Beschreibung:

Manuscript letter on vellum signed by President Washington and Secretary of State Jefferson, offering peace and friendship to "Cornplanter, Half Town and Great Tree, Chiefs and Counselors of the Seneca Nation of Indians."
Philadelphia, 29 December 1790. 1 page (33 ¾ x 26 ¾ inches, 855x680 mm). Condition: Heavily faded and creased, some soiling. Matted. george washington's reply to chief cornplanter's famous appeal on behalf of the seneca indians. Cornplanter was one of the leaders of the Iroquois allied with the British during the American Revolution. In 1784, at the end of the war, Cornplanter led a delegation of Indian leaders to a gathering at Fort Stanwix, where the first treaty between the Iroquois and the newly-independent United States was concluded. Known as the Second Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the Iroquois ceded frontier areas and relinquished future claims to lands in the Ohio Valley. But by the winter of 1790, Cornplanter headed a delegation to Philadelphia that appealed to President Washington (famously addressing him as Father) to overturn some of the earlier land concessions and protect the Seneca from armed settlers who had murdered many from the tribe. In this measured and cautious reply to Cornplanter's plea, probably composed with the assistance of Jefferson and Secretary of War Henry Knox, Washington reassures Cornplanter of the continued friendship of the United States, reaffirms the existing treaty of Fort Stanwix and, with significant constitutional implications, declares that the Seneca have the same rights as all Americans to seek redress in the Federal courts: “…Here then is the security for your remaining lands. No state or person can purchase your lands, unless at some public treaty held under the authority of the United States. The general government will never consent to your being defrauded. But it will protect you in all your just rights. Hear well, and let it be heard by every person in your nation, that the President of the United States declares, that the general government considers itself bound to protect you in all the lands secured to you by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix … However, should you have any just cause of complaint...and can make satisfactory proof thereof, the federal Courts will be open to you for redress, as to all other persons...” Washington also addresses Cornplanter's complaint regarding the murders of innocent Seneca, promising that the guilty would be apprehended, tried and punished “as if they had killed white men.” In turn, the president writes of the increasing number of murders of whites by other Indians in the Ohio Valley and justifies subsequent attacks against them in self-defense. “ I have therefore been obliged to strike...in order to make them sensible of their madness. I sincerely hope they will hearken to reason, and not need to be further chastised. The United States desire to be the friends of the Indians upon terms of justice and humanity.” In concluding, Washington urges the Iroquois Confederation “to prevent their rash young men from joining the Miamee Indians” -- i.e. Little Turtle's Northwest Indian War, which at the time of this letter had recently defeated General Harmar and his troops near present day Fort Wayne, Indiana. The president also reiterates the positive intentions of the government, indicating that Cornplanter “ may depend upon the future care and kindness of the United States...If any man brings you evil reports of the intentions of the United States, mark that man as your enemy, for he will mean to deceive you and lead you into trouble. The United States will be true and faithful to their engagements.” The faded and wrinkled condition of this document is an indication of its significance, as Cornplanter no doubt carried it with him as an object of great importance. an extremely important letter of state reflective of indian relations in the early federal period.