The historic Canandaigua Treaty of 1794, was negotiated by the Six Nations that make up the Iroquois Confederacy - the Seneca, Cayuga Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and the Tuscarora Aboriginal occupants of the lands surrounded by New York State, these Nations collectively called themselves the Haudenosaunee. Their principal negotiators included Farmer's Brother, Red Jacket, Little Billy, and Cornplanter (all four of the Seneca Nation), Fish Carrier (Cayuga), and Clear Sky (Onondaga).

To represent the United States, George Washington sent his commissioner to the Indians, Colonel Timothy Pickering, accompanied by General Israel Chapin For this reason, the treaty is also known as the Pickering Treaty.

Quaker representatives, led by William Savery of Philadelphia, also attended the Treaty Council. Trusted as mediators, they had been invited by the Seneca to look out for Haudenosaunee interests

Why the need for a treaty?

During the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the Haudenosaunee initially had taken a position of neutrality. However, loyalty to the British Crown eventually induced some Mohawk and some Seneca forces to side against the 13 Colonies. After the war, the British pulled back to Canada, and the Haudenosaunee found its lands open to settlement by the American colonists. The result was frequent skirmishing with settlers along the Pennsylvania/NY border.

In 1779, on orders from George Washington, Major General John Sullivan led an army into the Finger Lakes region. Though few lives were lost on either side, the campaign destroyed upwards of 50 Haudenosaunee towns, along with valuable croplands.

There was similar tension between American settlers and the Confederacy of Indian Nations in the Ohio region of the Northwest Territories. These Indian Nations included the Hurons, Ottawas, Miamis, Shawnees, Ojibways, Cherokees, Delawares, Potawatamis, and Wabash. In 1791, the Northwest Confederacy won a stinging victory against the U.S. army commanded by General Arthur St. Clair.

George Washington recognized the urgency of a treaty between the Haudenosaunee and the United States. Failure to include the interest of the Six Nations in the 1783 Treaty of Paris between the British and the United States had resulted in the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix. In this treaty, Warrior Chief Joseph Brant of the Mohawks and Cornplanter of the Seneca had conceded land in New York and the Ohio Valley - land the Six Nations might now try to win back.

Also, tension was growing again with white settlers immigrating into the Finger Lakes. Washington concluded that if the Six Nations' warriors joined the Northwest Confederacy, their combined strength could prove insurmountable for the now 15 United States. He persuaded Congress to raise taxes to double the sire of the regular army to almost 6,000 men