Treaty of Canandaigua 1794

by Jemison, G. Peter; Schein, Anna M.; Powless, Irving

• ISBN13: 9781574160529
• ISBN10: 1574160524
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-01
• Publisher: Clear Light Pub

Table of Contents

Speech	viii
Chief Clear Sky
Letter	ix
President Bill Clinton
Preface	xi
John C. Mohawk
Introduction	1	(6)
G. Peter Jemison
The Thanksgiving Address	7	(6)
Clayton Logan
The Edge of the Woods	13	(2)
Chief Jake Swamp
Treaty Making	15	(20)
Chief Irving Powless Jr.
Treaty Making: The Legal Record	35	(8)
Paul Williams
The Canandaigua Treaty in Historical Perspective	43	(24)
John C. Mohawk
The Canandaigua Treaty: a View from the Six Nations	67	(9)
Chief Oren Lyons
The States, the United States & the Canandaigua Treaty	76	(8)
Daniel K. Richter
Some Observations on the Treaty of Canandaigua	84	(36)
Robert W. Venables
The Mohawk Nation & the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua	120	(7)
Doug George-Kanentiio
Who Owns Grand Island (Erie County, New York)?	127	(22)
Laurence M. Hauptman
Sovereignty & Treaty Rights---We Remember	149	(13)
G. Peter Jemison
``Broken Promises Come High''	162	(13)
Joy A. Bilharz
The Right to Sovereignty	175	(8)
Ron LaFrance
Celebration at the Chosen Spot: The 200th Anniversary of the Canandaigua Treaty, 11 November 1794--1994	183	(44)
Anna M. Schein
Epilogue	227	(6)
Doug George-Kanentiio
Appendix: Council Fire at Canandaigua: Selected Historical Source Documents	233	(75)
Anna M. Schein
1790: Appeal of the Senecas to George Washington
Cornplanter, Halftown, and the Great Tree. Address to George Washington. 1 Dec. 1790	235	(5)
Washington, George. Reply to 1 Dec. 1790 Address of Cornplanter, Halftown, and the Great Tree. 29 Dec. 1790	240	(3)
Cornplanter, Halftown, and the Great Tree. Second Address to George Washington. 10 Jan. 1791	243	(3)
Washington, George. Reply to 10 Jan 1791 Address of Cornplanter, Halftown, and the Great Tree. 19 Jan. 1791	246	(1)
Cornplanter, Halftown, and the Great Tree. Third Address to George Washington. 7 Feb. 1791	247	(1)
Knox, Henry. Reply to 7 Feb. 1791 Address of Cornplanter, Halftown, and the Great Tree. 8 Feb. 1791	248	(1)
1794: Councils at Buffaloe Creek
Six Nations. Reply to Address by General Knox as delivered by General Chapin 10 Feb. 1794. 21 Apr. 1794	249	(3)
Proceedings of a Council Held at Buffaloe Creek. 18 June 1794	252	(6)
1794: Treaty Negotiations in Canandaigua
Knox, Henry. Letter to Israel Chapin. 25 July 1794	258	(1)
Chapin, Israel. Address to the Chiefs of the Six Nations at Buffaloe Creek. 15 Aug. 1794	259	(1)
Savery, William. The Canandaigua Treaty Excerpt from the Journal	260	(35)
1795: Text of the Canandaigua Treaty
United States Congress. American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 3rd Congress 2d Session, No. 58	295	(3)
Pickering, Timothy. Letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania. 27 Jan. 1795	298	(6)
1795: Ratification of the Treaty
George Washington
Washington, George. Ratification of Treaty of Peace With Indians. 22 Jan. 1795	304	(2)
Pickering, Timothy. Letter to the Six Nations. 31 Mar. 1795	306	(2)
Permissions	308	(2)
Index	310	(24)
About the Contributors	334	(1)
About the Editors	335

Excerpts

Introduction

G. Peter Jemison

History for many Americans is exclusively thought of as beginning with the arrival of Europeans on these shores. Many Iroquois people who today continue to inhabit portions of their aboriginal territory are not aware of their specific history. Instead, a general sense of loss of land and reduction of territory over centuries, leading to the present reservation era, substitutes for specifics.

    Treaties, when and if they are known, remain vaguely understood by many Americans, often regarded as obsolete relics of a distant past. The most vociferous critics of treaties made with Native Americans wish to view them all as invalid because they were made a long time ago. Treaties with Native Americans belong in the past, best forgotten and certainly no longer legitimate after all these years.

    This is a curious argument, and if we accept that logic, it can be as easily said that the United States Constitution is invalid because it was made so long ago. A friend reminded me that there are people who, in fact, do feel that way about the Constitution. What about the Declaration of Independence? That's a document with some age--let's put it to a vote, shall we? All those American citizens who would prefer to return to the status of a colony under England please stand up.

    My point is that a treaty , according to Article 4 of the United States Constitution, is the supreme law of the land . Treaties are solemn agreements between nations: they truly test the integrity of those who sign such agreements. Native Americans have not fared well when the United States government has been relied upon to uphold its word. A common expression holds that U.S. treaties are not worth the paper they are written on.

    This book investigates the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794, one of the first treaties the United States entered into. The Canandaigua Treaty, also known as the Pickering Treaty, or the George Washington Covenant, is between the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy) and the United States of America. This treaty, which created a lasting peace and friendship between the Six Nations (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora) and the United States, was signed November 11, 1794, and ratified January 21, 1795. Two copies of the treaty were drafted in Canandaigua, New York, on November 11, 1794. One copy is held in the collection of the Ontario County Historical Society in Canandaigua and the other is in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The treaty bears the United States seal and George Washington's signature and is dated January 21, 1795.

    Peace and friendship forever were the basis upon which the Haudenosaunee leadership signed the Canandaigua Treaty. This was totally consistent with the Great Law and the message of the Peacemaker, who united the Haudenosaunee. The United States government was equally desirous of establishing peace and exercising its authority as the sovereign government over the fifteen newly federalized states. The treaty recognizes the sovereignty of the Haudenosaunee and the United States and establishes in writing that the aboriginal lands belonging to the Haudenosaunee are theirs. There is recognition by the United States government that Haudenosaunee territories are an allodium (land that is the absolute property of the owner): this point is clear in Articles II, III and IV of the Canandaigua Treaty.

    We Haudenosaunee remain indebted to the foresight of our Chiefs and Clan Mothers, who had the wisdom to negotiate an agreement that reaches into our lives today and that continues to have a life in the federal courts of the United States. Some of the terms of the Canandaigua Treaty are still being met. For example, treaty cloth still arrives by United Parcel Service to our territories during the fall of each year. This has been ongoing since 1794, although the cloth has gone from bolts of calico to unbleached cotton and now to inexpensive muslin. The allotment of cloth is tied to an amount of money established in 1794 and is distributed by our nations on a per capita basis.

    Today the treaty is cited in all land claims cases affecting the Haudenosaunee. The recent claims of the Cayuga Nation and the Oneida Nation have been upheld all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Land claims have become a highly charged and emotional issue in New York State, particularly in counties affected by current claims. The Canandaigua Treaty remains, in the face of challenges, a valid legal document unaffected by its age.

    However, as recently as December 1999, arguments were made that if a historical injustice occurred, it was long ago, "and those people are, after all, dead." Don't punish the innocent, the argument goes. Federal laws involving Indians, some individuals believe, have a time limit built in that extinguishes them automatically, particularly when that law legitimizes our aboriginal title to our land.

    In fact, according to U.S. constitutional law, however, there are no statutes of limitations that apply to treaties. So convinced are we Haudenosaunee of our sovereignty that we issue our own passports to travel abroad, using them in countries that honor them. This writer has twice traveled to New Zealand to meet with Maori artists and others, each time with a Haudenosaunee passport. Our passports have made a great impression on the Maori people who are, of course, the aboriginal inhabitants of Aotearoa.

    The historical record of speeches and correspondence between our Haudenosaunee Chiefs and George Washington prior to the Canandaigua Treaty give clear indication that the Chiefs fully understood the duplicity they were witnessing and well understood our relations with England and the Thirteen Fires (the thirteen original U.S. States). In fact, the Chiefs' remarks addressed to George Washington show remarkable insight and speak directly to promises made and violations of trust in the written word that had occurred. These carefully constructed remarks forced George Washington to examine the record and respond directly to the facts. The remarkable record of the dialogue that took place in 1790 addresses nearly everything that became the focus of Indian Commissioner Timothy Pickering's task as he negotiated the Canandaigua Treaty in 1794.

    The Haudenosaunee had skillfully balanced their relationship with the English Crown and the emerging colonies for years, and they reminded George Washington that he himself had once been a loyal subject not so long before. It was King George III, who desired that the Haudenosaunee help him punish his willful children, who were now revolting against their father.

    The Dutch, French, English, and the Thirteen Fires had required us to learn about them and their values. The Haudenosaunee had managed to become skillful trading partners and negotiators with all of these foreign interests. For the Haudenosaunee to engage in war with these interests was actually the exception; for the majority of time we dealt quite well with these competing forces. Diplomacy had allowed us to maintain a strained peace for several decades, alternating with open conflict. In time, we found it a necessity to protect ourselves from encroaching settlers who placed no value on our lives and who little heeded any written agreements.

    In 1794 the British remained a concern for the newly established United States. Negotiations with the Haudenosaunee could not take place at Buffalo Creek (Buffalo, New York) because of the threat of an English army just across the Niagara River, eleven years after the end of the Revolutionary War and England's defeat. George Washington, or Hanadahguyus (Town Destroyer), was desperately interested in peace with the Haudenosaunee because he well knew that they, likewise, remained a formidable foe.

    In the spring of 1794 efforts were ongoing to regroup and enlarge the American army, which had been twice defeated by a confederacy of western Indians. An excise tax on whiskey was levied on U.S. citizens to increase the existing army from 3,000 to 6,000 men. This unpopular tax was eventually passed, and the size of the army was doubled.

    Against this backdrop of concerns, George Washington and Congress addressed the "Indian problem"--how to establish a lasting peace; then, how to address the problem of land taken illegally from the Haudenosaunee; and what safeguards could be created to consolidate power within the federal government. The Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 established that independent land transactions must stop. Thereafter, Indian land could only be negotiated for legally when the federal government was a party to the action.

    Today our leaders insist it is time to "polish the silver covenant chain of friendship," meaning that when we signed the Canandaigua Treaty, there was an acknowledgement that from time to time a rust would accumulate on the chain. When that happens, our people said, the Haudenosaunee and the United States must come together as two sovereigns and renew our commitment to peace and friendship.

    However, first and foremost on our part, we Haudenosaunee must continue to be who we are. We were given distinct instructions by the Peacemaker, who united our people into a confederacy. Even before that, we were given a ceremonial way of life that we continue to carry out. We also have our own distinct languages that are spoken and taught within our territories.

    When we meet, we will remind the president of the United States that we are still here, just as the United States of America is still here. Changes have occurred in America, and its citizens look quite different today than they did 205 years ago. What is important is that our two people are still at peace with one another. To insure that that will continue for another hundred years, Haudenosaunee Chiefs need to meet face to face with the president of the United States and remove the rust from the silver covenant chain of peace and friendship. There have been violations of the treaty, some grievous--as in the case of the Kinzua Dam, constructed south of the Allegany Reservation, which flooded 9,000 acres of Seneca land in 1965. This catastrophic event led to the annual observation of the anniversary of the Canandaigua Treaty in Canandaigua, New York, on the lawn of the Ontario County Courthouse, where the Treaty Rock rests.

    In 1994 I cochaired the Canandaigua Treaty Commemoration Committee. I served as the master of ceremonies on November 11 and was the organizer of the symposium on November 12. In many ways it was gratifying to see those two events come together and to see the two parties to the Canandaigua Treaty represented, but something was missing. What was missing on that occasion was the president of the United States.

     November 11, 1994, was sunny and warm. That day six thousand people met to commemorate the 200th anniversary of one of America's oldest agreements. U.S. and Haudenosaunee representatives came together on that day and spoke of the significance of the treaty. The New York Times reported the event, and National Public Radio covered the story, as did the Economist magazine. Hundreds of other stories appeared in other newspapers around the country. Most of the chapters included in this volume were papers delivered at the symposium, entitled "1794-1994: Polishing the Rust from the Chain," held on November 12, 1994, in Canandaigua.

    The Haudenosaunee now call upon the President of the United States to join with us in a renewal of friendship at the beginning of this new millennium. Mr. President, let us polish the rust from the chain and commit ourselves once again to peace and friendship .

    Doneh ho .

Chapter One

The Thanksgiving

Address

Delivered by

Clayton Logan

It's a blessing

to see all you people here today.

As we begin in our way of life,

we acknowledge

all our Creator's creations.

Beginning with the people

that have come here

and arrived in good health.

There may be small illnesses where we have come from.

We include them in our prayers,

that they'll return back to good health,

so that they can continue with us in our journey.

We give thanks,

and place our minds as one,

that we are here together today in good health.

And then we can begin with our Mother Earth.

We are instructed to refer to her as a relative.

She is our Mother.

We acknowledge her, all her responsibilities

that she continues to provide for us,

all life coming from her,

and that we continue to live on.

As our Creator had created,

He made everything in two.

Man and woman,

male, female, in all life,

so that we can continue in our reproduction.

We acknowledge our Mother Earth

and everything that she owns.

Beginning from underneath the surface of the water,

underneath the surface of the earth,

her veins of water that flow into streams, into big waters.

It's important to us

that we respect our Creator's creations,

that we acknowledge them

and give thanks.

It is a necessity for us to sustain in life.

And the various grass and leaves that He has planted

that can lift up our spirits as we observe.

And there are some that are rooted as plants and medicine.

And their only purpose is to interrupt small illnesses that we can live on.

We acknowledge them and give thanks

and place our minds as one.

Each item that we acknowledge,

we place our minds as one.

So by the time that we get through,

the path that we're going to cover,

our minds and spirits are strong,

so that we may accomplish

what we have come together for in good spirit.

There is one that we acknowledge

amongst the people in this particular area,

which is the wild strawberries.

It is so great that it gathers people.

And we conduct a ceremony in its honor.

And individually,

we acknowledge our Creator

and give thanks.

And the plant foods that He has provided us,

some can be referred to as the Sisters,

corn, beans, and squash,

referred to as the Three Sisters.

We acknowledge them and give thanks.

And beginning from the small brush,

and the trees, and the big timbers,

a place where we can turn to when the winds become cold,

and we can receive our warmth.

And the timbers that we can turn to

and construct our dwellings so that we can live in comfort.

And there is one particular timber that is among us

our people also acknowledge.

When the winds begin from cold

and turn to warm,

we receive sap from the maple tree.

And it's so great.

Again, it gathers people

and we acknowledge the tree with our prayers and ceremony.

We give them thanks

that they still continue to provide us with medicine.

And we can process the sap and make sugar.

We also acknowledge the wild game

that our Creator has placed here that run between us.

There are some that He has created,

they are in the waters.

And on the surface of the earth,

beginning from the small game into large game,

we acknowledge them.

And again, our Creator has created different.

There are some birds He has placed above our heads,

again, where we can turn to and take as part of our food.

And some of their items we use in our ceremony.

We are in relation.

We acknowledge them and give thanks.

What our Creator created, everything here on earth,

then He placed responsibilities above.

As far as the winds may originate,

we acknowledge them from all Four Directions,

that they still provide us with what is necessary

for us to live on.

And there are some

that He had placed the responsibilities on.

And we are instructed to refer to them as a relative.

We'll begin with the ones that travel from the West.

We refer to them as our Grandfathers, the Thunderers,

who resupply our water.

And where they strike, there is a purpose for them.

And we give them thanks that they still continue.

And then above our head,

we also acknowledge our Elder Brother, the Sun,

who provides us with daylight and warmth.

We tell our time as he travels.

Our people are not regulated by the clock.

Our time is as the sun travels.

We acknowledge him.

And there is a certain time

that our Mother Earth becomes shaded.

There is another relation above our heads.

We refer to her as our Grandmother.

She has various responsibilities

and she continues to provide us with assistance.

As she travels,

we count our time again.

We have our ceremonies according to the Moon.

She is in connection with our mothers

who bear our children.

She has a lot of strength,

enough to cause the differences in tides of water,

and also affects us

in our way of thinking.

We acknowledge her and give thanks.

And all the stars that surround her,

placed there for our guidance,

that some of us travel and reach nightfall,

we can continue our journey according to the stars.

And we can name them, we have names for them.

We also acknowledge the Spirit Beings

that protect us in our journey.

They are still conducting their responsibilities.

There are certain ones

that have been asked and invited

to arrive here today

and they have in good health.

These Four Beings,

their responsibility is to interrupt all the conflicts

that may be along our paths.

We have arrived here without accidents.

We acknowledge them and give thanks.

And there is one particular one

that was provided with information

to tell to his people, his relations.

We also include him

whenever we pass the path of our Creator's creation.

We refer to him as Sedwago'wane Ganio dai'io.

And we arrive at the home of our Creator,

where He intended for Him to live,

and look over His children on a continuing basis.

And He intended for us to travel this path

so that we may return back to Him.

This is our way of life,

whenever we come together.

So at this time,

if you will follow me in my own language

what I have just covered in yours.

Copyright © 2000 Peter Jemison & Anna M. Schein. All rights reserved.