The Twenty Townships are an area in central New York that now is largely a part of Madison and Chenango counties. The area was also known as Clinton's Purchase, for the sale by the Oneida Nation to New York in 1788 was made under Governor George Clinton.
In the late twentieth century, the United States Supreme Court ruled the sale had been unconstitutional, as the state had no authority to deal directly with the Native Americans, and never had its treaty ratified by the US Senate.
Background
This area had been part of the Oneida people's homeland since their emergence as a culture in the fourteenth century. After the American Revolutionary War, the United States government allocated a reservation in this area for the Oneida Nation, who had been allies of the Patriots. But land pressure continued as European-American settlers poured into central and western New York seeking land to purchase and develop for farming. The state wanted more land available for sale.
On September 22, 1788 at Fort Schuyler, a treaty between Governor George Clinton and the Oneida Indians ceded this land from the tribe to the state of New York.
The "Twenty Townships" west of the Unadilla River, conveyed by the Oneida Indians in 1788. Known as "Clinton's Purchase"
The southern part of the Twenty Townships became a part of Chenango and the northern part was included in Madison County when it was created from Chenango County in 1806.
Township 20 became the Town of Sangerfield and the western part of Bridgewater in Oneida County.
In the late twentieth century, the Oneida Nation pursued a land claim against New York State to recover its lands or compensation. The United States Supreme Court ruled that, as this treaty and sale were never ratified by the United States Senate, it was unconstitutional. After the Revolution and the formation of the United States under a written constitution, New York State had no legal authority to negotiate separately with American Indian tribes.
Chenango County is a county located in the south-central section U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,220. Its county seat is Norwich. The county's name originates from an Oneida word meaning 'large bull-thistle'.
Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 68,016. Its county seat is Wampsville. The county is named after James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, and was first formed in 1806.
Oneida County is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 232,125. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or Haudenosaunee, which had long occupied this territory at the time of European encounter and colonization. The federally recognized Oneida Indian Nation has had a reservation in the region since the late 18th century, after the American Revolutionary War.
Brookfield is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 2,403 at the 2000 census.
Augusta is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 2,020 at the 2010 census.
Sangerfield is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 2,561 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Jedediah Sanger, an early settler.
Sherburne is a town in Chenango County, New York, United States. The population was 4,048 at the 2010 census. The town contains two villages, Sherburne and Earlville. The town is at the northern border of Chenango County.
The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km2) of land in what is now western New York State from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $1,000,000 (£300,000), to be paid in three annual installments, and the pre-emptive right to the title on the land from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy for $5000 (£12,500). A syndicate formed by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham bought preemptive rights to the 9,600-square-mile (25,000 km2) parcel - larger than six present U.S. states: Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island - in New York, west of Seneca Lake between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania border, from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Samuel Kirkland was a Presbyterian minister and missionary among the Oneida and Tuscarora peoples of present-day central New York State. He was a long-time friend of the Oneida chief Skenandoa.
The U.S. state of New York currently comprises 26 congressional districts. Each district elects one member of the United States House of Representatives who sits on its behalf. The state was redistricted in 2022, following the 2020 U.S. census; it lost one seat in Congress.
The Unadilla River is a 71-mile-long (114 km) river in the Central New York Region of New York State. The river begins northeast of the hamlet of Millers Mills and flows generally south to the village of Sidney, where it converges with the Susquehanna River, which drains into the Chesapeake Bay, a bay of the Atlantic Ocean.
There are four treaties of Buffalo Creek, named for the 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 between the Seneca Nation, Mohawk nation, Cayuga nation, Oneida Indian Nation, Onondaga (tribe), Tuscarora (tribe) and the United States. It covered land sales of tribal reservations under the U.S. Indian Removal program, by which they planned to move most eastern tribes to Kansas Territory west of the Mississippi River.
The 1996 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose 33 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The Oneida Indian Nation (OIN) or Oneida Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Oneida people in the United States. The tribe is headquartered in Verona, New York, where the tribe originated and held its historic territory long before European colonialism. It is an Iroquoian-speaking people, and one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or Haudenosaunee. Three other federally recognized Oneida tribes operate in locations where they migrated or were removed to during and after the American Revolutionary War: one in Wisconsin in the United States, and two in Ontario, Canada.
City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York, 544 U.S. 197 (2005), was a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court held that repurchase of traditional tribal lands 200 years later did not restore tribal sovereignty to that land. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion.
The 1806 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held from April 29 to May 1, 1806, to elect 17 U.S. Representatives to represent the State of New York in the United States House of Representatives of the 10th United States Congress.
The towns and cities of Central New York were created by the U.S. state of New York as municipalities in order to give residents more direct say over local government. Central New York is a six county area–Cayuga, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego.
Seneca Nation of Indians v. Christy, 162 U.S. 283 (1896), was the first litigation of aboriginal title in the United States by a tribal plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States since Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831). It was the first such litigation by an indigenous plaintiff since Fellows v. Blacksmith (1857) and its companion case of New York ex rel. Cutler v. Dibble (1858). The New York courts held that the 1788 Phelps and Gorham Purchase did not violate the Nonintercourse Act, one of the provisions of which prohibits purchases of Indian lands without the approval of the federal government, and that the Seneca Nation of New York was barred by the state statute of limitations from challenging the transfer of title. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the merits of lower court ruling because of the adequate and independent state grounds doctrine.
Confederation Congress Proclamation of 1783 was a proclamation by the Congress of the Confederation dated September 22, 1783 prohibiting the extinguishment of aboriginal title in the United States without the consent of the federal government. The policy underlying the proclamation was inaugurated by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, and continued after the ratification of the United States Constitution by the Nonintercourse Acts of 1790, 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1833.
The 48th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4 to April 21, 1825, during the first year of DeWitt Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
