In the aftermath of its defeat in the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain was forced to relinquish its land east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

[5] A series of conferences followed, in which Pickering opened dialogue between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the United States regarding what would become of the land that Great Britain had lost.

In October 1791, Knox’s military efforts on the western frontier were failing, and he suggested enlisting the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to fight on behalf of the United States.

[8] Afraid that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy would join the opposition at the western frontier, the United States held the first conference for the Treaty of Canandaigua in September 1794.

According to scholar Granville Ganter, “Unlike their Anglo counterparts, the Haudenosaunee saw treaty agreements as requiring constant renewal and upkeep.

[11] Seneca leader Red Jacket played an integral role in helping Pickering overcome some of these ideological differences throughout the deliberations.

[12] He “reminded Pickering that making peace requires declarations that mean one thing—peace—and mixing in language of blame or criticism simply fouls the process”.

[16] Article Five legally acknowledges that the road from “Fort Schlosser to Lake Erie, as far south as Buffalo Creek” belongs to the Seneca Nation.

[18] To date, Haudenosaunee leaders have insisted that the payment be made with bolts of cloth, rather than cash, as a means of adhering to the terms of the largely dishonored treaty.

[16] By the early 19th century, federal Indian agents were "deeply involved" in furthering a federal policy of depriving the Oneida people of their Article Two rights to the quiet enjoyment of their treaty lands by both failing to prevent New York from purchasing treaty lands and actively "encouraging the removal of the Oneidas... to the west.