Iroquois Confederacy

Examples of Iroquois Confederacy in the following topics:

• The Treaty of Fort Stanwix

  • The treaty served as a peace treaty between the Iroquois and the Americans, since the Natives had been ignored in the Treaty of Paris.
  • In this treaty, the Iroquois Confederacy ceded all claims to the Ohio territory, a strip of land along the Niagara river, and all land west of the mouth of Buffalo creek.
  • The general Native confederacy also disavowed the treaty since most members of the Six Nations did not live in the Ohio territory.
  • 1788 Phelps and Gorham Purchase with the Iroquois for lands in New York State east of the Genesee River
  • 1797 Treaty of Big Tree with the Iroquois for lands in New York State west of the Genesee River

• Settlers and Native Americans

  • The American Revolution caused civil war within the New York-based Iroquois Confederacy.
  • The only Iroquois tribes to ally with the colonies were the Oneida and Tuscarora.
  • The largest of these expeditions was the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, in which American colonial troops destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages in an attempt to neutralize Iroquois raids in upstate New York.
  • Although most members of the Iroquois tribes went to Canada with the Loyalists, others tried to stay in New York and western territories to maintain their lands.
  • The state of New York made a separate treaty with Iroquois nations and put 5,000,000 acres (20,000 km2) of land that had previously been their territories up for sale.

• American Indians and the Revolution

  • For the Iroquois Confederacy, based in New York, the American Revolution resulted in civil war.
  • The only Iroquois tribes to ally with the colonials were the Oneida and Tuscarora.
  • The largest of these expeditions was the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, in which American colonial troops destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages to neutralize Iroquois raids in upstate New York.
  • Although most members of the Iroquois tribes went to Canada with the Loyalists, others tried to stay in New York and western territories to maintain their lands.
  • The state of New York made a separate treaty with Iroquois nations and put up for sale 5 million acres (20 thousand km2) of land that had previously been their territories.

• American Indians and the New Nation

  • The treaty served as a supposed peace treaty between the Iroquois and the Americans; however, it effectively garnered more land away from the American Indians and into the hands of the U.S. government.
  • In this treaty, the Iroquois Confederacy ceded all claims to the Ohio territory, a strip of land along the Niagara river, and all land west of the mouth of Buffalo creek.
  • The general American Indian confederacy also disavowed the treaty, as most members of the Six Nations did not live in the Ohio territory.
  • At one time, historians believed that the Treaty of Fort Stanwix was an example of Iroquois being forced to accept unreasonable cessions.
  • However, since the late 20th century, historians have credited the Iroquois with high-level strategic thinking in terms of giving up little-used lands in order to deflect English settlement away from their own, more valuable homeland.

• The Seven Years' War: 1754-1763

  • Native Americans fought for both sides, but primarily alongside the French (with one exception being the Iroquois Confederacy, which sided with the American colonies and Britain).

• European Wars in the Colonies

  • New France and the Wabanaki Confederacy thwarted New England expansion into Acadia by raiding settlements in present-day Maine, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine.
  • The Iroquois suffered heavily in King William's War and were brought, along with other western American Indians, into the French trading network.
  • France was required to recognize British authority over the Iroquois.

• Confederate Diplomacy

  • Both the Union and countries in Europe refused to recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation.
  • Unfortunately for the Confederacy, the European countries also had economic incentives not to aid the Confederacy.
  • Moreover, the military situation worsened for the Confederacy.
  • The Confederacy had overestimated British demand for southern cotton.
  • Moreover, Britain had much to lose by recognizing the Confederacy.

• Empires in Conflict

  • By raiding settlements in the south of present-day Maine, New France and the Wabanaki Confederacy were able to thwart New England expansion into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River in southern Maine.
  • France was required to recognize British authority over the Iroquois.

• Pontiac's Uprising

  • These people had migrated to the Ohio valley earlier in the century in order to escape British, French, and Iroquois domination elsewhere and did not have strong relations with the British or French.
  • Senecas of the Ohio Country (Mingos) circulated messages calling for the tribes to form a confederacy and drive away the British.

• International Diplomacy

  • No European countries formally acknowledged the Confederacy, preferring Northern grain imports and abolitionism to Southern cotton imports.
  • Though the Confederacy hoped that Britain and France would join them against the Union, this was never likely.
  • It also helped to turn European opinion further way from the Confederacy.
  • Britain did allow the Confederacy to purchase several warships from its commercial ship builders.
  • Recognition of the Confederacy seemed at hand, but Lincoln released two detained Confederate diplomats, tensions cooled, and the Confederacy gained no advantage.