Teton at Portage des Sioux (1815)
On 19 July 1815 at Portage des Sioux, Teton leaders made peace with the United States and accepted its protection; no land was ceded.
- Signed
- July 19, 1815
- Senate
- Ratified
What happened
What happened
On 19 July 1815, at Portage des Sioux, William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau signed a treaty of peace and friendship for the United States with chiefs and warriors of the Teton (spelled Teeton in the text) tribe.
The preamble says both sides wanted to re-establish peace and friendship, putting the Teton on the same footing as before "the late war between the United States and Great Britain." Article 1 forgives every injury or act of hostility committed by either side. Article 2 declares perpetual peace and friendship between all citizens of the United States and all individuals of the Teton tribe, and renews the friendly relations that existed before the war.
In Article 3 the chiefs and warriors, for themselves and their tribe, acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other nation, power or sovereign. That wording is the same in several other 1815 treaties made at Portage des Sioux with Sioux and other peoples.
The treaty contains no cession of land and no boundary. The page lists ratification on 26 December 1815. It does not say who spoke for the Teton or how the protection clause was understood by them.
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.
Every injury, or act of hostility, committed by one or either of the contracting parties against the other, shall be mutually forgiven and forgot.
Treaty with the Teton, 1815, Tribal Treaties Databasethe late war between the United States and Great Britain
Treaty with the Teton, 1815, Tribal Treaties Databaseto be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other nation, power, or sovereign, whatsoever
Treaty with the Teton, 1815, Tribal Treaties DatabaseRatified, Dec. 26, 1815.
Treaty with the Teton, 1815, Tribal Treaties Database
Research notes. The text does not name individual Teton leaders in the transcript beyond the signature block; how the Teton understood the protection clause is not shown.
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.
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.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
- Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
- Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
- Oglala Sioux Tribe
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate)
- Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
- Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
- Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota
Working with these nations
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate) Nation government Pe' Sla (1,942 acres, Nov 30, 2012)
- Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) Native-led Youth programs Website
- Siċaŋġu Co (Sicangu Community Development Corporation; Wolakota Buffalo Range) Native-led Sicangu Lakota economic engine incl. Wolakota Buffalo Range, food sovereignty initiative, local foods Give on their site Website
- Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (Lakota Land Systems) Native-led Lakota-led regenerative community development on Pine Ridge: Lakota Land Systems Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Lakota People's Law Project (program of Sacred Defense Fund) Native-led Legal advocacy Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Sources
Sources
- treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-teton-1815-0112reference work
July 19, 1815. | 7 Stat., 125. / scan: 112 TREATY WI'l'H THE TETON, 1815.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.