Johnson reacts with horror to insertion of subjugation in Treaty of August 7-10.

In private letter to Gage, Johnson says that Indians have never referred to themselves as Subjects and would not approve of it: “...the very Idea of Subjection would fill them with horror.”

Johnson discovered through checking Indian Records of the Minutes of 1751 that it claimed nine different Nations acknowledged themselves to be his Majesty’s Subjects, but Johnson was present at that Conference and there was no such talk.

He warns that letting those at home believe the Indians have agreed to something they have not and which is so repugnant to them that later people will try to enforce it and cause calamity. Though they may call the King their Father, it is the English who are misreading meaning into it. The Indians are independent and will not be governed by imperial laws.

Speaking to Gage in unofficial capacities as a friend, suggests he gets rid of Subjection in the Treaty.

Date of letter

Sir William Johnson to Thomas Gage, October 31, 1764. In “The papers of Sir William Johnson, Volume 11,” prepared for publication by the Division of Archives and History, pg 394-396. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1953. GKS ID: 58860.