Washington’s 2 nd Term

Washington’s 2nd Term Foreign Affairs

1790s • War threatened between England & Spain • Spain had captured 3 Brit ships off Vancouver Isle • US policy: Neutral if war • But… what if Brits march through MS valley to attack Spain? • Hamilton: We remain neutral • Jefferson: claim nothing; use this as bargaining chip for W.I. trade • Spain gives in to Brit demands • Hamilton secret assures Brits of our neutrality

Diplomatic relations w/ Brits • We send T. Pinckney • They send us G. Hammond • 1793: War breaks out between England & France • England more feared here than France • Jefferson: treaty w/ France still binding • Be neutral in deed but Say Nothing • To announce neutrality would Insult French & destroy negotiations w/ Brits

Washington listens to Hamilton • Issues Neutrality Proclamation • Admits Genet to US • Bargaining power is gone • Jefferson resigns

Genet is a fool • Commissioned Amer ships to privateer under French flag! • Sets up courts to condemn ships they capture • Arranged expedition to attack Spanish New Orleans • GW demands Genet’s recall

English Rule of 1756: ports closed to neutrals in peace cannot be opened in war • Brit navy seizes American ships trading in French W.I. • Brits had been trying to starve Fr out of W.I. • Hence: closed ports

Early Indian wars • McGillivray, Creek chief breaks treaty as soon as possible • Gen Harmar sent to crush Miamis in OH; defeated • St. Clair sent in 1791; defeated

Back story: English Colonial Policy toward Indians • New England: • Some resisted whites; others sought accommodation • Others become dependent upon white culture • Some survive; others displace or decimated by settlers • Misunderstandings happen • Mutual trade interspersed w/ epidemics of Small Pox & warfare

Dutch & French • Merchants explore; fur trade develops • Establish stable, amicable relations w/ indians • English- more interested in Fish & farms • Goal: subordination, not reciprocity

Indian way of life • Dependent upon nature • Religious beliefs: Animism & Polytheism • Creator provides • Mother Earth • Rain dances, rituals, ceremonies & taboos • A culture whose fate depends upon supernatural powers

Indian policies • Tribes had no unity • Often squabble over disputed land, hunting grounds • Coastal areas devastated by Sm Pox • ‘A widowed land’ • Tribes on E. coast down from 100,000 in 1610 to 13k – 15k by 1675 • Puritan attitude: heathens doing devil’s work; epidemics= divine harvests clearing out region of indians

Puritan policy continued • Missionaries sought to convert tribes; establish special ‘Praying towns’ • 1675: hundreds of converts settled there • Murder of a Praying Indian who had attended Harvard • Plymouth colony tried, executed 3 Indians for crime • Retaliation- Indians attack settlements all over MA & Plymouth – 20,000 killed: King Philip’s War AKA: Metacomet’s War • Pattern= relentless encroachment on Indian lands continues

Southern tribes • Florida- Carolinas: GA, AL, MS • Farming, hunting, fishing based cultures • Matrilineal clans: raised potatoes, beans, corn • Men hunt, wage war • Early 1700s- Trade: Creeks w/ English- deerskins for hoes, copper kettles, knives, beads, blankets, clothes • Trade spreads, leads to contagion, diseases depopulate area • English provide firearms, rum: incentive to capture other tribesmen to be sold as slaves

South, continued • Raid on Spanish Florida- destroyed missions, • Killed hundreds of Indians, Spaniards • Enslaved hundreds • S Carolina had 1400 Indian slaves, 2900 black slaves, 5,000 whites in 1710 • Uprising against Whites in South: early 1700s

Iroquois League • European settlement in 17th Century intensified Indian tribal wars • Interior NY- Iroquois nation forges strong alliance: outnumbered Dutch & English traders • By 1625: fur becomes scarce • Iroquois use firearms to raid hunting grounds of Hurons & Eries in Canada (Beaver Wars) • Iroquois gain control over large part of NE N. Amer

French & English use Indian allies in colonial wars • King William’s war Queen Anne’s war from Canada to Carolinas • Indians enraged by continuous encroachment, attack English settlers

After F & I War • French removed from continent • Pontiac, chief of Ottawa's, seized Ft. Detroit • Wiped out every British fort in OH ex. Ft Detroit & Ft Pitt • No peace until 1766 • 1763: Proclamation limits colonial settlement east of Appalachians • 1768: Treaties of Ft. Stanwix at Hard Labor, SC: Iroquois and Cherokee gave up land in Ohio & got boundaries in GA • 1770 Treaty of Lochaber- Indians gave up claims from NC to VA: opens land below OH River & west • Speculators form syndicate- sought vast domain of W.VA & E. KY • Vandalia- doesn’t survive Revolution

Revolution • Settlers push into KY, past Cumberland River • George Rogers Clark took outposts in Illinois Country (VA) • American expedition  W PA; attacks Iroquois there & W NY • Led by Mohawk Joseph Brant, Iroquois killed hundreds Militiamen on PA frontier • GW dispatched Gen J Sullivan- Aug 79: • Devastated Iroquois, Seneca & Cayuga villages • Broke power of Iroquois Federation for all time

KY • Daniel Boone & small band led assault on 400 Indians at Boonesborough • No Indians talk Cherokees into striking frontier settlements at VA & Carolinas • Retaliation is swift; prevents Indian assistance for Cornwallis in So Campaign

Indian Relations under Articles of Confederation • Treaties w/ Indians: • Ft. Stanwix 1784 ceded W NY, PA • Hopewell, 1785 Cherokee gave up S. Carolina, W. N. Carolina & large parts of KY, TN • 1785: OH tribes drop claims to most of OH

GW’s policies • Indian Wars: 1793-5 • “Mad” Anthony Wayne leads expedition into NW territory w/ 2600: built Ft. Greenville • Attacked Aug. ‘94 • Chippewa, Shawnee, Ottawa, Potawatomie at Battle of Fallen Timbers • Indians took heavy losses • Treaty of Greenville 1795: US pays $10,000 annuity & gets from 12 tribes, rights to SE Quarter of NW Territory (OH)

Washington’s 2 nd Term