Ponca at St. Louis (1817)
On 25 June 1817 at St. Louis, Ponca leaders made peace with the United States and accepted its protection.
- Signed
- June 25, 1817
- Senate
- Ratified
What happened
What happened
On 25 June 1817, William Clark and Auguste Chouteau, commissioners of the United States, signed a treaty of peace and friendship with the chiefs and warriors of the Poncarar tribe of Indians. The text spells the name that way; the atlas record calls the tribe Ponca.
The preamble says both sides wanted to re-establish peace and friendship and to put the tribe 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 on either side. Article 2 declares perpetual peace and friendship between all citizens of the United States and all individuals of the tribe, and renews the friendly relations that existed before the war.
In Article 3 the chiefs and warriors, for themselves and their tribe, acknowledged themselves to be under the protection of the United States of America and of no other nation, power or sovereign.
The treaty contains no land cession, no boundary and no payment. The Oklahoma State page header prints the proclamation date as 26 December 1877. The Statutes at Large prints the date as 26 December 1817, so 1877 is a typing error.
Good to know. The Oklahoma State page prints the proclamation date as 1877; the Statutes at Large gives December 26, 1817.
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
Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.
Every injury or act of hostility by one or either of the contracting parties against the other, shall be mutually forgiven and forgot.
Treaty with the Ponca, 1817, Tribal Treaties Databasethe late war between the United States and Great Britain
Treaty with the Ponca, 1817, Tribal Treaties Databasethe undersigned chiefs and warriors of the Poncarar tribe of Indians
Treaty with the Ponca, 1817, Tribal Treaties DatabaseProclamation, Dec. 26,1877.
Treaty with the Ponca, 1817, Tribal Treaties DatabaseDec. 26, 1817.
United States Statutes at Large, vol. 7, p. 155 (GovInfo): Treaty with the Poncarars, 1817
Research notes. The Oklahoma State page prints the proclamation date as 1877; the Statutes at Large (7 Stat. 155) prints December 26, 1817. The 'Poncarar' spelling is the text's own.
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:
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
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy 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-ponca-1817-0140reference work
June 25, 1817 | 7 Stat., 155. / scan: 140 TREATY WITH T~J<, CHEROKEE, 1817.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.