Greenville 1795 and Fort Wayne 1809: encroachment, then cession under pressure

What happened

On August 3, 1795, the United States and a group of tribes that included the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis and Potawatomis signed the Treaty of Greenville. It set a boundary line between United States land and Indian land. The United States delivered goods worth twenty thousand dollars and promised goods worth nine thousand five hundred dollars every year. Article 5 said the tribes could keep their lands, that they could sell only to the United States, and that until then the United States "will protect all the said Indian tribes in the quiet enjoyment of their lands against all citizens of the United States."

Fourteen years later, on September 30, 1809, Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison signed the Treaty of Fort Wayne with the Delawares, Potawatomis, Miamis and Eel River Miamis. They agreed to cede tracts of land along the Wabash River and near the Greenville line. In return the treaty gave annuities of $500 or $250 to each tribe and goods worth $5,200. Article 5 said the Wea tribe's consent was needed to complete title to the first tract.

The National Library of Medicine's Native Voices timeline says Harrison negotiated the treaty to acquire 3 million acres. It says the Shawnee leader Tecumseh told Harrison the signers had no authority to sell land held in common with other Native peoples. It adds that Tecumseh warned Americans not to settle there and organized fighters to resist.

This is context, not a court-decided violation.

Good to know. The 3 million acres comes from a National Library of Medicine timeline; the treaty itself gives no acreage. Whether the Fort Wayne signers had authority to sell is disputed.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error