Treaty of Hopewell with the Choctaw, 1786

What happened

On January 3, 1786, at Hopewell on the Keowee River, near Seneca Old Town, Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens and Joseph Martin concluded a treaty for the United States with the Choctaw. The text names Yockonahoma, Yockehoopoie, Mingo-hoopoie, Tobocoh, Pooshemastubie and thirteen small medal chiefs and twelve medal and gorget captains as "Commissioners Plenipotentiary of all the Choctaw Nation." The United States "give peace to all the Choctaw nation, and receive them into the favor and protection of the United States."

The Mississippi Encyclopedia says the commissioners sought to impose a federal Indian policy on the postrevolutionary South and to nullify Spanish influence. It describes a Choctaw party of 127 men and women that arrived worn down by a two-and-a-half-month journey, and says the Choctaw felt no need to discuss boundaries because the Euro-Americans had not invaded their land. It adds that they "failed to understand Article 3."

Article III set a boundary for "the lands hereby allotted to the Choctaw nation to live and hunt on," beginning at the thirty-first parallel. It reserved "three tracts or parcels of land of six miles square each" for trading posts, "to the use and under the government of the United States." Article IV said a citizen who settled on the allotted lands would "forfeit the protection of the United States," and the Indians "may punish him or not as they please."

The Mississippi Encyclopedia concludes that, despite their marks on the treaties, none of the delegations recognized U.S. sovereignty over their lands.

Good to know. The view that the Choctaw did not understand Article 3 or recognize U.S. sovereignty is the Mississippi Encyclopedia's account.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error