Partial Timeline of Haudenosaunee Relations with our Brothers from Across the Sea

There is no doubt that we are the oldest continuing democratic government in the world. Peacemaker brought democracy to the Haudenosaunee on the shores of Onondaga Lake over 1000 years ago, which inspired the U.S. system of government, as well as the League of Nations.

We have many treaties with nations from across the sea, the United States, and Canada. We have ongoing treaty agreements and political relationships. We have had sometimes adverse, but mostly peaceful relations with the European colonies over the past four hundred years.

We have the same relationships with many Nations of Indigenous Peoples. To the east and west, north and south of our original territories here in the east of North America called Turtle Island.

This is a brief recounting of our relations with our brothers from across the sea:

Circa 1613: Two Row Wampum – a treaty between the Haudenosaunee and the Dutch establishing relations. The earliest treaty is with the Dutch in in 1613. The Guswenta, more commonly known as the Two Row Wampum, established the relationship between our two peoples. Peace, respect for as long as the grass grows green, as long as waters run downhill, and as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west--in other words, in perpetuity.

1744: Lancaster, Pennsylvania--Four of the Governors of the colonies were arguing over land and borders. At that time an Onondaga Chief presiding at the meeting chided the arguing colonial leaders and advised them to consider making a union like ours.

1751: Benjamin Franklin writes to James Parker on March 20, 1750, referring to the confederacy formed by the Haudenosaunee and noting that the colonists should form a similar union.

1775: On the eve of the revolution, in rebellion against their mother country England, the Continental Congress invited our leaders to Fort Pitt in Albany, to talk of an alliance against England. Our leaders rejected this, saying “we know your father and we know his children and we did not think it was a good idea to step between a family fight.” They said, “good if you do not fight with us then don’t fight against us.” The Haudenosaunee and its 1500 delegates agree.

Further, they said: In 1744 in Lancaster, you advised us to make a union like yours. We are now going to take your advice and rekindle the fire and plant again and renew the Great Tree of Peace. This is how the United States became a nation, based upon our principles of peace and governance by the people.

1778: Haudenosaunee leaders state that the United States does not have the authority to draft our men into war.

1784: The Treaty of Fort Stanwix: Since the status of Haudenosaunee lands had been ignored in the Treaty of Paris, the treaty was intended to serve as a peace treaty between the Americans and the Haudenosaunee. It affirmed that each were a separate nation.

1789: The Treaty of Fort Harmer further re-affirmed boundaries between the two nations, establishing peace and friendship.

1790: United States passes the Trade and Intercourse Act, firmly establishing that only the U.S. Federal Government may make treaties with Native Nations.

1794: Treaty of Canandaigua – George Washington asks for Peace between the USA and the Haudenosaunee to end fighting and reestablish government to government relations. Under article 7, it establishes a method for the 2 governments to manage individuals who breaks the laws inside the Haudenosaunee and United States territories.

1794: Jay Treaty- States that the Haudenosaunee has free passage between the United States and Canada and does not have to pay a duty or toll to do so.

1923: Deskaheh, a Cayuga Chief of the Haudenosaunee, travels to Geneva to bring the concerns of the Haudenosaunee before the League of Nations.

1924: The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted United States citizenship to all native peoples within its borders. The Haudenosaunee sent a letter and representative to Washington, D.C. to reject this offer and maintain their own sovereignty.

1948: Haudenosaunee delegates attend the San Francisco conference.

1977: Indigenous Peoples, including many Haudenosaunee, travel to Geneva to address the United Nations. Haudenosaunee delegates travel on Haudenosaunee passports.

1992: Haudenosaunee Faithkeeper Oren Lyons addresses delegates to the United Nations “Year of the Indigenous Peoples” in the United Nations General Assembly Auditorium, United Nations Plaza, New York City, December 10, 1992.

1995-2004: First International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People

2005-2014: Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People

2006: Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed Indigenous Peoples as “peoples” for the first time.

2007: United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ratified by the General Assembly. It is the longest single vetted Declaration within the United Nations system.