Contract between Robert Morris and the Seneca people, sanctioned by the government of the United States
The Treaty of Big Tree transferred nearly 3.5 million acres of Seneca land in New York to Robert Morris for $100,000, drastically reducing Seneca territory.
Key Facts
- Land ceded
- Nearly 3.5 million acres in New York State
- Payment to Seneca
- $100,000 (approx. $5 billion in 2020 dollars by GDP)
- Annual income to tribe
- Up to $6,000 per year from bank stock earnings
- Reserved tracts
- 12 small tracts retained by the Seneca
- Prior land sale referenced
- Phelps and Gorham Purchase, 1788
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following the 1788 Phelps and Gorham Purchase, in which the Haudenosaunee sold rights to land between Seneca Lake and the Genesee River, land speculator Robert Morris sought to acquire the remaining Seneca territory west of the Genesee River. The new United States government facilitated negotiations to extinguish remaining Indigenous land claims in western New York.
On September 15, 1797, the Seneca Nation signed the Treaty of Big Tree with Robert Morris, sanctioned by the United States government. The Seneca relinquished rights to all territory west of the Genesee River, retaining only 12 small reserved tracts. In exchange, they received $100,000 invested in Bank of the United States stock, yielding annual payments of up to $6,000.
The treaty left the Seneca with only a handful of small reservations in western New York, effectively ending their control over millions of acres of ancestral homeland. The payment structure, placing funds in bank stock rather than giving them directly to the tribe, limited Seneca economic autonomy and set a precedent for later federal treaty arrangements with Native nations.
Political Outcome
Seneca Nation ceded nearly 3.5 million acres west of the Genesee River to Robert Morris, retaining 12 small tracts and receiving $100,000 in Bank of the United States stock.
Seneca Nation held rights to vast territory west of the Genesee River in New York
Robert Morris and subsequent settlers gained title; Seneca confined to 12 small reserved tracts