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Treaty

Grand Pawnee at St. Louis (1818)

In June 1818 at St. Louis, the Grand Pawnee made peace with the United States, accepted its protection and promised to hand over violators.

Signed
June 18, 1818
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On 18 June 1818, at St. Louis, William Clark and Auguste Chouteau, commissioners of the United States, signed a treaty of peace and friendship with the chiefs and warriors of the Grand Pawnee tribe. It is one of four short Pawnee treaties from June 1818 in this set.

The preamble says the parties wanted to establish peace and friendship. Unlike many treaties from the years just before, it does not mention a war or put the tribe back on a former footing. 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.

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. In Article 4 they promise to deliver up to United States authority, to be punished according to law, every individual of the tribe who later violates the treaty's terms.

The treaty cedes no land, sets no boundary and promises no payment. It is the earliest of the four. The page lists a proclamation on 7 January 1819. The text does not give the Grand Pawnee's own account of the meeting.

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. 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 Grand Pawnee, 1818, Tribal Treaties Database
  2. do hereby acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other nation, power, or sovereign, whatsoeverTreaty with the Grand Pawnee, 1818, Tribal Treaties Database
  3. to deliver up, or cause to be delivered up, to the authority of the United States, (to be punished according to law,)Treaty with the Grand Pawnee, 1818, Tribal Treaties Database
  4. the undersigned chiefs and warriors of the Grand Pawnee tribeTreaty with the Grand Pawnee, 1818, Tribal Treaties Database

Research notes. The text names no war and no boundary. Article 4 binds the tribe to hand over its own members; it has no matching duty on the United States in the text. The sources cited do not cover how the treaty was applied afterward.

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.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-grand-pawnee-1818-0156reference work
    June 18, 1818. | 7 Stat., 172. / scan: 156 TREATY WITH THE GRAND PAWNEE, 1818.

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