Hunter, Robert (1664-1734) Proposition to the Five Nations
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC03107.02127 Author/Creator: Hunter, Robert (1664-1734) Place Written: Albany, New York Type: Manuscript document Date: 13 June 1717 Pagination: 2p. : docket ; 32.7 x 20.8 cm Order a Copy
Governor Hunter assures the 5 Nations of the good will and protection of their sovereign, King George, so long as the Indians uphold their part of the agreement. He reminds them that the 5 Nations and the English are bound to keep peace with each other, and also to protect and defend the other in the event of an attack.
The Five Nations, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy, were a group of Native Americans that originally consisted of five tribes: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined after the original five nations were formed. At the time Europeans first arrived in North America, the Confederacy was based in what is now the northeastern United States and southern Canada, including New England, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, Ontario, and Quebec. The Five Nations and the British were diplomatically alligned through the Covenant Chain, which started in 1677-1678 when New York's governor Sir Edmund Andros negotiated the signing of two treaties in which the Iroquois spoke on behalf of the other tribes involved. The Covenant Chain continued until 1753, when disgruntled Mohawks declared that the chain was broken. Robert Hunter (1664-1734) was colonial governor of Virginia (1707-1709), New York, and New Jersey (1710-1720).
Brethren
We are now mett at this place by Order of The King of Great Brittaine my Master, by who's command and in who's Name I now give you In this publick and solemn manner full assurance of his good will and affection towards you, and his powerfull Protection against all such as shall dare to molest you as friends to him and a people [strikeout] he has honor'd wt his special [struck: gra] grace and favour
In the same publick and Solemn maner I here In his name and by his Command renew the antient covenants wt yr five nations promiscing on his part that all the known Conditions of ye sd Covenant shall be punctually and duely obserb'd, so long as you shall honestly and faithfully perform what has in all times [inserted: hither to] been [inserted: strikeout] promis'd and perform'd on yours [2] And to prevent all mistakes on this head I must [struck: inform] [inserted: remind] you what has ever been mean't and understood by you as well as us by the Covenant Chaine, that [strikeout] is, that on the other hand, The subjects of his Maty on this Continent should not only refrain from all acts of hostility or any thing tending lending that way toward you but readily attest you when you were attack'd by others or Inable you by such methods as were In their power to repell [strikeout] force by force or to defend your selves, and on the other hand you were on your part to live in the strictest friendship with all his matys subjects and In case they should be attack'd by any Enemy whatsoever to affect them the readiest and most Effectual Assistance In your power.
When I have receiv'd your answer to these Genll propositions I am to make you a very handsome present from his maty In token of his affection towards you and In assurance of his Protection to you
[docket]
13 June 1717
Govs Publick Proposition to ye 5 nations
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