In the Bushes: The Secret History of Anglo-Iroquois Treaty Making.

The article focuses on the social and diplomatic dynamics of Anglo-Iroquois treaty making in the eighteenth century, emphasizing the intercultural rituals and interactions "in the bushes" — the informal, unrecorded conversations and social life surrounding official treaty proceedings. Drawing on journals of colonial novices like Tench Tilghman and others, it reveals how treaty conferences combined Native American and European customs of hospitality, etiquette, and ceremony to regulate interactions, maintain peace, and assert social distinctions between hosts and guests, as well as elites and commoners. These gatherings involved ritualized greetings, naming ceremonies, feasting, dancing, and sporting events, which created a hybrid social milieu that enabled peaceful coexistence despite cultural differences and potential sources of conflict such as alcohol and firearms. The article also notes that this form of treaty making declined after 1800 as federal and state governments centralized Indian affairs, moved diplomacy westward, and increasingly abandoned the intercultural rituals that had fostered mutual respect and order.