John Graves Simcoe to Unnamed Recipient, 28 June 1793

John Graves Simcoe to Unnamed Recipient, 28 June 1793

John Graves Simcoe to Unnamed Recipient, 28 June 1793

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Introduction

In this document, Simcoe voices a desire to protect Indians and his comments possibly speak to the overall British understanding of Indigenous peoples and British paternalism in 1793. Topics mentioned: Kentucky, Michilimackinac, Upper Canada, United States and its commissioners, fraudulent treaties, Indian land and Nations, French and British power, Six Nations, John Butler, Fort Erie, Illinois River, Wabash, Fort Vincennes, Henry Hamilton, Mohawk, Philadelphia, Timothy Pickering, William Augustus Bowles/Estajoca, the Creeks tribe, French Revolution, Toronto/York, Western Indians, Joseph Bunbury, Alexander McGillivray, the Lakers, treaty, Lower Sandusky.

Name of Maker(s): John Graves Simcoe
Nation of Maker: British
Nation of Origin

Mohawk; Six Nations; Creeks;

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

Author of letter.

Place of Origin: Niagara-On-The-Lake, ON
Date Made or Date Range: 1793-06-28
Materials

Ink on paper

Motifs and Patterns

None.

Additional Context

None.

Description of Writing/Text

In this document, Simcoe voices a desire to protect Indians. His plan is to "wean and detach" a section of land running from Kentucky North to Michilimackinac in Upper Canada, connected to Upper Canada. This he feels would "give the Indians perfect security." Simcoe feels that with respect to the United States, "the Indians have been cheated and persecuted and that the treaties which are produced are evidently fraudulent." He also states his opinion that the claim the United States offers for title to disputed Indian land is contrived and immoral. In particular, he says "I can scarcely believe that wicked and insidious as the Conduct of these people has been to the Indian Nations that on such a slight foundation they can pretend to build their claim to infringe on the Rights of the natives, Yet I can discover no other for the assumption of a power which neither the French or British Nations ever asserted." Simcoe also notes his observation that the United States' commissioners were surprised by the firmness of the Six Nations' refusal to cede land.

Condition: Good.
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Date given in document.

Current Location: Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: Claus Papers, Vol. 5 (M.G. 19, F1) reel C1479, pp. 175-182.
Link to Institution's Collections Database: Heritage Canadiana: https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c1479/191?r=0&s=1
Date Relative was First Removed or Collected from its Community Context: 1755-1886
GKS Reference Number: 539
How to Cite this Item

John Graves Simcoe to Unnamed Recipient, 28 June 1793. Currently in Library and Archives Canada. Claus Papers, Vol. 5 (M.G. 19, F1) reel C1479, pp. 175-182. Item described as part of a GRASAC research project, summer 2010, and consulted. https://gks.grasac.org/ (GKS ID: 539, accessed [date]).

Record Creation Context

Created by Research Assistant Aaron Mills during the first summer of the SSHRC Aboriginal Research Grant 2007 to 2010

Record Creation Notes/Observations

Record reviewed by Research Assistant Jessica Ye during the winter of 2021

Approximate Place of Origin

43.2557, -79.0718

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