Although Detroit's economic value became less important to the
British, that community as well as the other western posts became
diplomatic bargaining chips as the United States and Britain argued over
the implementation of various clauses of the peace treaty. Both sides
claimed the other was ignoring provisions in the treaty, and both sides
justified not taking actions called for in the treaty, such as turning
Detroit over to the Americans, by saying that before they would act the
other side must make good on allegedly unfulfilled promises. As the
stalemate dragged on, Britain continued to govern Detroit and actually
included it in the civil government of Quebec. In 1791, when the British
divided Quebec into two provinces, Detroit was placed in "Upper
Canada." In 1792 the community participated in its first
election--choosing delegates to the British provincial assembly of Upper
Canada.
Although the government of Upper Canada included Detroit in
its operations, the situation that made it possible for Detroit to
remain under British control was changing rapidly. In part, Britain was
simply less interested in the community. As noted earlier, Detroit's
economic importance to the British was declining dramatically. In fact,
the entire British fur-trading enterprise in Canada was declining. With
this general loss in fur revenue, the government in London was more
willing to divest itself of the expensive and controversial forts on
what was technically American soil. As the British government grew more
interested in ridding itself of Detroit and other posts, the American
government grew strong enough to exercise control over the area both
politically and militarily.
The new American government was faced with rival claims from
several colonies for the lands west of the Appalachian mountains. On
paper, Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut all claimed
Detroit. In 1780 states lacking western claims won a historic victory in
the Continental Congress by obtaining an agreement in principle that
all states would cede western land claims to the new American government
and that eventually this remote territory would be made "separate
republican states which shall become members of the federal union . . ."
This promise was not fully implemented by the necessary legislation in
each state until 1786, but it was clear that Detroit would eventually be
governed as part of an American federal territory that would some day
become part of a new state. In 1785 and 1787 congressional ordinances
defined both how the land was to be surveyed and sold to settlers and
the political steps that would lead to not less than three nor more than
five sections of the old Northwest Territory changing from territorial
status to full statehood.
Although politicians in the East had largely settled the
political problems that swirled around Detroit and the rest of the
Northwest Territory, fundamental issues remained. The weak government
founded under the Articles of Confederation lacked the military power to
send an army into the Northwest Territory. This military limitation was
critical. The territory's Indian tribes were violently opposed to the
European settlement envisioned by the Congressional acts of 1785 and
1787. The British, whose army still occupied the land, fanned the flames
of Indian opposition for their own purposes and gave them regular
gifts. Without an effective military, the American government had few
tools to deal with hostile Indians supported by the British army.
Armed only with diplomats, the American government talked of
peace to both the British and the Indians. Frontiersmen, however, wanted
land. With or without government sanction, they began to pour across
the Ohio River. By 1789 an undeclared war had begun in the territory as
settlers organized militia units to battle Indians bitterly resisting
white encroachment on their land. It is not surprising that Detroit
served as a depot from which British arms and supplies could be placed
in the hands of the Indians battling the settlers. Detroit, however, was
not as central to this drama as it had been during the American
Revolution. The British had established locations in Ohio, in order to
bring supplies even closer to their Indian allies.
The American government, established by the newly adopted
Constitution of 1789 and empowered to levy taxes and raise armies,
quickly sent military forces west to deal with the war raging on the
"frontier." However, two separate American armies, one under the command
of Josiah Harmar and the other commanded by Arthur St. Clair, both met
defeat at the hands of the British-supported Indians. It was only in
August 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, which took place a few
miles from Toledo, Ohio, that "Mad" Anthony Wayne won the military
victory the Americans needed to make the Indians consider peace and
convince the British to evacuate the Northwest.
From the Indian perspective Fallen Timbers was important not
merely because they had lost, but because it had occurred only a few
miles from the British stronghold at Perrysburg. The Indians had
expected the British soldiers to aid them, but the British had remained
within their stockade. Britain was again at war with France, and
provoking a possible conflict with the United States over what in London
appeared to be a provincial conflict was unthinkable. Although this
policy made sense in London, the Indians at Detroit and elsewhere
concluded that they could not rely on the British. Perhaps it was time
to come to some understanding with the Americans.
That understanding was reached in 1795. General Wayne called
the Indian tribes to Greenville, Ohio, where a peace treaty was
negotiated and signed. One provision of the treaty ceded sixteen small
areas of land to the Americans to serve as trading posts. Among these
pieces of land transferred from Indian to American control was Detroit,
along with a six-mile-wide strip of land adjacent to the water running
from the River Raisin (Monroe) to Lake St. Clair.