Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights
All treaties and agreements

Great Lakes / Old NorthwestTreaty

Treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785

At Fort McIntosh in 1785 four nations accepted U.S. protection and a boundary and acknowledged U.S. title to lands outside it.

Signed
January 21, 1785
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On January 21, 1785, commissioners of the United States (the treaty is signed by George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee) concluded a treaty at Fort McIntosh with the "Sachems and Warriors" of the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa nations. The text says the commissioners "give peace" to the four nations "on the following conditions."

Three chiefs, one Wyandot and two Delaware, were to be held until all white and Black prisoners were restored. The nations acknowledged themselves to be under U.S. protection "and of no other sovereign whatsoever." Article III drew a boundary starting at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and Article IV allotted the lands inside it to the Wyandot and Delaware "to live and to hunt on," reserving sites for trading posts. Article VI had the signers "acknowledge the lands east, south and west of the lines described in the third article ... to belong to the United States." The United States also reserved Detroit and Michilimackinac, and promised to distribute goods.

The Beaver Area Heritage Foundation, a local-history organization, says "The terms were imposed rather than negotiated." It says the nations were told they had sided against the United States, and that when they reminded the commissioners of a promise that the Ohio would forever be a boundary, the reply was "we claim this country by right of conquest." It adds that "The fact that other nations occupied this country but were not at the treaty was ignored," and that surveyors began running the Seven Ranges in Ohio in September 1785.

Good to know. The "two thirds of Ohio" figure is a local-history source's estimate; the treaty itself gives no size.

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. do acknowledge the lands east, south and west of the lines described in the third articleTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  2. to live and to hunt onTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  3. The terms were imposed rather than negotiatedTreaty of Fort McIntosh - Beaver Area Heritage Foundation
  4. The fact that other nations occupied this country but were not at the treaty was ignored.Treaty of Fort McIntosh - Beaver Area Heritage Foundation

Research notes. The Beaver Area Heritage Foundation is a local-history source whose account of the commissioners' statements is not checked against a second source. The Beaver Area Heritage Foundation says Article III cedes claims to two thirds of Ohio, which is that source's figure, not the treaty's.

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.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with 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

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/170281455reference work
Research notes

Land description from memory; Stat./Kappler pages verified.

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