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Treaty

Quapaw at St. Louis (1818)

In 1818 the Quapaw ceded a vast area south of the Arkansas River and kept a reservation, which they lost to the 1824 treaty.

Signed
August 24, 1818
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 35 million acres
Land set aside for the nations
about 1.2 million acres
Promises
1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On August 24, 1818, William Clark and Auguste Chouteau signed a "treaty of friendship, cession, and limits" at St. Louis with the chiefs and warriors of the Quapaw. In Article 1 the Quapaw acknowledged they were under the protection of the United States "and of no other state, power, or sovereignty, whatsoever."

In Article 2 they ceded all the lands within a described boundary. It begins at the mouth of the Arkansas River, runs up the Arkansas and the Canadian fork to its source, then south to the Red River and down it to the Big Raft. A line then reaches the Mississippi thirty leagues below the mouth of the Arkansas. The cession also covered all their claims east of the Mississippi and north of the Arkansas. They reserved a tract between the Arkansas, Washita and Saline rivers, which they could not sell without U.S. approval. Article 4 said no citizen of the United States could settle on it.

The United States promised $4,000 in goods at signing and $1,000 in goods yearly. The Quapaw could hunt on the ceded land while they behaved peaceably.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the reservation was one million acres and the claims given up thirty million acres. It says the treaty "was not enough for settlers and territorial officials, who coveted valuable Quapaw land on the Arkansas River," and that pressure led the Quapaw to sign the Treaty of 1824, ceding the reservation. It adds that the Quapaw moved to Caddo country in 1826 and met with disaster, with floods destroying crops and starvation killing sixty people.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Partly kept

    A tract between the Arkansas, Washita and Saline rivers was reserved for the Quapaw. (Art. 2)

    put pressure on the Quapaw, who signed the Treaty of 1824 and ceded their reservation to the United States encyclopediaofarkansas.net

Good to know. The acreage, about thirty million given up and one million kept, is the Encyclopedia of Arkansas's figure; the treaty states none.

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. do hereby acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States, and of no other state, power, or sovereignty, whatsoeverTreaty with the Quapaw, 1818 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. goods and merchandise to the value of four thousand dollarsTreaty with the Quapaw, 1818 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. relinquished their claims to thirty million acres south of the Arkansas and to the westQuapaw (Encyclopedia of Arkansas)
  4. coveted valuable Quapaw land on the Arkansas RiverQuapaw (Encyclopedia of Arkansas)

Research notes. Acreage figures come only from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas (about one million acres reserved and thirty million relinquished). The treaty text states no acreage. No Quapaw Nation account is cited here.

What the treaty did to the land

About 35 million acres given up. about 1.2 million 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. 1818

    This treaty

    About 35 million acres ceded to the United States by the Quapaw. About 1.2 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Quapaw

    In 1818 the Quapaw ceded a vast area south of the Arkansas River and kept a reservation, which they lost to the 1824 treaty.

  2. 1824

    Land lost

    About 1.2 million acres ceded to the United States by the Quapaw

    By Quapaw at Harrington's, Arkansas Territory (1824)

    area 121

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-quapaw-1818-0160reference work
    Aug. 24, 1818. | 7 Stat., 176. / scan: 160

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