A treaty is an agreement between two or more sovereign nations. Under the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Constitution, Indian tribes are legally considered to be nations. During the nineteenth century, the United States government negotiated a number of treaties with Indian nations. While often called “peace treaties,” these treaties were not about ending wars and often they were negotiated with Indian nations considered American allies. While the treaties proclaimed eternal peace between the Indians and the United States, the real purpose of the treaties was to obtain land which could then be given to non-Indian settlers.
In negotiating Indian treaties, American negotiators usually showed great ignorance about American Indian governments and often failed to recognize what really constituted a sovereign nation and what did not. Since they preferred to deal with fewer tribes, they arbitrarily grouped sovereign entities together and unilaterally declared them to be a single nation. They also preferred to deal with dictatorships rather than democracies and preferred to support and create dictatorships.
The Chippewa (also known as Ojibwa and Anishinaabe) occupied the western Great Lakes area and were one of the largest and most powerful tribes in North America. Like other Algonquian-speaking tribes, the Chippewa did not have an overall tribal government. The many autonomous Chippewa villages shared a common culture and language and were tied together through marriage and clan ties.
Within the village, decisions, particularly those regarding hunting, making maple sugar, and harvesting wild rice, were made in a democratic fashion. Chiefs could generally command no one. The power of the chiefs was based on persuasion rather than coercion. Both men and women could be recognized as chiefs. In her book The Legacy of Shingwaukonse: A Century of Native Leadership, anthropologist Janet Chute reports:
“The female family head could assume the status of a speaker or group leader, especially if she possessed recognized medicine powers or if the family lacked a senior male member as a result of absence, sickness, or death.”
Male chiefs were known as ogimaag and female chiefs were ogimeekwe.
In 1837, some 1,200 Chippewas gathered for a treaty conference with the United States in Minnesota. Under the proposed treaty—proposed by the United States, not the Chippewa—the Chippewas were to give up their claim to the St. Croix Valley of Minnesota and their rights to much of northwestern Wisconsin.
The area in question had been over-hunted thus its value to the Chippewas had been reduced. In addition, the ongoing war between the Chippewas and the Sioux, which had resulted in many Sioux bands migrating out into the Great Plains of the Dakotas, had made the area dangerous for Chippewa hunters.
In exchange for the ceded lands, the Chippewas were to receive annually for 20 years: $9,500 in cash, $19,000 in goods, $3,000 for a blacksmith, $1,000 for farmers, $2,000 in provisions, and $500 in tobacco. In addition, $70,000 was to be paid to traders to “liquidate certain claims against the Indians” and $100,000 to be paid to “the half-breeds of the Chippewa nation.” Chief Flat Mouth protested the payment to the traders arguing that many of the debtors had been killed by the Sioux while on excursions for the traders. He also pointed out that the Americans had taken fish from the lakes and streams and had harvested timber from the woods without paying the Indians. For the United States, however, corporate interests such as those of the trading companies also outweighed any concern for individual interests.
The Treaty with the Chippewas states:
“The privilege of hunting, fishing, and gathering the wild rice, upon the lands, the rivers and the lakes included in the territory ceded, is guaranteed to the Indians, during the pleasure of the President of the United States.”
Chiefs Hole-in-the-Day and La Trappe expressed some concerns about their rights. La Trappe told the Americans:
“We wish to hold on to a tree where we get our living, & to reserve the streams where we drink the waters that give us life”
In the treaty, there was no distinction between the various bands. The treaty ignored the political reality of the Chippewas – that they were not a single nation but are several autonomous bands – and referred to them as a single nation.
Indians 101/201
This series presents various American Indian topics. Indians 201 is an expansion of an earlier essay. More about treaties from this series:
Indians 101: A very short overview of treaties
Indians 201: First U.S. treaties with the Navajo
Indians 201: The 1854-1855 Western Washington Treaties
Indians 101: The 1837 Winnebago Treaty
Indians 101: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Indians 101: Breaking Treaties
Indians 101: The 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty
Indians 101: Cherokee Treaty Claims