Hawkins was released from federal service late in 1777, as Washington learned to rely on
Lafayette for dealing with the French. He returned home, where he was elected to the
North Carolina House of Representatives in 1778. He served there until 1779, and again in 1784. The
North Carolina General Assembly sent him to the
Continental Congress as their delegate from 1781 to 1783, and again in 1787. In 1789, Hawkins was a delegate to the
Fayetteville Convention that ratified the
United States Constitution. He was elected to the first U.S. Senate, where he served from 1789 to 1795. Although the Senate did not have organized political parties at the time, Hawkins' views aligned with different groups. Early in his Senate career, he was counted in the ranks of those senators viewed as pro-Administration, but by the third congress, he generally sided with senators of the
Republican or
Anti-Administration Party.
U.S. Indian agent In 1785, Hawkins had served as a representative for the Congress in negotiations over land with the Creek Indians of the Southeast. He was generally successful, and convinced the tribe to lessen their raids for several years, although he could not conclude a formal treaty. The Creek wanted to deal with the 'head man'. They finally signed the
Treaty of New York (1790) after Hawkins convinced George Washington to become involved. In 1786, Hawkins and fellow Indian agents
Andrew Pickens and
Joseph Martin concluded a treaty with the
Choctaw nation at Seneca Old Town, also known as Hopewell, the plantation of
Andrew Pickens, near Clemson, South Carolina. They set out the boundaries for the Choctaw lands as well as provisions for relations between the tribe and the U.S. government. In 1789, conditions among the Creeks seemed to indicate an urgency for his return to the Creek country. Accordingly, he left Tennessee early in September for Fort Wilkinson on the
Oconee River in Georgia. The next few months were spent with the Creeks. January 1, 1789, was set as the date for the assembling of the commissioners for running the Creek line in conformity to the treaties at New York and Coleraine. Hawkins had some difficulty in persuading the Creeks to agree to the running of the line, as many of the younger warriors were opposed. On February 16 Hawkins reported to
Secretary of War, James McHenry that the line had been run from the
Tugalo River over
Currahee Mountain to the main south branch of the Oconee River. Though about sixteen families of Georgians were found on the Creek lands in the area known as Wofford's Settlement, McHenry was told "...I am happy in being able to assure you that there was no diversity of opinion among us, and that the line was closed in perfect harmony." This line became known as the Hawkins Line. In 1796, Washington appointed Benjamin Hawkins as
General Superintendent of Indian Affairs, dealing with all tribes south of the
Ohio River. As principal agent to the
Creek tribe, Hawkins soon moved to present-day
Crawford County in
Georgia where he established his home and the Creek Agency. He studied the language and was adopted by the Creek. He wrote extensively about them and the other southeast tribes.
Georgia Hawkins' plans for the Indians was a "civilization plan", General
Andrew Jackson led the defeat of the Red Sticks at the
Battle of Horseshoe Bend, in present-day Alabama. Hawkins was unable to attend negotiations of the
Treaty of Fort Jackson in August 1814, which required the Creeks to cede most of their territory and give up their way of life. Hawkins later organized "friendly" Creek warriors to oppose a British force on the
Apalachicola River that threatened to rally the scattered Red Sticks and reignite the war on the Georgia frontier. Hawkins learned of the peace on February 25, 1815. From February through June 1815
Edward Nicolls engaged in a heated exchange of letters with Hawkins as U.S. Indian Agent. Hawkins accused Nicolls of being overzealous and of overstepping his authority in his personal defense of Redstick Creeks, Seminoles, and their
maroon Creole allies, whom some Americans in authority viewed as nothing more than runaway slaves, lost or unclaimed property. After the British withdrew on May 15, 1815, Hawkins was organizing another force when he died of a sudden illness on June 6, 1816. Hawkins tried more than once to resign his post and return from the Georgia frontier, but no President would accept his resignation. (Dale Cox says that
President Monroe accepted his resignation,{{cite book Benjamin Hawkins was buried at the Creek Agency near the Flint River and
Roberta, Georgia. He was succeeded as Indian agent by
David Mitchell, former Governor of Georgia. Fort Hawkins was built overlooking the ancient site since designated as the
Ocmulgee National Monument. Revealing 17,000 years of human habitation, it is a
National Historic Landmark and has been sacred for centuries to the Creek. It has massive
earthwork mounds built nearly 1,000 years ago as expressions of the religious and political world of the
Mississippian culture, the ancestors to the Creek. ==Hawkins and slavery==