War of 1812 Era · 1803
Relinquishment by Eel-Rivers, etc., 1803
ID T-0028
Date 1803-08-07
Articles 1
Instrument Note
Parties
Eel River, Wyandot, Piankeshaw, Kaskaskia, and Kickapoo Nations
Context
Executed at Vincennes, Indiana Territory on August 7, 1803. A relinquishment instrument — not a treaty with the United States as primary party, but a formal relinquishment of claims by specific nations to lands that the United States was already treating as ceded under the Fort Wayne instrument.
Significance
The nations named herein formally relinquished any claims inconsistent with the prior Fort Wayne treaty. The instrument was executed to clear title to specific parcels. The consideration was nominal — goods described in the instrument. The practical effect was to eliminate residual legal claims that individual nations had maintained were not extinguished by the multi-nation Harrison treaty.
Legal Observation
When the U.S. executed a multi-nation cession instrument and individual signatory nations later maintained that their specific claims had not been extinguished, the U.S. response was to require a supplemental relinquishment. The relinquishment extinguished the claim without acknowledging that the original instrument had been defective. The outcome — full cession — was the same whether the first instrument was valid or not.
Between the United States of America, and the Delawares, Sha- wanoes, Putawatimies, Miamies, Eel River, Weeas, Kickapoos, Piankashaws, and Kaskaskias nations of Indians. Arricies of a treaty made at Fort Wayne on the Miami of the Lake, between William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana territory, superintendent of Indian affairs and commissioner plenipotentiary of the United States for concluding any treaty or treaties which may be found necessary with any of the Indian tribes north west of the Ohio, of the one part, and the tribes of Indians called the Delawares, Shawa- noes, Putawatimies, Miamies and Kickapoos, by their chiefs and head warriors, and those of the Eel river, Weeas, Piankashaws and Kaskas
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 7657–7674.