along the west boundary of the said state, to the river Ohio; the said line from the mouth of the Oyonwayea to the Ohio, shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations, so that the Six Nations shall and do yield to the United States, all Oct. 22, 1784. Hostages to be given till prison- ers are deliver- ed up. Possession of lands secured. Boundaries. Goods given to the Indians. Jan. 21, 1785. Hostages to be given till ers are restored. tection o Puls. TREATY WITH THE WYANDOTS, ETC. 1785. to the country west of the said boundary, and tl hey eet Hd Peace possession of the lands they inhabit east and north of the same, reserving only six miles square round the fort of Oswego, to the United States, for the support of the same.

ARTICLE IV

The Commissioners of the United States, in consideration of the present circumstances of the Six Nations, and in execution of the humane and liberal views of the United States upon the signing of the above articles, will order goods to be delivered to the said Six Nations for their use and comfort. Oliver Wolcott, Oneidas. Richard Butler, Otyadonenghti, Arthur Lee. Dagaheari. Mohawks. C ayuga. Towighnatogon. d Oraghgoanendagen. Onondagas. Tuscarora. Oheadarighton, Ononghsawenghti, Kendarindgon. Tharondawagen. Sena ; Seneca Abeal. Tayagonendagighti, Tehonwaeaghriyagi. Kayenthoghke. WirNzssEs:— Sam. Jo. Atlee, Wm. Maclay, Fras. Johnston, Pennsylvania Com- missioners. Aaron Hill, Alexander Campbell, Saml. Kirkland, Miss'y. J ames Dean, Saml. Montgomery, Derick Lane, Capt. John Mercer, Lieut. William Pennington, Lieut. Mahlon Ford, Ensign. Hugh Peebles. To the Indian names are subjoined a mark and seal.

Source: U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. VII. Edited by Richard Peters, Esq. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846. Reprinted by Dennis & Co., Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., 1962. Source lines 1654–1804.