[2] Bread was a pragmatist who found ways to compromise between "promoting tribal sovereignty and treaty rights" and cooperating with federal and state officials.

[3] He played a major role in adapting the Iroquois condolence ceremony into a July 4 celebration that recognized the alliance of the Oneida with George Washington during the American Revolution.

[6] Little is known about Daniel Bread's early life, but historian Laurence Hauptman reports he spent time in the Oneida reservation's Presbyterian mission school founded by Samuel Kirkland, learning to read and write English, arithmetic, and the Christian catechism.

Williams proposed that the Iroquois move from New York to Michigan Territory, and led delegations to Green Bay to negotiate treaties with the Menominee and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) tribes that secured land along Duck Creek, Wisconsin and in the Fox River Valley at Little Chute.

[11] Along with George B. Porter, governor of Michigan Territory, they met with President Andrew Jackson at the White House, where Bread explained the 1831 treaty's provision for the Oneida was not "sufficient in quality or quantity" for the tribe.

[14] Bread led the tribe to adapt the Iroquois condolence ceremony into an annual commemoration of Independence Day, to which Oneida chiefs invited guests from the white community.

The day's events featured speeches by Oneida chiefs, lacrosse matches, social dancing, fireworks, and meals served by both the Methodist and Episcopal churches.

[19] Bread's friend bishop Jackson Kemper died in 1870, and the Episcopal missionary Edward A. Goodnough had become more powerful in Oneida Nation politics.