What if the Six Nations Joined the Continentals?

How do you think American history would be changed if the Six Nations of the Iroquois joined the Continental war effort in full.

To add extra impact, what if they voiced a desire to send delegates to the Continental Congress?

What do you believe the effects would be?
 
Doesn't the Declaration of Independence contain a section complaining about how the king was unfairly privileging indigenous people over the colonists? It would be kind of awkward for the Iroquois to sign on to an explicitly anti-indigenous rebellion. I just looked it up and this was the part in question:
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and condition.
Anyway, I'm not a big US history buff but it looks like the Atlantic covered this topic: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/americas-twofold-original-sin/606163/
 
Doesn't the Declaration of Independence contain a section complaining about how the king was unfairly privileging indigenous people over the colonists? It would be kind of awkward for the Iroquois to sign on to an explicitly anti-indigenous rebellion. I just looked it up and this was the part in question
Yep.

And the bit about 'domestic insurrections' is a reference to the British offering freedom to slaves who fought for the Crown against the Patriots in Virginia.
 
Doesn't the Declaration of Independence contain a section complaining about how the king was unfairly privileging indigenous people over the colonists? It would be kind of awkward for the Iroquois to sign on to an explicitly anti-indigenous rebellion. I just looked it up and this was the part in question:

Anyway, I'm not a big US history buff but it looks like the Atlantic covered this topic: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/americas-twofold-original-sin/606163/
There were indigenous nations that did side with the Continentals. There was no unified Native American identity at the time, and tribes/nations living east of the Appalachians (where most of the fighting was) had little reason to care about British proclamations against settling west of the Appalachians. With that being said there were nations/tribes whose territory crossed the Appalachians, and continental diplomacy towards the natives tended to be poorly conducted.
 
The Continental Congress sought Iroquois neutrality in the war and sent Philip Schuyler to negotiate with them. I think they had an idea towards expelling them west after the war so that's why they didn't seek them as allies. I think there is a good case that the Sullivan Expedition was a genocide.
 
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There were indigenous nations that did side with the Continentals. There was no unified Native American identity at the time, and tribes/nations living east of the Appalachians (where most of the fighting was) had little reason to care about British proclamations against settling west of the Appalachians. With that being said there were nations/tribes whose territory crossed the Appalachians, and continental diplomacy towards the natives tended to be poorly conducted.
There's a reason I specifically stated the Iroquois Confederation.
 
Given colonist population pressure and the way the US treated even willingly assimilating groups like the Cherokee, I don’t expect the Iroquois to end up much better than OTL.

Likely ends with the US gradually chipping away at their territory via successive treaties and land purchases.

In OTL, despite fighting as loyal allies of the British during the ARW and receiving a substantial initial cession in Upper Canada, Simcoe and the British still gradually reneged on the agreement and reduced them down to the tiny Grand River reserve to give settlers land. If the Iroquois join the US, I expect something similar only on the other side of the border- the alliance lasts as long as the British are a threat, before reverting to land renegotiation and expulsion to the Northwest Ordinances (maybe a 2nd Indian Territory after Fallen Timbers).
 
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I agree with much of what's been said above, particularly while the British and later Canadian governments weren't exactly friends of Native Americans a massive drive of Independence was a feeling the king was holding back settlement so it's really hard to see how you end up with the Six Nations fully integrated into the war on the side of the US and for that matter then taking part in the Continental Congress in all but the most taken we. However, there might be some ways we can tilt the scales to create more interesting scenario

Step one have a major falling out between the Six Nations and the Crown, this could honestly just be a well timed diplomatic faux pas by a royalist or a disagreement around legitimate settlement, ideally this would also be done in a way that would make the Six Nations a bit more powerful, whether any other tribes nearby who were friendly to the British who could have ended up at war with and conquered by the Six Nations both giving them more territory/power, and creating tensions with the Crown?

Step two make the US weaker, loads of ways to do this (kill off a few key figures early, have a couple of early battles go differently) effectively makes the early Americans more and more dependent on Native American allies, both sides recognise this is a more equal relationship so sending representatives to things like Congress starts make more sense. I know a couple of timelines have mused about a situation where the final peace treaty leaves Britain in control of the south this again feels like it could be helpful as you end up with the effective manpower of the Six Nations much closer to that of the Patriots, forcing a more equal relationship.

Step three keep the US scared, OTL the UK pretty quickly abandoned any suggestion of reclaiming their colonies and despite a couple of flareups the US was largely allowed to get on with its own affairs without too much threat from the wider world pretty quickly this drastically tanks the capacity for friendly tribes to influence things and means the settlement minded founders quickly turn their eyes to forcing indigenous tribes of their land. Now 2 somewhat looks after 3 if you have a smaller US surrounded on all sides by the British I can also easily see the loyalist government of say British Virginia or Carolina perpetually pushing to put down the last of the rebels or even trigger numerous small-scale colonial conflicts over disputed borders this keeps making, the early American government terrified of large-scale intervention by its neighbours and discourages any actions that could trigger an internal civil war or make key allies and swap sides (so in this case groups like the Six Nations, and hopefully creates a bit of a hang together or hang separately pressure cooker environment) especially in the scenario where you've got lots of small colonial wars could also see massive pressure for both sides to acquire as many Native American allies/auxiliaries as possible so this may give another unique role for representatives from the Six Nations effectively going out and coordinating the unions Native American allies, not only does this continue to increase their value and make it harder to justify pushing against their land but it gives the potential for more sources of more Iroquois identifying citizens through bringing some of these allies into their actual physical territory

Altogether I could see this leading to the Six Nations meaningfully taking part in the Continental Congress, and as the constitution, starts to form being able to guarantee their own autonomy to some level possibly ending up as the equivalent of a founding state, while also imposing some of their ideas on the initial thinking about the constitution (I don't know enough about their cultures no what these changes might be). Given enough time for process to become entrenched I'm more optimistic they could maintain territorial integrity (effectively by the time this US is in a position it could safely stab them in the back there firmly seen as part of the establishment), however I do expect you would still effectively see their territories swamped by white settlers just in this case it's people coming from one state to another state and doesn't come with the violent overthrow of the states government. So long-term beyond any constitutional changes they successfully lobby for you likely end up with a situation where one of the peculiarities of the United States is the state of Iroquois, which has a very different state constitution/legal system to its peers, where Iroquois traditions and followers of their traditional religion are protected to some level, where most of the big landowners/influential people can legitimately trace their heritage back to the tribe but where functionally a couple of centuries of internal immigration, and cultural assimilation means the population as a whole look and act pretty Western European, and not that far off from their neighbours.
 
Perhaps the Finger Lakes region could have been recognized as a semi sovereign protectorate state if the Iroquois were allies. If Canada (Quebec) could have been brought aboard the Patriot cause then that would probably be the best bet for Iroquois sovereignty. American interference with the Canadiens - Iroquois trade is one of the causes of the Canadiens sitting out the War. It looks like the Iroquois thought of the Lenni Lenape as a subjugated people. They and the Susquehannock might have been brought in to the Iroquois Country.

If memory serves Schuyler was a pretty cool guy. After the war he tried to invest in those who remained of the Iroquois to help them American style farms and communities with some light industry like salt production. So there is room for an Iroquois Country to grow economically, and they could provide support or logistics to settlers passing through their lands to the west.

The butterflies from an allied Iroquois could prevent the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, allowing the Iroquois to retain their claim to northwestern Pennsylvania and Connecticut's Western Reserve of Ohio. Perhaps they could also keep claims in the Ontario Peninsula and lands north of Lake Ontario, or incorporate the Huron. The Shawnee might decide to be neutral in the American War of Independence which makes the American Cherokee War easier for the Americans. Connecticut could emerge from this with a win in the Third Pennamite Yankee War and the right to settle northeastern Pennsylvania as their own colony. Less likely, though not impossible, would be Virginia winning Dunmore's claim to southwestern Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts winning a claim to upstate New York. Just maybe there could be room for a Super Vermont to take northern New York, and the southern portion of the east side of the St Lawrence River Valley in modern day Quebec.

An Iroquois Country could be incorporated into something like the Articles of Confederation, but I doubt it would be with full membership. I assume that relationship would be shed if the American States move into something more nationalistic than the Articles of Confederation especially the Constitution.
 
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