Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights
All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Five Nations at Fort George, New York (1722)

In 1722 at Albany, New York, Virginia and the Five Nations agreed to a Potomac and Blue Ridge boundary for travel and war parties.

Signed
August 14, 1722
Senate
Not recorded

What happened

This is a colonial record. It dates to 1722, decades before the United States existed. The National Archives set of ratified Indian treaties begins here because, in its own words, United States treaty-making followed a custom established by Great Britain and the colonial governments.

The record is a bundle of speeches given at Albany, New York, from late August to mid-September 1722. William Burnet, governor of New York, met the Five Nations (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca) to renew what both sides called the Covenant Chain, their long-standing alliance. Burnet asked them to stay away from the French and keep trade paths open. The governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania came to Albany as well, at the Nations' wish, to settle matters of their own.

The Virginia governor, Alexander Spotswood, proposed that the Potomac River and the high ridge of mountains along Virginia's frontier be the permanent boundary between Indians under Virginia and Indians of the Five Nations. People crossing it would need a passport from the governor of Virginia or New York. A note added to the record says the Five Nations, with the Tuscarora, fully agreed to the propositions on peace and boundaries on 6 September 1722, and signed them.

The text is a set of minutes, not a modern treaty. It does not record land sales. Its pages do not say what happened to the boundary afterward.

Good to know. Some listings date this to 14 August 1722 at Fort George, but the minutes show council meetings at Albany from 27 August to mid-September 1722, with no single formal signing date.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. That the great River of Potowmak & the High Ridge of Mountains which extend all along the Frontiers of VirginiaGreat Treaty of 1722 (Treaty of Albany), Tribal Treaties Database, Oklahoma State University
  2. fully agreed to the said Propositions relating to the Peace & BoundariesGreat Treaty of 1722 (Treaty of Albany), Tribal Treaties Database, Oklahoma State University
  3. the renewing the Covenant Chain with you in the name of my great & good Master ye King of Great BritainGreat Treaty of 1722 (Treaty of Albany), Tribal Treaties Database, Oklahoma State University
  4. Negotiation of formal treaties with the Indians by the United States Government followed a custom established by Great Britain and the colonial governments.National Archives, Ratified Indian Treaties, 1722-1869 (microfilm publication M668)

Research notes. Some listings give 14 August 1722 at Fort George, which does not match the transcript, which shows meetings at Albany from 27 August to mid-September 1722. The transcript is a bundle of speeches, so the formal 'signed' date is unclear.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

Working with these nations

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

No source is linked to this record yet. That is a gap we are working to close.

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.