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All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Chickasaw at Chickasaw Council House (1816)

The Chickasaw ceded land north of the Tennessee River and part south of it in 1816 for $12,000 a year and named reservations.

Signed
September 20, 1816
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 5.4 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On September 20, 1816, Andrew Jackson, David Meriwether and Jesse Franklin signed a treaty with "the whole Chickasaw nation, in council assembled." The treaty says its purpose was "to settle all territorial controversies" and to keep up the peace and harmony between the nations.

In Article 2 the Chickasaw ceded all right or title to lands on the north side of the Tennessee River. They also relinquished claim to territory on the south side, east of a line running from the mouth of Caney Creek up that creek, then south to Gaines's road and southwest along it to the Tombigbee River at the Cotton Gin Port.

In Article 3 the commissioners agreed to pay $12,000 a year for ten years and $4,500 within sixty days after ratification, paid to Levi Colbert, as compensation for improvements. In Article 4 the treaty reserved tracts for named individuals, including George Colbert and Appassan Tubby. They would remain Chickasaw land only while occupied or used by the present holders or their heirs. If abandoned, each tract would "revert to the United States."

The sources here give no acreage and do not describe the council. A further Chickasaw cession in 1818 has its own record in the atlas.

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. to settle all territorial controversiesTreaty with the Chickasaw, 1816 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. The Chickasaw nation cede to the United States (with the exception of such reservations as shall hereafter be specified) all right or titleTreaty with the Chickasaw, 1816 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. twelve thousand dollars per annum for ten successive yearsTreaty with the Chickasaw, 1816 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  4. shall revert to the United States as a portion of that territory cededTreaty with the Chickasaw, 1816 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. This summary rests on the treaty text alone. No acreage is stated. The text spells the river 'Tombigby' and the reservations are described only by landmarks.

What the treaty did to the land

About 5.4 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. 1816

    This treaty

    About 5.4 million acres ceded to the United States by the Chickasaw

    The Chickasaw ceded land north of the Tennessee River and part south of it in 1816 for $12,000 a year and named reservations.

  2. 1818

    Land record

    About 25,000 acres named in the record

    By Treaty with the Chickasaw (Jackson Purchase), 1818

    area 81

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-chickasaw-1816-0135reference work
    Sept. 20, 1816. | 7 Stat., 150. / scan: TREATY WITH THE CHICKASAW, 1816. 135

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