Treaty of Buffalo Creek
Encyclopedia
1788
The Treaty of Buffalo Creek should not be confused with the Phelps and Gorham PurchasePhelps and Gorham Purchase
The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of the pre-emptive right to some 6,000,000 acres of land in western New York State for $1,000,000 . This was all land in western New York west of Seneca Lake between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania border...
of lands east of the Genesee River
Genesee River
The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester....
in New York, which occurred at Buffalo Creek on July 8, 1788.
1838
A Treaty of Buffalo Creek (also known as the Treaty With The New York Indians, 1838) was signed on January 15, 1838 (proclaimed on April 4, 1840) between the Seneca NationSeneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
, Mohawk nation
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
, Cayuga nation
Cayuga nation
The Cayuga people was one of the five original constituents of the Haudenosaunee , a confederacy of American Indians in New York. The Cayuga homeland lay in the Finger Lakes region along Cayuga Lake, between their league neighbors, the Onondaga to the east and the Seneca to the west...
, Oneida Indian Nation
Oneida Indian Nation
The Oneida Indian Nation is the Oneida tribe that resides in New York and currently owns a number of businesses and tribal land in Verona, NY, Oneida, NY, and Canastota, NY.- Businesses :...
, Onondaga (tribe)
Onondaga (tribe)
The Onondaga are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Their traditional homeland is in and around Onondaga County, New York...
, Tuscarora (tribe)
Tuscarora (tribe)
The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It covered land sales of tribal reservations under the US Indian Removal
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...
program, by which they planned to move most eastern tribes to Kansas Territory
Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....
west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
The Seneca nation, represented by certain chiefs, agreed to the following. Based on the terms of the accord, the US was to sell the four remaining Seneca reservations (Buffalo Creek Reservation
Buffalo Creek Reservation
The Buffalo Creek Reservation was a tract of land surrounding Buffalo Creek in the central portion of Erie County, New York. It contained approximately of land and was set aside for the Native Americans of the region...
, Tonawanda Reservation
Tonawanda Reservation
The Tonawanda Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians located in western New York, USA. The band is a federally recognized tribe and, in the 2000 census, had 543 people living on the reservation...
, Cattaraugus Reservation
Cattaraugus Reservation
Cattaraugus Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Seneca Indian Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy located in New York. As of the 2000 census, the Indian reservation had a total population of 2,412. Its total area is about 34.4 mi²...
, and Allegany Reservation) and provide for the Seneca to relocate to a tract of land in present-day Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
(then territory), west of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. A section of the treaty acknowledged that the Ogden Land Company would buy the four reservations then occupied by the Seneca Nation, including the Tonawanda Reservation. The understanding was that the Ogden Land Company would sell the land to settlers for development.
1842
The US and the Seneca Nation modified the treaty by the "Treaty with the Seneca of 1842". This reflected that the Ogden Company had purchased only two of the four Seneca reservations, but their purchase included the Tonawanda ReservationTonawanda Reservation
The Tonawanda Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians located in western New York, USA. The band is a federally recognized tribe and, in the 2000 census, had 543 people living on the reservation...
. But, officials had failed to consult the chiefs of the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians
Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians
The Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians maintained the traditional form of government by Seneca chiefs and clan mothers after the Alleghany and Cattaraugus Reservations broke away and formed the Seneca Nation of Indians in 1848...
, who had signed neither treaty. The Seneca residing on the Tonawanda Reservation
Tonawanda Reservation
The Tonawanda Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians located in western New York, USA. The band is a federally recognized tribe and, in the 2000 census, had 543 people living on the reservation...
refused to leave their land and objected to the 1838 and 1842 treaty proceedings.
The 1842 treaty is the treaty that the Seneca nation claims exempts them from excise taxes, citing a statement in the ninth article of the treaty. Said article states:
The parties to this compact mutually agree to solicit the influence of the Government of the United States to protect such of the lands of the Seneca Indians, within the State of New York, as may from time to time remain in their possession from all taxes, and assessments for roads, highways, or any other purpose until such lands shall be sold and conveyed by the said Indians, and the possession thereof shall have been relinquished by them.
1857
To settle the issue, the US signed a treaty with the Tonawanda Band in 1857 known as the "Treaty with the Seneca, Tonawanda Band". The Seneca bought back most of their reservation with the money set aside for their removal to KansasKansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. At the same time, they seceded from the main Seneca nation and restored their traditional government of a Council of Chiefs, based on consensus. They achieved federal recognition as an independent tribe by this treaty.
See also
- List of treaties
- Fellows v. BlacksmithFellows v. BlacksmithFellows v. Blacksmith, 60 U.S. 366 , was the first litigation of aboriginal title in the United States in the U.S. Supreme Court by an indigenous plaintiff since Cherokee Nation v. Georgia...
(1857) - New York ex rel. Cutler v. DibbleNew York ex rel. Cutler v. DibbleNew York ex rel. Cutler v. Dibble, 62 U.S. 366 , was a companion case to the more well-known Fellows v. Blacksmith . At the time Fellows was decided, this case had reached the U.S...
(1858)