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The U.S.-Indian Treaties

Why the Treaties matter & what they mean today

Why Treaties Matter

In less than 100 years (1778 to 1871), the diverse Indian nations of North America entered into nearly 400 treaties with the United States. These agreements covered the full range of international relations: trade compacts, military alliances, peace accords and land cessions. All of the official U.S.-Indian treaties are examined in the Treaty Signer Project.

 

The treaties hold a special place in the American Myth as historical milestones in the inspiring story of U.S. ascendancy, documents that relegated Indigenous nations to the past tense. In reality, however, the U.S.-Indian treaties remain vital and operative today, for several reasons.

Retained Rights

First, through these agreements, Indigenous peoples have retained collective, sovereign rights that delineate their national identities. Treaties (the “supreme law of the land” in the language of the Constitution) established legally-based government-to-government relationships that guaranteed the Indian nation’s retention of certain rights and privileges, such as land use and occupation. These rights – assaulted and defended continuously over subsequent generations – continue to shape the political, legal, social and economic life of North America.

U.S. Property Rights

Another enduring legacy of the treaties – one that attracts surprisingly little public discourse today — is their role in creating the U.S. property system. It was only at treaty signings that land essentially became property. Through treaties, the U.S. (according to its own legal framework) perfected its title to land and could then pass on that title. The alchemy by which treaties created property rights was spelled out by John Marshall in the Supreme Court case of Johnson v. M’Intosh. Spoiler alert: it involved the infamous “Doctrine of Discovery.” 

Treaty Signers

A treaty, then, was the moment when elements of the natural world became the capital of a capitalist society. And this moment attracted land speculators, railroad executives, mining and timber company owners, traders and Indian agents who would benefit most directly and immediately from a land cession. Looking at the U.S. signers of a treaty opens a window on what transpired there.

Historical Overview

The motivations behind U.S. “Indian policy” changed over the course of the treaty-making era (1778-1870.) Before the war of 1812, for instance, large-scale land speculators controlled U.S. policy making and insisted on the acquisition of Indigenous land. In the 1830s the focus of U.S. policy was “Indian Removal.” In the 1860s, railroads asserted tremendous influence. All of these interests were represented by U.S. treaty signers. In short, we can learn about treaties by knowing who signed them on behalf of the United States.

The historial overviews below present six distinct eras in treaty-making. Within each era, descriptions of smaller groups of treaties emphasize the interests represented by U.S. signers. 

Search the database

The dashboard offers an interactive view of the Treaty Signers database which is a compilation of the Treaties signed between the U.S. and Indigenous nations with information about the people who signed them and why. This tool makes it easy to visualize the impact of treaty signing at the national and global level and filter the database by treaty, individual signers, land cession numbers, states and data range. Click the ‘Get Started’ button to begin exploring.