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The British, French, Iroquois, and Everyday Power in the Lake Ontario

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The British, French, Iroquois, and Everyday Power in the Lake Ontario The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library Summer 8-5-2016 Petite Politique: The rB itish, French, Iroquois, and Everyday Power in the Lake Ontario Borderlands, 1724-1760 Greg Rogers University of Maine, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Canadian History Commons, Military History Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Rogers, Greg, "Petite Politique: The rB itish, French, Iroquois, and Everyday Power in the Lake Ontario Borderlands, 1724-1760" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2506. http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/2506 This Open-Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. PETITE POLITIQUE : THE BRITISH, FRENCH, IROQUOIS, AND EVERYDAY POWER IN THE LAKE ONTARIO BORDERLANDS, 1724-1760 By Greg Rogers B.A. State University of New York at Geneseo, 2005 M.A. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, 2010 A DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) The Graduate School The University of Maine August 2016 Advisory Committee: Jacques Ferland, Associate Professor of History, Advisor Liam Riordan, Professor of History Scott See, Libra Professor of History Stephen M. Miller, Adelaide and Alan Bird Professor of History Stephen J. Hornsby, Professor of Geography and Canadian Studies DISSERTATION ACCEPTANCE STATEMENT On behalf of the Graduate Committee for Greg Rogers I affirm that this manuscript is the final and accepted dissertation. Signatures of all committee members are on file with the Graduate School at the University of Maine, 42 Stodder Hall, Orono, Maine. ________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Jacques Ferland, Associate Professor of History Date ii © 2016 Greg Rogers All Rights Reserved iii LIBRARY RIGHTS STATEMENT In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Maine, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for “fair use” copying of this dissertation for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Librarian. It is understood that any copying or publication of this dissertation for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Signature: Date: PETITE POLITIQUE : THE BRITISH, FRENCH, IROQUOIS, AND EVERYDAY POWER IN THE LAKE ONTARIO BORDERLANDS, 1724-1760 By Greg Rogers Advisor: Dr. Jacques Ferland An Abstract of the Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in History) August 2016 This dissertation examines the exercise and limitation of power at the interpersonal and intercultural level in the contested borderlands region around Lake Ontario in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. Beginning in the 1720s, the region underwent an intensification of geopolitical competition among the British and French empires and the Iroquois Six Nations. During this time that Iroquois Confederacy granted competing trading posts to the British at Oswego and the French at Niagara in an effort to secure goods, balance neighboring rivals, and maintain their own sovereignty. Despite these cessions, the social and diplomatic interests of the Iroquois remained the foundation of the regions politics until the end of the Seven Years’ War. However, a variety of political officials, military officers, soldiers, and traders working for the British in New York and the French in Canada recognized the largely native dynamics and adjusted their tactics and goals accordingly. The resulting new culture of power, dubbed “petite politique ,” sought to exploit mobility, control the flow of resources and information, conduct intercultural on-the-ground diplomacy, and exert sovereignty, often by symbolic means. By detailing daily operations at the micro-historical level this study illuminates a distinctive borderland region, which was characterized by function and mentality. It was largely a synthesis of Iroquois tactics and interests, and colonial agendas, antagonism, and warfare. Borderland fluidity, rather than aiding the Iroquois alone, could also serve to further the aims of imperialists. This marked a departure from the "middle ground" diplomacy of the west and the much more militarized and colonized areas to the east. Around Lake Ontario the politics of relatively cohesive native homeland collided and combined with the inter-imperial struggle to produce new geopolitical opportunities. The resulting petite politique proved to be a durable and flexible New World creation, existing in times of both peace and war. By the latter part of the Seven Years' War these talks, meetings, travels, connections, and confrontations ultimately undid the very borderland conditions that had brought about its existence. DEDICATION For my grandfather, Eugene Rogers, who instilled an enduring enthusiasm for history. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................................. x INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: THE BIRTH OF A BORDERLAND: IMPERIAL VISIONS, SIX NATIONS’ DOMINANCE, AND THE ORIGINS OF A NEW CULTURE OF POWER, 1724-1744 ....................................................................................................25 Visions of Empire: Provincial Imperialists and European Constraints .................27 Pax Iroquoia? Six Nations’ Diplomacy and the New Geopolitics.........................35 Portages, Posts, and Iroquois Power on the Ground..............................................40 Irondequoit: Iroquois Neutrality and the Diplomatic Maintenance of a Borderland..............................................................................................................43 Colliding Notions of Sovereignty: Treaty, History, and Petite Politique ..............50 New France’s Agents and Activity to the Eve of King George’s War..................55 New York’s Internal Power Struggles at Oswego .................................................62 Oswego: Survival and Geopolitical Potential........................................................68 “Masters by Water:” French Naval Power on Lake Ontario .................................70 The 1736 Encounter : An Episode of Petite Politique in the New Borderland...........................................................................................74 Conclusion .............................................................................................................76 v CHAPTER TWO: KING GEORGE’S WAR IN THE LAKE ONTARIO BORDERLANDS: AN EDUCATION IN PETITE POLITIQUE .....................................78 King George’s War in the Northeast and Beyond .................................................79 The Incremental and Limited Militarization of the Lake Ontario Borderland ......83 Militarized Mobility: Petite Guerre during King George’s War...........................90 Reconnaissance and Daily Diplomacy...................................................................95 Wartime Intelligence: Emerging Petite Politique Professionals .........................101 “We look upon them with suspicion”: The Limits of Borderland Mobility........106 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................111 CHAPTER THREE: “UNDER THE COLOUR OF TRADING”: A COLD WAR ON LAKE ONTARIO AND THE HEIGHT OF IMPERIAL PETITE POLITIQUE , 1748-1754 ...................................................................................113 The Post-King George’s War Context.................................................................115 Renewed Imperial Visions: Fort Fever on Lake Ontario.....................................118 French Expansion.................................................................................................121 The Interwar Imperial Culture of Power on Lake Ontario ..................................124 The Challenges of Mobility: Border-Making, Diplomacy, and Sovereignty ......127 The Possibilities of New Connections: Refuges, Travel, and Intelligence..........133 The Pinnacle of Petite Politique : Picquet and Lindesay on Lake Ontario ..........139 The View from Iroquoia: The Six Nations and Interwar Empire-Building.........148 Fort La Présentation and Oswegatchie ................................................................151 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................155 vi CHAPTER FOUR: “PETTY VICTORIES” AND PLACES OF POWER IN LAKE ONARIO’S BORDERLANDS DURING THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR, 1754-1759 ........................................................................................................................157 Perspectives on the Coming of the Seven Years’ War to the Lake Ontario Region............................................................................................159
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