The Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794

Continued from last week.

The terms of Article 4 are deliberately opaque. Pickering, in his report to Secretary of war Alexander Knox, explained why:

…the chiefs were desirous of a fresh confirmation of their lands; but were unwilling to relinquish, or give up or use any words of that import, respecting the lands ceded by former treaties to the United States. When I pressed them for the reason for their objection, they would answer, that the lands having been ceded by former treaties, there is no need of saying anything about them. Do you then, said I, acknowledge yourself bound by those cessions, including those made by the Delawares and Wyandots (which they mentioned) as far as the Muskingum and Cayuhoga? To this they gave no answer.

As you decline saying that you give them up, do you mean to claim them hereafter? No. Where is the difficulty? A war-chief of the Tuscaroras present, and who lives within seven or eight miles of Niagara, solved the difficulty. “They are afraid of offending the British.” This was not denied. Cornplanter, Captain Billy, and two or three others were present last evening at this conversation. Afterwards, Captain Billy, who is a war-chief of the Senecas, acknowledged the fears of the Sachems of offending the British and said he had often reproached them with it, saying they pretended to be a free people. The Farmer’s Brother also told Gen. Chapin last evening that these fears made all the difficulty in the present negotiations. The War Chiefs above named, finally said they had no objections to engage that they would never claim any land out of their acknowledged boundaries; and of course no part of Pennsylvania or the triangle including presqu’ Isle: and added: If the Sachems also say yes, we shall soon close the Treaty.

(Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Vol. 60)

A legal controversy had grown around the words of Article 4. The United States claims that the Six Nations gave up any claim to any lands within the boundaries of the United States. The Haudenosaunee have stated that the clause means that they will not claim any lands owned by the Government of the United States. Since the second and fourth articles of the treaty refer to land owned by the Six Nations, the corresponding terminology in the treaty in Article 4 must refer to ownership, as distinct from jurisdiction, of the United States.

Article 5: The Seneca Nation, all others of the Six Nations concurring, cede to the United States the right of making a wagon road from Fort Schlosser to Lake Erie, as far south as Buffalo Creek; and the people of the United States shall have the free and undisturbed use of this road, for the purposes of travelling and transportation; and the Six Nations, and each of them, will forever allow to the people of the United States, a free passage through their lands, and the free use of the harbors and adjoining and within their respective tracts of land, for the and securing of vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes where necessary, for their safety.

Continued next week.