Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights
All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Kaskaskia at Vincennes (1803)

The Kaskaskia, as the remnant of the Illinois nations, ceded their lands in Illinois for protection, an annuity and small reserves.

Signed
August 13, 1803
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 9.5 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On August 13, 1803, at Vincennes, William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, signed a treaty with the head chiefs and warriors of the Kaskaskia. The treaty text describes the Kaskaskia as "the remains" of the Illinois tribes, originally called the Kaskaskia, Mitchigamia, Cahokia and Tamaroi. It says those tribes had been reduced to a very small number and were "unable to occupy the extensive tract of country" their ancestors held for generations.

In Article I the Kaskaskia "relinquish and cede to the United States all the lands in the Illinois country" they had held or could rightfully claim. They kept about 350 acres near the town of Kaskaskia, which an act of Congress in 1791 had secured to them. They also kept the right to locate another 1,280 acres inside the ceded area. Both tracts were to "remain to them forever."

In Article II the United States promised to take the tribe under its "care and patronage" and protect it as it did its own citizens. The Kaskaskia agreed not to make war on any other tribe or nation without U.S. approval. Article III raised their annuity to $1,000. It promised a house for the chief, a fenced field of up to 100 acres, $100 a year for seven years toward a Catholic priest, and $300 toward a church. A further $580 was paid or assured for needed articles and to relieve the tribe's debts.

The text calls this package "a full and ample compensation."

Good to know. The description of the Kaskaskia's reduced condition is the treaty's own wording.

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

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. relinquished and by these presents do relinquish and cede to the United States all the lands in the Illinois countryTreaty with the Kaskaskia, 1803 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. is considered as a full and ample compensation for the relinquishment made to the United States in the first articleTreaty with the Kaskaskia, 1803 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. unable to occupy the extensive tract of country which of right belongs to themTreaty with the Kaskaskia, 1803 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  4. the right of locating one other tract of twelve hundred and eighty acresTreaty with the Kaskaskia, 1803 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. Its description of the tribe's reduced condition is the treaty's own wording, and no source opened addresses the tribe's bargaining position. No total acreage ceded is stated; only the reserved 350 and 1,280 acres are given.

What the treaty did to the land

About 9.5 million acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

  • ceded to the United Statesabout 9.5 million acres

    Land of the Kaskaskia in Illinois, ceded 1803 (area 48)

    Ceded by the Kaskaskia at Vincennes in August 1803; the Piankishaw recognized their right to sell it in 1804, and the 1818 Edwardsville treaty confirmed and enlarged the cession.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

  1. 1803

    This treaty

    About 9.5 million acres ceded to the United States by the Kaskaskia

    The Kaskaskia, as the remnant of the Illinois nations, ceded their lands in Illinois for protection, an annuity and small reserves.

  2. 1804

    Land kept

    About 9.5 million acres recognized as land of the Kaskaskia

    By Piankashaw at Vincennes, Indiana Territory (1804)

    area 48

  3. 1818

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Kaskaskia

    By Tribes of the Illinois Nation (Peoria, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Tamaroa, and Chahokia) at Edwardsville, Illinois Territory (1818)

    area 48

Who is doing the work today

The nations connected to this treaty come first, then groups returning land and defending treaty rights. Support goes directly to them.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-kaskaskia-1803-0067reference work
    Aug. 13, 1803. | 7 Stat., 78. / scan: TREATY WITH THE KASKASKIA, 1803, 67

Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.