Expansion Era · 1815

Treaty with the Yanctons, 1815

ID T-0058

Date 1815-07-19

Articles 1

Instrument Note

Parties

United States and the Yankton Sioux

Context

Executed July 19, 1815 at Portage des Sioux. The fourth Sioux instrument of the day. The Yankton Sioux occupied the lower Missouri River region of present-day South Dakota.

Significance

One article. Peace and protection formula. The Yankton are the most westward of the nations covered in the July 19 instruments — the U.S. treaty framework was reaching toward the Missouri River valley, territory that would not be physically occupied by U.S. settlements for decades.

Legal Observation

The four Sioux instruments executed on July 19, 1815 extended U.S. treaty jurisdiction across the entire Dakota people — Lake Superior to the Missouri River — in a single day. The legal record was created. The physical reality of U.S. presence would not arrive for thirty years. That gap between the legal record and the physical reality was the defining feature of U.S. Indian policy in the trans-Mississippi west.

Entered into at Vincennes, in the Indiana territory, between Wil- liam Henry Harrison, commissioner plenipotentiary of the United States, for treating with the Indian tribes north-west of the Ohio and the Wea tribe. Tur said tribe, by their Sachems and head warriors, hereby declare their full and free consent to the treaty concluded at fort Wayne, on the thirtieth ultimo, by the above mentioned commissioner, with the Dela- ware, Miami, Putawatimie, and Eel river tribes; and also to the sepa- rate article entered into on the same day with the Miami and Eel river tribes. And the said commissioner, on the part of the United States, agrees to allow the said Indian tribe an additional annuity of three hundred dollars, and a present sum of fifteen hundred dollars, in consi- deration of the relinquishment made in the first article of said treaty; and a further permanent annuity of one hundred dollars, as soon as the Kickapoos can be brought to give their consent to the ninth article of said treaty.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF

, the said William Henry Harrison, and the Sachems and head warriors of the said tribe, have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals, this twenty-sixth day of Octo- ber, one thousand eight hundred and nine. WILLIAM H. HARRISON. TREATY WITH THE KICKAPOOS. 1809. Jacco, Pequia, Shawanoe, Quewa, or Negro legs, Tosania, Alengua, Cohona, Chequia, or Little Eyes, Lapoussier, In the presence of Peter Jones, Secretary to the Commissioner. B. Park, one of the Judges of the Indiana Territory. Thomas Randolph, Attorney-general of Indiana. Will: Jones, of Vincennes. Saml. W. Davis, Lt. Col. Ohio State. Shadrach Bond, Jr. of the Illinois Territory. Joseph Barron, Sworn Interpreter. To the Indian names are subjoined a mark and seal. Betwen the United States of America and the Kickapoo tribe of Indians. Wituram Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana territory and commissioner plenipotentiary of the United States for treating with the Indian tribes north west of the Ohio, and the Sachems and war chiefs of the Kickapoo tribe, on the part of said tribe, have agreed on the fol- lowing articles, which, when ratified by the President, by and with the advice of the Senate, shall be binding on said parties. Arr. 1. The ninth article of the treaty concluded at Fort Wayne on the thirtieth of September last, and the cession it containes is hereby agreed to by the Kickapoos, and a permanent additional annuity of four Dec. 9, 1809. Ratified, March 5, 1810. Proclamation, March 8, 1810. agree to second article of treaty of Sept. 30, hundred dollars, and goods to the amount of eight hundred dollars, now 1809 delivered, is to be considered as a full compensation for the said cession. Arr. 2. The said tribe further agrees to cede to the United States all that tract of land which lies between the tract above ceded, the Wabash, the Vermillion river, and a line to be drawn from the North corner of the said ceded tract, so as to strike the Vermilion river at the distance of twenty miles in a direct line from its mouth. For this cession a further annuity of one hundred dollars, and the sum of seven hundred dollars in goods now delivered, is considered as a ful] compensation. But if the Miamies should not be willing to sanction the latter cession, and the United States should not think proper to take possession of the land without their consent, they shall be released from the obligation to pay the additional annuity of one hundred dollars. Arr. 3. The stipulations contained in the treaty of Greenville, rela- tively to the manner of paying the annuity and of the right of the Indians to hunt upon the land, shall apply to the annuity granted and the land ceded by the present treaty.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF

, the said William Henry Harrison, and the Sachems and head war chiefs of the said tribe, have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals, this ninth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and nine. (Signed) WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. Joe Renard, Nemahson, or a Man on bhis Wakoah, or Fox Hair, feet, Nonoah, or a Child at the breast, Knoshania, or the Otter, Mogquiah,. or the Bear Skin. Signed in presence of (The word seven in the second article being written upon an erasure.) Peter Jones, Secretary to the Commissioner. Geo. Wallace, Jun. Justice of Peace, Kentucky. Jno. Gibson, Secretary Ind. Ter. Will. Jones, Justice of Peace. E. Stout, Justice of Peace. Chas. Smith, of Vincennes. Hyacinthe Lasselle, of Vincennes. Domq. Lacroix, of Vincennes. Joseph Barron, Interpreter. To the Indian names are subjoined a mark and seal. Cession to the United States. ing annuity. July 22, 1814. Ratified, Dec.

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 11751–11900.