The Third Treaty of Buffalo Creek or Treaty with the Seneca of 1842 signed by the U.S. and the Seneca Nation modified the
Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek
There are four treaties of Buffalo Creek, named for the Buffalo River (New York), Buffalo River in New York. The Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek, also known as the Treaty with the New York Indians, 1838, was signed on January 15, 1838 (proclaimed ...
.
"Treaty with the Seneca of 1842"
Oklahoma State Library, accessed 22 Mar 2010 This reflected that the Ogden Company had purchased only two of the four Seneca reservations, the Buffalo Creek and Tonawanda reservations, that the Senecas had agreed to sell in the Second Treaty; it thus restored native title to the Allegany, Cattaraugus and Oil Springs reservations.
A statement in the ninth article of the treaty prohibits the assessment of property tax
A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
on native lands until they are sold to non-native owners. Said article states:
The parties to this compact mutually agree to solicit the influence of the Government of the United States to protect such of the lands of the Seneca Indians, within the State of New York, as may from time to time remain in their possession from all taxes, and assessments for roads, highways, or any other purpose until such lands shall be sold and conveyed by the said Indians, and the possession thereof shall have been relinquished by them.
Two results have arisen from this treaty. The first is that the Seneca nation has refused to sell any land to non-Indians within its territory. One side effect of this is that the city of Salamanca, which is mostly on the Allegany Reservation but occupied by a large number of non-native residents, operates on a lease system in which any non-native property holder must sign a lease with the nation acknowledging the tribe's ownership of the land and, since the 1990s, also any improvements built upon that land. The second is that the Seneca Nation asserts that this treaty clause is not limited to taxes on land (property taxes), but to any and all taxes, including excise tax
file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...
and sales tax
A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
, from any activity on the reservations; this interpretation forms the basis of the Senecas' convenience store
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
industry, which has a built-in price advantage over non-native competitors due to the tribe's assertion that they do not have to pay excise tax. (The Senecas do not extend these advantages to non-native businesses or residents; any non-native leasing space on the reservation must still pay excise, sales and property tax to state, county, city and school authorities.)
Notes
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References
*Laurence M. Hauptman, ''Conspiracy of Interests: Iroquois Dispossession and the Rise of New York State'' (2001).
See also
* Treaty of Canandaigua
The Treaty of Canandaigua (or Konondaigua, as spelled in the treaty itself) also known as the Pickering Treaty and the Calico Treaty, is a treaty signed after the American Revolutionary War between the Grand Council of the Six Nations and Preside ...
* Treaty of Big Tree
The Treaty of Big Tree was a formal treaty signed in 1797 between the Seneca Nation and the United States, in which the Seneca relinquished their rights to nearly all of their traditional homeland in New York State—nearly 3.5 million acres. In ...
* First Treaty of Buffalo Creek (1788)
* Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek
There are four treaties of Buffalo Creek, named for the Buffalo River (New York), Buffalo River in New York. The Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek, also known as the Treaty with the New York Indians, 1838, was signed on January 15, 1838 (proclaimed ...
(1838)
* Fourth Treaty of Buffalo Creek
The Fourth Treaty of Buffalo Creek or Treaty with the Seneca, Tonawanda Band is a modification of the Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek and Third Treaty of Buffalo Creek.
The Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians objected to their inclusion in the tre ...
(1857)
External links
United States v. New York Indians, 173 U.S. 464, 468, 43 L. Ed. 769, 19 S. Ct. 481 (1899).
Seneca tribe
Buffalo Creek
History of Buffalo, New York
Aboriginal title in New York
1842 treaties