War of 1812 Era · 1805

Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., July 4, 1805

Concluded at Saint Louis

ID T-0034

Date 1805-07-04

Articles 1

Instrument Note

Parties

United States and the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Munsee, Delaware, Shawnee, and Potawatomi Nations

Context

Executed July 4, 1805 — deliberately chosen date — at Fort Industry on the Maumee River. This is a boundary clarification instrument resolving disputes about the Greenville treaty line in the Connecticut Western Reserve area of present-day Ohio.

Significance

The nations ceded territory in northwestern Ohio that had been disputed since Greenville — specifically the area that Connecticut had reserved for its settlers under the Land Ordinance framework. The U.S. paid annuity supplements. The instrument confirms the pattern: the Greenville cession was a framework, not a final resolution. Each disputed section required an additional instrument. The July 4 signing date was a deliberate statement about the nature of the transaction.

Legal Observation

Choosing July 4 as the signing date for an Indian land cession instrument is a document about power, not diplomacy. The nations who signed were being told, symbolically, that this transaction was part of the American founding story. Whether they understood that framing is not in the record.

TREATY WITH THE WYANDOTS, ETC. 1805. passage they shall at no time and on no account whatever be subject to any toll or exaction. Arr. 12. This treaty shall take efféct and be obligatory on the con- tracting parties as soon as the same shall have been ratified by the Pre- sident by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States.

IN TESTIMONY wHEREOF

, The said William Henry Harrison, and the chiefs and head men of the said Sac and Fox tribes have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals.

Done at

Saint Louis, in the district of Louisiana, on the third day of November, one thousand eight hundred and four; and of the independence of the United States, the twenty-ninth. (Signed) WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. Layouvois, or Laiyuwa, Outchequaha, or Sun Fish, Pashepaho, or the Giger, Hahshequaxhiqua, or the Bear. Quashquame, or Jumping Fish, In presence of (the words «a branch of the Illinois," in the third line of the second article, and the word « forever,” in the fifth line of the same article, being first inter- lined;) Wm. Prince, Secretary to the Commissioner. John Griffin, one of the Judges of the Indiana Territory. J. Bruff, Major Art’ry U.S. Amos Stoddard, Capt. corps of Artillerists, P. Chouteau, Agent de la Traité Louisiaina pour le Départemant, In- nuage. Ch. Gratiot. Aug. Chouteau. Vigo. S. Warrell, Lt. U. S. Artillery. D. Delaunay. Sworn Interpreters, Joseph Barron, Hypolite Bolon. 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 8785–8824.