Some Indians disputed the authority of the tribes joining in the treaty.[48] Harrison was also able to conduct matters unquestioned by the government, as the administration changed hands from Jefferson to Madison.[5]
He pursued the treaty process aggressively, offering large subsidies to the tribes and their leaders, so as to gain political favor with Jefferson before his departure.[49] Biographer Freehling asserts that the Indians perceived the ownership of land was as common to all, just as the air that is breathed. In 1805, Harrison succeeded in acquiring for the nation as many as 51,000,000 acres from the Indians, after plying five of their chiefs with alcohol, for no more than a penny per 200 acres, and comprising two-thirds of Illinois and sizable chunks of Wisconsin and Missouri.[5]
In addition to resulting tensions with the Indians, Harrison's pro-slavery position made him unpopular with the Indiana Territory's abolitionists, as he tried in vain to encourage slavery in the territory. In 1803, he had lobbied Congress to temporarily suspend for ten years Article VI of the Northwest Ordinance prohibiting slavery in the Indiana Territory.