In 1778, The United States signed a treaty with the Delaware Indian tribe, providing the them with peace and mutual protection. The Delaware tribe lived in the lower part of Pennsylvania and nearby parts of New Jersey along the Delaware River and it's tributary system. Then, by the treaty of August 18, 1804, made at Vincennes by William Henry Harrison, then Governor of Indiana territory, the Delaware relinquished their land in Indiana Territory. The Treaty of Vincennes in 1804 with the Delawares and Piankeshaws ceded Indian lands in the extreme southern portion of the Indiana region along the Ohio River. The treaty was made on August 18, 1804 at Vincennes by William Henry Harrison, then Governor of Indiana territory.
Thomas Jefferson described this as a desire of the Delaware tribe, to "to extinguish in their people the spirit of hunting". Jefferson's "civilization program" was in full effect, trading Native American hunting grounds for a life of agriculture and dependence on the United States for peace and security. In the case of the Delaware, they would give up a large swath of land in the Southern Indiana territory for "annuities in animals and implements for agriculture and in other necessaries". The land they gave up was valuable to the United States as it included 300 miles on the Ohio river and over 100 miles on the Wabash. Jefferson added that with the recent treaty made with the Kaskaskia tribe, the United States now had in possession nearly the entire coast of the Ohio River from Lake Erie to the Mississippi.
Here is an excerpt from Jefferson's 1804 annual address to Congress describing the treaty:
"On this side of the Mississippi an important relinquishment of native title has been received from the Delawares. That tribe, desiring to extinguish in their people the spirit of hunting and to convert superfluous lands into the means of improving what they retain, has ceded to us all the country between the Wabash and Ohio south of and including the road from the rapids toward Vincennes, for which they are to receive annuities in animals and implements for agriculture and in other necessaries. This acquisition is important, not only for its extent and fertility, but as fronting 300 miles on the Ohio, and near half that on the Wabash. The produce of the settled country descending those rivers will no longer pass in review of the Indian frontier but in a small portion, and, with the cession heretofore made by the Kaskaskias, nearly consolidates our possessions north of the Ohio, in a very respectable breadth - from Lake Erie to the Mississippi. The Piankeshaws having some claim to the country ceded by the Delawares, it has been thought best to quiet that by fair purchase also. So soon as the treaties on this subject shall have received their constitutional sanctions they shall be laid before both houses."The Delaware were assigned lands in the State of Missouri, and removed to their reservation, on the James Fork of the White River, where they remained until a new treaty was established on September 24, 1829, that relinquished the Missouri land. They were then granted lands in present-day Kansas
Thomas Jefferson was very hopeful that his Indian Civilization program would be welcome among all the Indian tribes within the newly acquired territory of Louisiana. Despite opposing view points including those that would soon come from the Lewis & Clark expedition, Jefferson continued his state of the union address to propose the use of commerce and alms, rather than force and military means to pursue a peaceful co-existence with the the Indians. Jefferson's goal was to entice the Indians with commerce that was advantageous to them, and "only not losing to us". In other words, American tools and commodities would be provided at cost to them, guaranteeing that the tribes would become dependent upon no other nation but the United States. This would create a dependence upon the United States for sustenance, peace and security. Jefferson's approach was to be humane and friendly, but there is no mistaking the ultimate goal of acquiring their land.
"With the Indian tribes established within our newly acquired limits, I have deemed it necessary to open conferences for the purpose of establishing a good understanding and neighborly relations between us. So far as we have yet learned, we have reason to believe that their dispositions are generally favorable and friendly; and with these dispositions on their part, we have in our own hands means which can not fail us for preserving their peace and friendship. by pursuing an uniform course of justice toward them, by aiding them in all the improvements which may better their condition, and especially by establishing a commerce on terms which shall be advantageous to them and only not losing to us, and so regulated as that no incendiaries of our own or any other nation may be permitted to disturb the natural effects of our just and friendly offices, we may render ourselves so necessary to their comfort and prosperity that the protection of our citizens from their disorderly members will become their interest and their voluntary care. Instead, therefore, of an augmentation of military force proportioned to our extension of frontier, I propose a moderate enlargement of the capital employed in that commerce as a more effectual, economical, and humane instrument for preserving peace and good neighborhood with them."
http://www.legendsofkansas.com/delawareindians.html
http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2016/03/1801-thomas-jefferson-indian.html
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ohiorivermap.png
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