War of 1812 Era · 1803

Treaty with the Delawares, etc. (Vincennes), 1803

ID T-0027

Date 1803-06-07

Articles 1

Instrument Note

Parties

United States and the Delawares, Shawnees, Potawatomi, Miamis, Eel River, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankashaws, and Kaskaskias

Context

Executed at Fort Wayne on June 7, 1803, by William Henry Harrison as commissioner — the same Harrison who would later become President. The Louisiana Purchase had been concluded the same year, doubling U.S. territory and accelerating the Jefferson administration's interest in extinguishing Indian title east of the Mississippi to fuel western expansion.

Significance

Article I confirmed the Greenville boundaries and resolved outstanding surveying disputes. Article II granted the U.S. specific tracts adjacent to Vincennes that the Greenville treaty had reserved but not precisely described. Article III extended an existing road easement. Multiple nations signed a single instrument — a consolidation mechanism that created the form of multi-tribal consent without requiring individual nation-by-nation negotiation. Harrison's commissions allowed him to negotiate with all northwestern nations simultaneously.

Legal Observation

Harrison's use of multi-nation instruments — one treaty, multiple signatory nations — was efficient for the U.S. and disadvantageous for the nations. Consolidated instruments diluted the ability of any individual nation to negotiate specific terms. The nations signed on standard Greenville-era terms whether or not those terms reflected their specific situations. The legal record treats all signatories as equivalent parties regardless of their individual circumstances.

TREATY WITH THE CHOCTAWS. 1802. 73 part, and on the north by Big Tree Reservation—containing two square miles, or twelve hundred and eighty acres, together with all and singular, the hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever thereunto belonging, or m any wise appertaining, to hold to them the said Oliver Phelps, Isaac Bronson and Horatio Jones, their heirs and assigns, to the only proper use and behoof of them the said Oliver Phelps, Isaac Bronson and Horatio Jones their heirs and assigns forever.

In testimony whereof

the said Commissioner, and the said parties have hereunto, and to two other instruments of the same tenor and date, one to remain with the United States, one to remain with the Seneca Nation of Indians, and one to remain with the said Oliver Phelps, Isaac Bronson and Horatio Jones, interchangeably set their hands and seals. Dated the 30th day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two. Con-nea-ti-u, Tou-yo-cau-na, or Blue Sky, Koe-en-twah-ka, or Corn Planter, Koying-quau-tah, or Young King, Won-don-goohk-ta, Soo-goo-ya-wau-tau, or Red Jacket, Te-kon-non-du, Qna-ya-wos, or Farmer’s Brother, Te-ki-ain-dau, Ka-oun-doo-wand, or Pollard, Sa-goo-yes, Au-wen-nau-sa, Sealed and delivered in presence of Jno. Thomson. James W. Stevens. Israel Chapin. Jasper Parrish, Interpreter. To the Indian names are subjoined a mark and seal. Entered into and made by brigadier general James Wilkinson, Oct.17,1802. of the state of Maryland, commissioner for holding conferences "gramaton, with the Indians south of the Ohio river, in behalf of the United Jan. 20, 1803." States, on the one part, and the whole Choctaw nation, by their Ratified Jan chiefs, head men, and principal warriors, on the other part. 20, 1803, Preamble. For the mutual accommodation of the parties, and to per- petuate that concord and friendship, which so happily subsists between them, they do hereby freely, voluntarily, and without constraint, cove- nant and agree, Arr. I. That the President of the United States may, at his discre- Boundary line tion, by a commissioner or commissioners, to be appointed by him, by torbe ro-mark- and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, °° "^ retrace, connect, and plainly remark the old line of limits, established by and between his Britanic majesty and the said Choctaw nation, which begins on the left bank of the Chickasawhay river and runs thence in an easterly direction to the right bank of the Tombigby river, terminating on the same, at a bluff well known by the name of Hach-a- Tig-geby, but it is to be clearly understood, that two commissioners, to be appointed by the said nation, from their own body, are to attend the commissioner or commissioners of the United States, who may be appointed to perform this service, for which purpose the said Choctaw nation shall be seasonably advised by the President of the United States, of the particular period at which the operation may be commenced, and the said Choctaw commissioners shall be subsisted by the United States, so long as they may be engaged on this businesss, and paid for their services, during the said term, at the rate of one dollar per day. Title to lands released to U.S. Alteration of old boundary. When to take effect. June 7, 1803. Proclamation, Dec. 26, 1803. TREATY WITH THE DELAWARES, ETC. 1803. Arr. lI. The said line, when thus remarked and re-established, shall form the boundary between the United States and the said Choctaw nation, in that quarter, and the said Choctaw nation, for, and in con- sideration of one dollar, to them in hand paid by the said United States, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby release to the said United States, and quit claim for ever, to all that tract of land which is included by the beforenamed line on the north, by the Chicka. sawhay river on the west, by the Tombigby and the Mobile rivers on the east, and by the boundary of the United States on the south. Arr, III. The chiefs, head men, and warriors, of the said Choctaw nation, do hereby constitute, authorise and appoint, the chiefs and head men of the upper towns of the said nation, to make such alteration in the old boundary line near the mouth of the Yazou river, as may be found convenient, and may be done without injury to the said nation, Art. IV. This convention shall take effect and become obligatory on the contracting parties as soon as the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall have ratified the same.

In testimony whereof

, the parties have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals, at Fort Confederation, on the Tombigby in the Choctaw country, this 17th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two, and of the independ. ence of the United States the twenty-seventh. JAMES WILKINSON. In behalf of the lower towns and Chickasawhay. Tusk-d-na Hoó-poi-o, Mingo Poos-koos, 2d, Mingo Poos-koos, Poosh a Mat-ta-haw. In behalf of the upper towns. Oak Chummy, Tuskee, Mai-a-by. In behalf of the six towns and lower town. Lat-al-a hom-ah, Mingo, Hom, As-tubby, Mook-la-hoo-soo poi-eh, Tusk-a hóm-ah. Wirrszsszs Present :—Silas Dinsmore, Agent to the Choctaws. Peter H. Naisa- lis, John Long, Interpreters. John Pitchlynn, Turner Brashears. To the Indian names are subjoined a mark and seal.

Source: U.S. Statutes at Large, Vol. VII. Edited by Richard Peters, Esq. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846. Reprinted by Dennis & Co., Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., 1962. Source lines 7509–7656.