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Treaty

Seven Nations of Canada at New York (1796)

The Seven Nations of Canada ceded their New York land claims to the state, keeping the St. Regis tract and annual payments.

Signed
May 31, 1796
Senate
Ratified
Land set aside for the nations
about 65,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On May 31, 1796, deputies of the Seven Nations of Canada met in New York City with agents of New York State. Abraham Ogden attended as a commissioner "appointed under the authority of the United States, to hold the treaty." This was a sale to a state, not to the federal government. The agents for New York were Egbert Benson, Richard Varick and James Watson. William Constable and Daniel McCormick, purchasers of land under Alexander Macomb, also signed.

The deputies agreed to "cede, release and quit claim to the people of the state of New-York, forever, all the claim, right, or title" the Seven Nations had to lands within the state. The state proposed payment for "the extinguishment of their claim to all lands within the state."

The nations kept land. A tract "equal to six miles square" at St. Regis stayed reserved for the village. The deputies said St. Regis people had built mills on the Salmon River and the Grass River and needed the Grass River meadows for hay. The treaty therefore also reserved a mile square at each mill and the meadows on both sides of the Grass River.

New York agreed to pay 1,233 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 pence, plus 213 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 pence, on the first payment date. After that it would pay 213 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 pence every year, forever.

Good to know. This was a sale to New York State held under a U.S. commissioner, not a transfer to the United States. The payments depended on a minimum number of deputies attending each payment date.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 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

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. cede, release and quit claim to the people of the state of New-York, forever, all the claim, right, or titleTribal Treaties Database: Seven Nations of Canada at New York (1796) (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  2. the extinguishment of their claim to all lands within the stateTribal Treaties Database: Seven Nations of Canada at New York (1796) (Oklahoma State University Libraries)
  3. the tract equal to six miles squareTribal Treaties Database: Seven Nations of Canada at New York (1796) (Oklahoma State University Libraries)

Research notes. A state-purchase treaty held under a U.S. commissioner, not a transfer to the United States. The text makes the payments conditional on a minimum number of deputies attending the payment dates; that condition is not described in the narrative.

What the treaty did to the land

About 65,000 acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

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:

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. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-seven-nations-of-canada-1796-0045reference work
    May 31, 1796. | 7 Stat., 55. / scan: 45

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