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Sovereignty: sä-v(ə-)rən-tē. Middle English, 1) freedom from external control [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]; 2) an independent state [Collins English Dictionary]

Break a treaty. Break the law.

The Seneca people have lived in what is now western New York for more than 1,000 years. A member of the Six Nations Confederacy of the Haudenosaunee, the Seneca Nation entered a lasting treaty of peace and protection with the United States in 1794.

This treaty, the Canandaigua Treaty, made a promise to the Six Nations unlike any other made with the native peoples of this land. Not only did it recognize the Seneca Nation’s sovereignty and title to our lands, it stipulated that the Seneca people will continue the “free use and enjoyment” of these lands without interference from the United States or state of New York.

And in 1842, the Seneca Nation’s unassailable sovereignty was recognized by the governments of the United States, New York and Massachusetts with the signing of the Buffalo Creek Treaty Compromise, which clearly states that the Seneca Nation will remain free from “taxes and assessments” by any government of the United States.

The United States calls treaties “the supreme law of the land.” When New York breaks long-standing treaties, New York is breaking the law.