Those who enjoy contemplating, reading about, and studying the past
are accustomed to thinking of history in terms of people and
events. Scholars, writers,and historians understand that these
people and events are reconstructions rather than realities and
that such reconstructions are based most often on documents of one
kind or another. Certainly, few historical documents are of greater
moment than treaties, the instruments through which tribes, states,
and nations have sought to define themselves and their relations to
others. Quite literally as old as recorded time, treaties are
signposts of historically significant events and windows on
historical eras, yet for casual readers and students of history
alike they usually figure as little more than passing references or
footnotes to what they see as the main story. Historians have
focused discussion on astonishingly few of these documents, and it
is difficult
to find historical treatments of treaties themselves. Those works that do deal with treaties in any depth usually focus on agreements currently in effect, while books conceed with historical treaties seem content to treat them simply as documents, reprinting them with only the most cursory of introductory and interpretive information.
to find historical treatments of treaties themselves. Those works that do deal with treaties in any depth usually focus on agreements currently in effect, while books conceed with historical treaties seem content to treat them simply as documents, reprinting them with only the most cursory of introductory and interpretive information.