| The delegates meeting in the Second Continental Congress began to make a series of treaties with the various Indian nations upon the close of the American Revolutionary War. Prior to this point, the various Indian tribes had been dealt with either by the British and/or French governments or by each individual provincial legislative body. To ensure that every colony's communication with their Indian neighbors was in synch, as they had done in July 1775 and later in December 1777 in regard to the Iroquois' Six Nations, the Congress sent similar treaties to each of the major nations or tribal unions apart from the Iroquois. A new treaty was composed and presented to the Iroquois Six Nations. Below is a transcript of the Treaty submitted to the Six Nations of the Iroquois. |
| ARTICLES of a TREATY concluded at FORT STANWIX, on the twenty-second day of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, between Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, Commissioners Plenipotentiary from the United States, in Congress assembled, on the one Part, and the Sachems and Warriors of the Six Nations, on the other.
The United States of America give peace to the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas and Cayugas, and receive them into their protection upon the following conditions: Article the First. Six hostages shall be immediately delivered to the Commissioners by the said nations, to remain in possession of the United States, till all the prisoners, white and black, which were taken by the said Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas and Cayugas, or by any of them in the late war, from among the people of the United States, shall be delivered up. Article the Second. The Oneida and Tuscarora nations shall be secured in the possession of the lands on which they are settled. Article the Third. A line shall be drawn, beginning at the mouth of a creek about four miles east of Niagara, called Oyonwayea, or Johnson's landing Place, upon the lake named by the Indians Oswego, and by us Ontario; from thence southerly in a direction always four miles east of the carrying path, between Lake Erie and Ontario, to the mouth of Tehoseroron or Buffalo Creek on Lake Erie; thence south to the north boundary of the state of Pennsylvania; thence west to the end of the said north boundary; thence south along the west boundary of the said State, to the river Ohio; the said line from the mouth of the Oyonwayea to the Ohio, shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations, so that the Six Nations shall and do yield to the United States, all claims to the country west of the said boundary, and then they shall be secured in the peaceful possession of the lands they inhabit east and north of the same, reserving only six miles square round the fort of Oswego, to the United States, for the support of the same. Article the Fourth. The Commissioners of the United States in consideration of the present circumstances of the Six Nations, and in execution of the humane and liberal views of the United States upon the signing of the above articles, will order goods to be delivered to the said Six Nations for their use and comfort. Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, Arthur Lee, [Mohawks:] Onogwendahonji, his x mark, Torwighnatogon, his x mark, [Onandagas:] Oheadarighton, his x mark, Kendarindgon, his x mark, [Senacas:] Tayagonendagighti, his x mark, Tehonwaeaghriyagi, his x mark, [Oneidas:] Otyadonenghti, his x mark, Dagaheari, his x mark, [Cayugas:] Oraghgoanendagen, his x mark, [Tuscaro:] Ononghsawenghti, his x mark, Tharondawagen, his x mark, [Sececa Abeal:]Kayenthoghke, his x mark, Witnesses ~ Sam. Jo. Atlee, Wm. Maclay, Fras. Johnson, Pennsylvania Commissioners. Aoeronkill, Alexander Campbell, Saml. Kirkland, Miss’y, James Dean, Saml. Montgomery, Derick Lane, Capt. John Mercer, Lieut. Wm. Pennington, Lieut. Mahlon Hord, Ensign. Hugh Peebles. |
| From Laws Of The United States Of America, Volume I, 1795, Pages 477-478. |
