Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768), Crown boundary line
In November 1768 at Fort Stanwix the Six Nations ceded to the British Crown more than 27 million acres in the Ohio Valley, fixing a new colonial boundary.
- Signed
- November 5, 1768
- Senate
- Not recorded
What happened
What happened
In autumn 1768 Sir William Johnson, the Crown's superintendent of Indian affairs, held a treaty at Fort Stanwix, New York. It was with the Six Nations, the Shawnee, Delawares and Senecas of Ohio, and other "dependant Tribes," "for the settlement of a Boundary Line between the Colonies and Indians, pursuant to His Majesty's orders." Johnson arrived with twenty boats of goods "intended for the Present to be made by the Cession of Lands to the King." Commissioners from Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey attended. Negotiations began October 24, and Encyclopedia Virginia says 3,102 Indigenous people were present, mostly Haudenosaunee.
The Proclamation Line of 1763 was meant, Encyclopedia Virginia says, to be "a temporary boundary until a series of formal treaties" could set a consensual one. At Fort Stanwix the Haudenosaunee outlined a line from Owego, New York, through Pennsylvania to the Ohio River and on to the headwaters of the Tennessee River. The principals signed or marked the treaty on November 5, 1768. In the deed the Indians granted the King the tract bounded by the line, which Encyclopedia Virginia puts at more than 27 million acres of Ohio Valley land they claimed but did not occupy, which began at the mouth of the Cherokee (Hogohege) River on the Ohio.
The Haudenosaunee received cash and goods valued at £10,460 from Great Britain, plus 10,000 Spanish dollars from Pennsylvania. The Ohio Valley Lenape and Shawnee, who stood to lose the most, received about $5,500 worth of goods and objected. Encyclopedia Virginia says that periodic attacks, settler retaliation and Dunmore's 1774 campaign followed, and that the dispute over the line ended only after a military defeat in 1794 and the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.
Good to know. This was a British colonial agreement, not a United States treaty. Whether the Six Nations could cede the Ohio Valley is contested; the Lenape and Shawnee, who hunted there, objected.
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.
for the settlement of a Boundary Line between the Colonies and Indians, pursuant to His Majesty's orders
Tribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) - Crown boundary line (Oklahoma State University Libraries)British authorities intended this line to serve as a temporary boundary until a series of formal treaties
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) - Encyclopedia VirginiaThe principals signed the treaty or added their marks on November 5, 1768.
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) - Encyclopedia VirginiaThe Haudenosaunee received cash and goods valued at £10,460
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) - Encyclopedia Virginia
Research notes. This is a British colonial instrument, not a United States treaty. Encyclopedia Virginia gives the cession as more than 27 million acres; the treaty text itself states no acreage. Whether the Six Nations had authority to cede the Ohio Valley lands is contested; Encyclopedia Virginia says the Lenape and Shawnee, who hunted there, objected. Dollar equivalents are not given.
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.
Who is doing the work
Working with these nations
- Oneida Indian Nation Nation government About 18,000 acres in trust (2022 est.), 25,000-acre cap under 2013 agreement
- Rematriation Native-led Indigenous women-led media, education, community advocacy Give on their site Website
- The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Allied land trust Funder/partner in several tribal land returns Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Sources
Sources
- digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/81152508reference work
Research notes
Included as context only; NARA RIT 1-7 are colonial/British-era items (1722-1768), not US treaties. Boundary geometry and Six Nations authority over the ceded Ohio-Valley lands are historically contested.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.