Two different treaties between Native Americans and European-Americans were signed at Fort Stanwix, which was located near present-day Rome, New York.

The Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1768

In 1768, Sir William Johnson negotiated an important treaty at Fort Stanwix between the British government and the Iroquois. The purpose of the conference was to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements set forth in the Proclamation of 1763. The British government hoped a new boundary line might bring an end to the rampant frontier violence, which had become costly and troublesome. Indians hoped a new, permanent line might hold back white colonial expansion.

The final treaty was signed on November 5, and extended the earlier proclamation line much further west. The Iroquois had effectively ceded Kentucky to the whites. However, the Indians who actually used the Kentucky lands, primarily the Shawnee, Delaware, and Cherokee, had no role in the negotiations. Rather than secure peace, the Fort Stanwix treaty of 1768 helped set the stage for the next round of hostilities along the Ohio River, which would culminate in Dunmore's War.

The Fort Stanwix Treaty of 1784

Another treaty was conducted at the fort between the United States and Native Americans in 1784, one of several treaties signed after the American victory in the Revolutionary War.

Signed by Seneca Chief Cornplanter, the Iroquois Confederacy ceded all lands west of the Niagara River to the United States. Because of his actions, he was rejected by the Iroquois people.