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Great Lakes / Old NorthwestTreaty

Treaty of St. Louis with the Sauk and Fox, 1804

Sauk and Fox chiefs ceded land along the Mississippi in 1804; many Sauk and Meskwaki, including Black Hawk, later called the treaty void.

Signed
November 3, 1804
Senate
Ratified January 25, 1805
Land given up
about 16 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On November 3, 1804, at St. Louis, William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, signed a treaty with chiefs and head men of the "united Sac and Fox tribes." In Article 1 the United States took the tribes into its "friendship and protection," and the tribes agreed to consider themselves under the protection of the United States and "no other power."

Article 2 drew a boundary line. It began on the Missouri River opposite the mouth of the Gasconade, ran to the river the text calls the Jeffreon and down it to the Mississippi, then up the Mississippi to the Wisconsin River, and across to the Illinois River. The tribes ceded "all the lands included within the above-described boundary." The price was goods worth $2,234.50 delivered at signing and an annuity of $1,000 in goods. Article 7 said that as long as the ceded lands stayed U.S. property, the Sauk and Fox could live and hunt on them.

A history from Before Knox says many Meskwaki and Sauk, including the Sauk leader Black Hawk, considered the treaty void because it was "signed in the absence of important leaders and without the consent of the Tribal Council." The same page says Fort Madison, built in 1808 on the side of the Mississippi meant for the Sauk and Meskwaki, called the treaty's legitimacy into question.

In 1816 the Sauk of Rock River signed a treaty with the United States that confirmed the 1804 treaty; it appears elsewhere in the atlas.

Good to know. Whether the 1804 signers had authority to cede the land is disputed; the "under pressure" description rests on that dispute, not on any account of force or threats.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 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. do hereby cede and relinquish forever to the United States, all the lands included within the above-described boundaryTreaty with the Sauk and Foxes, 1804 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. goods suited to the circumstances of the Indians of the value of one thousand dollarsTreaty with the Sauk and Foxes, 1804 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. was signed in the absence of important leaders and without the consent of the Tribal CouncilThe Black Hawk War and Treaties (Before Knox)
  4. The construction of Fort Madison on the western side of the Mississippi in 1808 also called the legitimacy of the treaty into questionThe Black Hawk War and Treaties (Before Knox)
  5. do hereby unconditionally assent to recognize, re-establish, and confirm the treatyTreaty with the Sauk, 1816 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. Whether the 1804 signers had authority to cede the land is disputed; the Before Knox page is a college-linked history, not a scholarly article, and gives Black Hawk's view only through that account. No acreage is stated in the OSU text. The 'under pressure' label rests on the disputed authority of the signers, not on any source describing force or threats.

What the treaty did to the land

About 16 million acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.

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. 1804

    This treaty

    About 16 million acres ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox

    Sauk and Fox chiefs ceded land along the Mississippi in 1804; many Sauk and Meskwaki, including Black Hawk, later called the treaty void.

  2. 1804

    Promise broken

    Treaty of St. Louis 1804: cession signed by a delegation with no authority to sell

    A Sauk and Fox delegation ceded land at St. Louis in 1804 for goods and an annuity; Black Hawk later said they lacked authority.

  3. 1805

    This treaty

    Ratified by the Senate

  4. 1815

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Sauk and Fox

    By Sauk at Portage des Sioux (1815)

    area 50 area 51

  5. 1815

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Sauk and Fox

    By Fox at Portage des Sioux (1815)

    area 50 area 51

  6. 1816

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Sauk and Fox

    By Treaty of St. Louis with the Sauk of Rock River, 1816

    area 50 area 51

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. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/7891102reference work
Research notes

Signatories lacked tribal authority to cede (Wikipedia, pointer); never accepted by Black Hawk. Reaffirmed in 1815 and 1816 (RIT 72, 73, 78). Validity disputed. Ratification detail: 1805-01-25 (Senate consent; read from the Stat. margin by V2).

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