Strategic Alliances and Trail of Broken Treaties 1700-1799
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1763
Germ warfare documented in letters
During the French and Indian War, Jeffery Amherst, Britain's commander in chief in North America,...Read More
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1764
Unangan and Sugpiaq organize resistance against Russian occupation (Alaska)
For more than 20 years Russians have continued massacres, sexual exploitation of women, and taking...Read More
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1766
Armed Russian fur traders massacre Unangan (Aleut)
Russian trader Ivan Solovief arms his workers to murder Unangan (Aleut) men, women, and children...Read More
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1769
Spanish establish missions in California
Beginning in 1769, the Spanish build 21 missions in California with Indigenous slave labor. They...Read More
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1774
Shawnee and Lenape Confederacy resist European encroachment
Under the leadership of Cornstalk, a Shawnee leader, Lenape and Shawnee Indians raid English settlements...Read More
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1774
Spanish massacre Comanche at Spanish Peaks (New Mexico)
Spanish troops massacre nearly 300 Comanche Indians (men, women, and children) and take 100 captives...Read More
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1775
Colonies declare war on Britain
Enslavement of American Indians continues throughout the Revolutionary War and within the colonies.
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1776-1779
Thomas Jefferson promotes Indian removal
Jefferson recommends the forced relocation of Cherokee and Shawnee tribes to lands west of the...Read More
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1777
Continental Congress approves Articles of Confederation
A governing body of 13 delegate states, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation,...Read More
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1778
U.S. treaty period with Native tribes begins
“One of the most significant acts by those colonies was the decision to negotiate an...Read More
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1778
British Captain James Cook arrives on Kaua’i, Hawai’i
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1781
Spanish steal Chumash Indian lands (California)
Spanish soldiers are “awarded” stolen land from California Indians for their service to the Spanish...Read More
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1782
Gnadenhutten Massacre of Lenape (Ohio)
Pennsylvania militiamen massacre and scalp over 100 non-combatant Christian Lenape, mostly women and children.
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1783
End of Revolutionary War; illegal seizure of Native lands
The revolutionary war ends with the Treaty of Paris, and Americans seize lands of the...Read More
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1784
First Russian permanent settlement established (Alaska)
Catherine the Great of Russia sends Grigory Ivanovich Shelikhov to colonize Alaska. The first permanent...Read More
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1784
Massacre at Refuge Rock, Awa’uq (Alaska)
More than 1,000 Sugpiaq men, women, and children hide on a small rocky outcrop off...Read More
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1786-1792
Shelikhov launches a campaign to conquer Alaska Natives
Shelikhov confiscates land and establishes forts and permanent settlements on Kodiak Island. He enslaves Aleuts...Read More
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1786
Unangan families enslaved, forced to relocate
Russian fur trader Gavriil Prilbylov forces Unangan hunters to hunt northern fur seals off remote...Read More
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1787
U.S. declares Ohio Valley open to settlers
U.S. declares Ohio Valley open to settlers. Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, opening...Read More
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1787
George Washington proposed treaties as basis for conducting Indian relations
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1787
U.S. Constitution identifies Indian tribes as sovereign nations
Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate commerce...Read More
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1788
Massacre of Cherokee Peace Chiefs (Tennessee)
Old Tassel and four other Cherokee Peace leaders are lured by U.S. settlers into a...Read More
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1789
George Washington is elected president
George Washington is elected first president. Members of the Iroquois Confederacy call the first U.S....Read More
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1789
Congress places Indian Affairs under the newly formed War Department
Following the Revolutionary War, the U.S. Congress insists that Americans hold possession of all territory...Read More
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1790
U.S. settlers illegally seize Penobscot and Passamaquoddy lands (Maine)
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1790
Congress prohibits land seizure and restricts trade
Congress passes the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act, establishing federal oversight of Indian land and...Read More
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1790
U.S. initiates the "Civilization Campaign"
The Treaty of New York restores some Muscogee lands ceded in the treaties with Georgia...Read More
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1790s
Indian nations unite to fight American invasion
The United Indian Nations of the Old Northwest fight the establishment of military forts and...Read More
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1793
Congress creates Legion of the United States
The Legion of the United States is a federal army to subdue Indians of the...Read More
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1794
Oneida, Tuscarora, and Stockbridge Munsee are given money for Indian education
Because of their allegiance to American forces during the Revolutionary War, the tribes are given...Read More