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Great Lakes / Old NorthwestTreaty

Treaty of Detroit, 1807

At Detroit in 1807 four nations ceded land from the Maumee to the Lake Huron outlet for $10,000 and a $2,400 annuity.

Signed
November 17, 1807
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 7.2 million acres
Land set aside for the nations
about 23,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On November 17, 1807, William Hull, governor of Michigan Territory and sole U.S. commissioner, signed a treaty at Detroit with the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot and Potawatomi nations. The opening says its aim was "to confirm and perpetuate the friendship, which happily subsists" and "to settle arrangements mutually beneficial."

In Article I the nations ceded all their "right, title, and interest" in a tract described by lines. It begins at the mouth of the Miami River of the lakes (the Maumee) and runs up that river to the Au Glaize, due north to a parallel drawn from the outlet of Lake Huron, and northeast to White Rock in Lake Huron. From there it runs east to the boundary with Upper Canada, then south along that boundary through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River into Lake Erie.

In Article II the United States agreed to pay $10,000, at Detroit, in money, goods, tools or animals. The shares were $3,333.33 each for the Ottawa and Chippewa and $1,666.67 each for the Wyandot and Potawatomi. It also set an annuity "forever" of $2,400. Article IV promised two blacksmiths for ten years, and Article V let the nations hunt on the ceded land.

The sources here give no acreage and do not describe the council or any pressure. The Brownstown treaty of 1808, also in the atlas, followed with a road cession.

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. all right, title, and interest, which the said nations now have, or claim, or ever had, or claimedTreaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1807 (Treaty of Detroit) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. there shall be paid to the said nations, at Detroit, ten thousand dollarsTreaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1807 (Treaty of Detroit) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. an annuity forever, of two thousand four hundred dollarsTreaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1807 (Treaty of Detroit) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  4. to settle arrangements mutually beneficial to the partiesTreaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1807 (Treaty of Detroit) (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. This summary rests on the treaty text alone.

What the treaty did to the land

About 7.2 million acres given up. about 23,000 acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. 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. 1807

    This treaty

    About 7.2 million acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa, Ottawa and others. About 23,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Ottawa (residing in Ohio), Potawatomi and others

    At Detroit in 1807 four nations ceded land from the Maumee to the Lake Huron outlet for $10,000 and a $2,400 annuity.

  2. 1817

    Land lost

    Land ceded to the United States by the Chippewa, Delaware and others

    By Treaty of the Maumee Rapids (Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie), 1817

    area 89

  3. 1827

    Land lost

    Land ceded to the United States by the Potawatomi

    By Potawatomi at St. Joseph, Michigan Territory (1827)

    area 135 area 136 area 137

  4. 1831

    Land lost

    About 23,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Ottawa (residing in Ohio)

    By Ottawa (Ohio) at Lake Erie (1831)

    area 169 area 170

  5. 1833

    Land lost

    Land ceded to the United States by the Ottawa Indians residing on the Indian reserves on the Miami of Lake Erie and in the vicinity thereof

    By Ottawa at Maumee, Ohio (1833)

    area 183

  6. 1836

    Land lost

    Land ceded to the United States by the Swan-creek and Black-river bands of the Chippewa nation residing in Michigan

    By Chippewa (Swan Creek and Black River Bands in Michigan) at Washington, DC (1836)

    area 214 area 215 area 216 area 217

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:

Working with these nations

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/161303994reference work
Research notes

Land description from memory.

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