Treaty: Fort Stanwix, 1784

Sometimes treaties between Natives and various colonial, state and the federal government caused more problems than they solved.  A case in point is the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. 

This was one of the first major treaties between the United States Government and a Native tribe(s), in this case the Iroquois Confederacy.  The land concerned was most of the modern-day state of Pennsylvania, portions of Ohio and New York.  In the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783, the land rights of Native tribes were overlooked.  As more settlers poured into the backcountry, the Continental Congress realized it would have to do something about solidifying title to these lands from at least some of the tribes concerned.  Since the Iroquois were considered the primary owners, according to European-American theories of land ownership, the government considered that it could treat with them.  The Shawnee, Delaware and other tribes were neither invited or consulted.

Joseph Brant and Cornplanter were among the principal negotiators for the Iroquois side.  Brant made it clear that he could only negotiate peace.  He wouldn't deal with any land concessions.  He soon had to leave the treaty talks for a trip to England and Cornplanter took over the negotiations.  He ceded most of what is now Pennsylvania for a sizeable tract of land to the Seneca.  The treaty was signed at Fort Stanwix near Rome, New York on October 22, 1794.  When the Iroquois Council was informed, they at once disavowed the treaty, saying that their delegates had no authority to make land concessions.  Other tribes were also heard from, often in the manner of continued raids on settlements.  The government would have to negotiate with each tribe for its own hunting range.

In 1785, the Treaty of Fort McIntosh dealt with the rights of the Wyndot, Chippewa, Delaware and Ottawa to land in Pennsylvania and the Ohio River Valley.  The Shawnee ceded their rights in 1786 with the Treaty of Fort Finney.  The state of New York arranged a purchase of primarily Seneca land in 1788.  There further treaties with the Iroquois at Fort Harmer in 1789, Canadaigua in 1794, and Big Tree in 1797.  This hodgepodge of federal and state agreements would tangle up title to lands on the frontier even further, particularly in New York, prompting the federal government to disallow states from negotiating treaties with Native tribes.