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Introduction
by G. Peter Jemison

Introduction from the book Treaty of Canandaigua 1794: 200 Years of Treaty Relations between the Iroquois Confederacy and the United States

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 reserva-tion 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 negotiatied 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.

The "Introduction" (above) is from the book "Treaty of Canandaigua 1794: 200 Years of Treaty Relations between the Iroquois Confederacy and the United States," and edited by G. Peter Jemison & Anna M. Schein

It is reprinted here with permission.

Pictured at the 200th Anniversary of the Canandaigua Treaty are Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, official U.S. Representative, and Tadodaho Chief Leon Shenandoah (Onondaga). Photo © Helen M. Ellis.