Land and diplomacy on the fringes of empire: Indians, agents, speculators, and the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix

Land and Diplomacy on the Fringes of Empire explores the interplay between Indian and Europeans throughout the eighteenth century northeastern borderlands. The work argues that the events of the early 1760s to the mid 1770s marked an apogee of private interests in colonial America. Anchored by events that culminated in the largest land cession in colonial North America, my research details the maneuvering of colonial agents, speculators, the Six Nations and the Ohio Valley first peoples in light of the 1768 negotiations at Fort Stanwix. The compromises and clandestine operations related to the treaty accentuate the agency of borderland players as they guided and manipulated imperial policy. The project marries early Euroamerican and Indian histories with cultural anthropological theory and provides a nuanced account of land acquisition practices in America that prepared the way for conquests across the continent.