Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784)

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For the 1768 treaty, see Treaty of Fort Stanwix

Map showing Pennsylvania and the territory involved in the two purchases of 1768 and 1784.

The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed in October 1784 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York, between the United States and Native Americans. It was one of several treaties between Native Americans and the United States after the American victory in the Revolutionary War.

The treaty served as a peace treaty between the Iroquois and the Americans, since the Indians had been ignored in the Treaty of Paris. Joseph Brant was the leading Indian at the start of negotiations. He said "But we must observe to you, that we are sent in order to make peace, and that we are not authorized, to stipulate any particular cession of lands."^[1] Brant had to leave early for a planned trip to England. The leading Indian representatives who signed the treaty were Cornplanter and Captain Aaron Hill. In this treaty the Iroquois Confederacy ceded all claims to the Ohio territory, a strip of land along the Niagara river, and all land west of mouth of Buffalo creek.

The Six Nations council at Buffalo creek refused to ratify the treaty, denying that their delegates had the power to give away such large tracts of land. They asked the Americans for return of the deeds and promised to indemnify them for any presents they had given. The general Indian confederacy also disavowed the treaty because most of the Six Nations did not live in the Ohio territory. The Ohio Country natives, including the Shawnee Indians, the Mingo Indians, the Delaware Indians, and several other tribes rejected the treaty. A series of treaties and land sales with these tribes soon followed:

• 1785 Treaty of Fort McIntosh with Wyandotte, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa leaders for lands in Ohio
• 1786 Treaty of Fort Finney with Shawnee leaders for portions of Ohio
• 1788 Phelps and Gorham Purchase with the Iroqious for lands in New York State east of the Genesee River
• 1789 Treaty of Fort Harmar reiterating claims in Ohio
• 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua establishing peace with the Iroqious and affirming lands rights in New York State east of the Genesee River
• 1797 Treaty of Big Tree with the Iroqious for lands in New York State west of the Genesee River

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Kelsay, Isabel, Joseph Brant 1743-1807 Man of Two Worlds, 1984, ISBN 0-8156-0182-4