War of 1812 Era · 1808

Treaty with Chippewas, etc., Nov. 25, 1808

Concluded at Vincennes

ID T-0046

Date 1808-11-25

Articles 1

Instrument Note

Parties

United States and the Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Wyandot, and Shawnee Nations

Context

Executed November 25, 1808 at Brownstown, Michigan Territory. A supplemental cession resolving boundary disputes from the 1807 Detroit treaty (T-0044) and extending the cession to additional territory in southeastern Michigan.

Significance

The nations ceded additional territory adjacent to the 1807 cession. The instrument explicitly references T-0044 and is framed as a completion of that transaction. Annuity supplements and goods. The pattern of major cession followed by supplemental correction followed by additional cession appears consistently across the Harrison and Hull-era instruments.

Legal Observation

Each supplemental instrument in this period was presented as a minor technical correction to a prior treaty. The cumulative effect of the sequence — major cession, correction, additional cession, correction — was the systematic extinguishment of Indian title across the entire Great Lakes and Ohio valley region. The legal machinery operated through increments, not through a single large transaction that would have generated more visible resistance.

TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEES. 1806. Arr. HI. The said United States will cause to be delivered to the Piankishaws yearly, and every year, an additional annuity of three hun- dred dollars, which is to be paid in the same manner, and under the same' conditions as that to which they are entitled by the treaty of Greenville: Provided always, That the United States may, at any time they shall think proper, divide the said annuity amongst the individuals of the said tribe. : Arr. IV. The stipulations made in the preceding articles, together with the sum of one thousand one hundred dollars, which is now de- livered, the receipt whereof the said chiefs do hereby acknowledge, is considered a full compensation for the cession and relinquishment above mentioned. Arr. V. As long as the lands now ceded, remain the property of the United States, the said tribe shall have the privilege of living and hunt- ing upon them, in the same manner that they have heretofore done ; and they reserve to themselves the right of locating a tract of two square miles, or twelve hundred and eighty acres, the fee of which is to remain with them for ever. Art. VI. This treaty shall be in force as soon as it shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and con- sent of the Senate.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF

, the said William Henry Harrison, and the chiefs and head men representing the said Piankishaw tribe, have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals.

Done at

Vincennes, on the thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and five, and of the inde- pendence of the United States the thirtieth. (Signed) WILLIAM H. HARRISON, Wabakinklelia, or Gros Bled, Pauquia, or Montour, Macatiwaalima, or Chien Noir. Signed, sealed and executed in presence of W. Prince, Secretary to the Commis- sioner. John Griffin, one of the Judges of the Indiana territory. Jno. Gibson, Sec- retary of the Indiana territory. John Badollet, Register of the Land Office. Nathl. Ewing, Receiver of Public Monies. Jno. Rice Jones, of the Indiana Territory. Du- bois, of the Indiana Territory. Wm. Bullitt, of Vincennes. Jacob Kinskendall, of Vin- cennes. H. E. Hurst, of Vincennes, I. T. Jno. Johnson. Michel Brouillet, Interpreter. To the Indian names are subjoined a mark and seal. Between the United States and the Cherokee nation of Indians, concluded at the city of Washington, on the seventh day of Janu- ary, in the year one thousand eight hundred and six.

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 10150–10219.