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Great Lakes / Old NorthwestTreaty

Treaty of Fort Finney (Mouth of the Great Miami) with the Shawnee, 1786

In 1786 the Shawnee gave hostages, acknowledged U.S. sovereignty over British-ceded lands, and were allotted land to live and hunt on.

Signed
January 31, 1786
Senate
Ratified
Promises
0 of 1 broken or only partly kept

What happened

On January 31, 1786, commissioners of the United States (George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Samuel H. Parsons signed) concluded a treaty "at the Mouth of the Great Miami, on the North-western Bank of the Ohio" with "the Chiefs and Warriors of the Shawanoe Nation." Witnesses included the Half King and the Crane of the Wyandots and Captain Pipe and the Big Cat of the Delawares.

Article I required three hostages to be held by the United States until all prisoners were restored. In Article II the Shawnee "acknowledge the United States to be the sole and absolute sovereigns of all the territory ceded to them" by the King of Great Britain in the 1783 treaty of peace. Article V granted peace and received the Shawnee "into their friendship and protection." Another article warned that a nation that knew of plans for war and failed to tell the nearest U.S. post "shall be considered as parties in such war, and be punished accordingly."

Article VI allotted the Shawnee lands "to live and hunt upon," running down the Great Miami and west to the Wabash, "beyond which lines none of the citizens of the United States shall settle." In return the Shawnee relinquished "all title, or pretence of title" to lands east, west and south of those lines.

Richland Source says that in 1789 many Ohio nations, including the Shawnee, refused to honor the Fort Harmar treaty. It says the Shawnee were among the nations that at Greenville in 1795 agreed to move to the northwestern corner of Ohio.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Not known

    Land was allotted to the Shawnee, and no U.S. citizen would settle beyond the lines. (Art. VI)

    agreed to move to the northwestern corner of what is present-day Ohio richlandsource.com

Good to know. The "under pressure" description rests on the treaty's hostage and war-party clauses, not on an account of the negotiation.

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. The Shawanoe nation do acknowledge the United States to be the sole and absolute sovereigns of all the territory ceded to themTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Fort Finney (Mouth of the Great Miami) with the Shawnee, 1786 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  2. shall be considered as parties in such war, and be punished accordinglyTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Fort Finney (Mouth of the Great Miami) with the Shawnee, 1786 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  3. the Shawanoes do relinquish to the United States, all title, or pretence of title, they ever hadTribal Treaties Database: Treaty of Fort Finney (Mouth of the Great Miami) with the Shawnee, 1786 (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  4. agreed to move to the northwestern corner of what is present-day OhioOhio's sporadic Indian wars stretched into the 18th century - Richland Source

Research notes. No opened source describes the 1786 negotiation beyond the treaty text, so the "under pressure" label rests on the hostage and war-party clauses. Richland Source is a news feature, not a scholarly source. The allotted lands reach from the Great Miami to the Wabash, not only southwestern Ohio.

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.

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Sources

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/170281458reference work
Research notes

Land description from memory. Commonly called Fort Finney.

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