By Clint Halftown, Federal Representative of the Cayuga Nation
On this momentous occasion, let’s take a moment to review how our histories have intertwined.
The U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2 (The Supremacy Clause) identifies treaties as the supreme law of the land.
In 1794, President George Washington designed a treaty between the United States and the Haudenosaunee as an end to hostilities and to establish boundaries. On November 11, 1794, the Treaty of Canandaigua was signed in the village of Canandaigua, NY.
Among the treaty’s numerous provisions, the Cayuga agreed to cede more than three million acres of their ancestral land in exchange for a permanent 64,015-acre reservation at the north end of Cayuga Lake.
After the signing of the treaty, New York State entered into land sales and leases with the Cayuga Nation, without the approval of the United States Congress. As New York did not have the authority to deal directly with the Nation, the transactions were illegally brokered. The Cayuga point to the 1794 treaty as a promise of their legal sovereignty over the 64,015 acres. The promises of this treaty were clearly made but were usurped by New York State.
The Treaty reads in part:
“The said reservations shall remain theirs, until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States who have right to purchase. The United States acknowledges the lands belonging to the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca Nations, engaging never to claim or disturb them, ensuring their free use and enjoyment thereof.”
On October 4, 1988, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Concurrent Resolution 311, reaffirming the relationship between the U.S. and Indian Nations. This resolution acknowledges the Iroquois Confederacy’s role in shaping American democracy and highlights the importance of maintaining a respectful and recognized relationship with Native American peoples.
The Cayuga Nation continues its journey of rebuilding and revitalization. Through strategic land reacquisition, economic development, and the unwavering commitment to cultural preservation, they are re-establishing a thriving sovereign presence in their ancestral homeland.
Due to a lack of enforcement by the United States of the Treaty of Canandaigua, The Cayuga Nation must reacquire properties within their own territory. These reacquired lands provide for housing, administration, and economic ventures such as gas stations, gaming establishments, and cannabis dispensaries, which generate revenue for the benefit of the Cayuga people, particularly in and around Seneca Falls and Union Springs.
In many ways, the history of the Cayugas parallels that of the United States. In both cases, they have struggled to survive under economic and social tyranny, fought valiantly against their oppressors, while igniting civil wars within civil wars, but emerging with new hope and prosperity, only to have those hopes dashed repeatedly.
As the United States turns the page on 250 years and struggles to regain its prominence and respect on the world stage, the Cayugas continue their struggles to rebuild a once, and future, great Nation, living in harmony and with mutual respect with their neighbors in New York and in the United States of America.
Clint Halftown is the Federal Representative of the Cayuga Nation and has been a member of the Nation Council since age 19. In 2002, Halftown was appointed to pursue economic development initiatives for the Nation. In the past 25 years, Halftown has built a dynamic economic infrastructure and has pursued and reclaimed lands for the benefit of the Cayuga Nation. During that time, Cayuga Nation Enterprises has developed business and created jobs in the Finger Lakes at LakeSide Trading, its convenience stores, Sweet Grass Dispensary, two cannabis dispensaries, LakeSide Entertainment, four Class II gaming facilities, as well as a cattle ranch, garden, water bottling operation, and cigarette manufacturing facility.