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Treaty of Niagara

by

Compiled by Amelia Healey, GRASAC Research Assistant

A silver medal with a relief image of two seated people with a pipe under a tree in the foreground and a landscape featuring houses and vessels on water in the background. Text at the top reads "HAPPY WHILE UNITED" and at the bottom is the date "1764".
Treaty of Niagara Alliance Medal, 1764. Library and Archives Canada. Accession no. 1986-79-1612/ e010933865

Overview

Dates

  • July 8 – early August, 1764

Places

  • Fort Niagara, New York

Nations and Representatives

  • Britain
    • Represented by Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs

The Western Confederacy (based on Alan Ojiig Corbiere’s (2019, 197) transcription of William Johnson’s published papers)

  • Algonquin & Nipissing
    • Represented by Wabikackeck or White Hawk
  • Chipeweigh (Ojibwe)
    • Represented by Shownannicaboa, Kagaisse, Sowwongibbey
  • Christinox (Cree)
    • Represented by Ogewetassin
  • Mississauga
    • Represented by Wabbicommicott (Wabbicomicot), Weynakibio, Estawabey
  • Menominee
    • Represented by Grand Pee, Chicconaway, Succamoy or “Musketo”, Wabashogo or “White Crab”, Wenosachey or “Bever [sic]”
  • Ottawas (Odawa)
    • Represented by Bindanouan, Cashkokey, Teckamus, Otchinggwas, Pemmassad, Shawwamusse, Otchibauscasigon, Kiocuskcum (Kiwegoshkum), Egorniney (Egominey, Negominey), Nosawaquet (Nissawaquot, etc), Mackakeeman (Mechukimon), Piggagun (Piggagoonin)
  • Puans (Puoans, Winnebago, Ho-Chunk)
    • Represented by Winosigo
  • Reynards (Fox, Outagamies)
    • Represented by Nonoh
  • Sauk (Sakis, Sacs, Sakeys)
    • Represented by Weshion (Washiboo), Akousy (Aukussey)
  • Toughkamawiman (Toughkamiwan)
    • Represented by Shuckey “The Crane”

The Six Nations Confederacy

  • Cayuga
  • Caughnawagas (Kahnawake)
  • Cannesadagas (Kahnasatake)
  • Conoys
  • Mohawk
  • Mohicans
  • Nanticokes
  • Onondaga
  • Oneida
  • Seneca
  • Tuscarora

Negotiations

  • Renewed and extended relationships under the Covenant Chain alliance
  • Peace between the British and Indigenous partners; end of the “French Indian War”
  • Royal Proclamation of 1763
  • Offensive and defensive agreement
  • Trade
  • Release of prisoners

Prior Negotiations

  • Dish With One Spoon Treaty, mid-1100s
  • Two Row Wampum, 1613
  • Fort Albany Treaty, 1664
  • Nanfan Treaty, 1701
  • Albany Conference, June 1754
  • 1761 Alliance, Detroit

Subsequent Negotiations

Sources

Primary Documents

Heritage Items

  • Assikinawk’s Reading of the 1764 Covenant Chain Belt and the 22 Nations Belt (Archival Document). LAC, RG10, Volume 613, pp.440-442. October 21, 1851. GKS ID 894.
  • Assiginack’s Canoe. Made by Jean Baptiste Assiginack (Odawa), 1815-1827. Canadian Museum of History. Accession no. III-M-10 a-n. GKS ID 1058.
  • Minutes of a Meeting held with all of the “Western Indians” in their Camp with Sir William Johnson. Milton W. Hamilton., ed. The Papers of Sir William Johnson, Volume XI (Albany: The University of the State of New York, 1953) pp. 308-313. GKS ID 678.
  • Notice to Traders from Sir William Johnson, July 19, 1764. In “The papers of Sir William Johnson, Volume 4,” prepared for publication by the Division of Archives and History, pg 490. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1925. GKS ID: 58845.
  • Sir William Johnson to Cadwallader Colden, August 23, 1764. In “The papers of Sir William Johnson, Volume 4,” prepared for publication by the Division of Archives and History, pg 511-514. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1925. GKS ID: 58846.
  • Sir William Johnson to the Earl of Halifax, August 30, 1764. In “Documents relative to the colonial history of the state of New-York, Volume 7,” procured by John Romeyn Brodhead, edited by F.B. O’Callaghan, pg 647. Albany: Weed, Parsons, 1856. GKS ID: 58847.
  • Sir William Johnson to the Lords of Trade, August 30, 1764. In “Documents relative to the colonial history of the state of New-York, Volume 7,” procured by John Romeyn Brodhead, edited by F.B. O’Callaghan, pg 648-650. Albany: Weed, Parsons, 1856. GKS ID: 58848.
  • Sir William Johnson to Thomas Gage, January 27, 1764. In “The papers of Sir William Johnson, Volume 4,” prepared for publication by the Division of Archives and History, pg 307-308. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1925. GKS ID: 58833.
  • Thomas Gage to Sir William Johnson, June 10, 1764. In “The papers of Sir William Johnson, Volume 4,” prepared for publication by the Division of Archives and History, pg 446-448. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1925. GKS ID: 58842.
  • WAMPUM RECORDS OF THE OTTAWAS. Archival document. Annual Archaeological Report 1901. Printed by Order of the Legislative Assembly. Toronto: 1902. GKS ID 666.
  • 1764 Niagara Covenant Chain Wampum Belt. Made by Ken Maracle, 2016. Canadian Museum of History. Accession no. 2016.48; Artifact no. LH2016.48.2.
  • Treaty of Niagara Alliance Medal, 1764. Library and Archives Canada. Accession no. 1986-79-1612/e010933865.
  • Royal Proclamation of 1763. Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN 1386632.

Language Items

  • odriyohsrędaˀǫh (verbal noun, Gayogoho:nǫˀ (Cayuga)): peace (literally, the war has ended)
  • degaihwakahǫˀ (verbal noun, Gayogoho:nǫˀ (Cayuga)): alliance
  • Tganawai:ˀ (verbal noun, Gayogoho:nǫˀ (Cayuga)): Niagara-On-The-Lake
  • meshkdoonaa (transitive animated verb (vta), Nishnaabemwin (Odawa/Eastern Ojibwe)): exchange sth. (an.), trade sth. (an.) in
  • dehęnędadawihs (verbal noun, Gayogoho:nǫˀ (Cayuga)): trades, commerce, barter

Secondary Sources

  • Borrows, John. “Wampum at Niagara: Canadian Legal History, Self-Government, and the Royal Proclamation.” In Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada: Essays on Law, Equity, and Respect for Difference, edited by Michael Asch. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 1998.
  • Corbiere, Alan. “Anishinaabe Treaty-Making in the 18th- and 19th-Century Northern Great Lakes: From Shared Meanings to Epistemological Chasms.” York University, September 2017.
  • Williams, Paul. “The Chain.” Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, March 1982. https://www.proquest.com/docview/303260875/A0F55311A25D4100PQ/1?accountid=1477
Alan Ojiig Corbiere. “250th Anniversary of the Treaty of Niagara.” The Centre for Indigenous Studies. 14 December 2014.
Hayden King, Eva Jewel, & Vanessa Dion-Fletcher. “The Forgotten Promise of Niagara.” Polishing the Chain: Treaty Relations in Toronto. 31 January 2022.

Other

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