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SoutheastTreaty

Treaty with the Chickasaw (Jackson Purchase), 1818

The Chickasaw ceded land between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers (the Jackson Purchase) for $20,000 a year for fifteen years.

Signed
October 19, 1818
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 8.0 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On October 19, 1818, Isaac Shelby and Andrew Jackson, commissioners for the United States, signed a treaty with "the whole Chickesaw nation, by their chiefs, head men, and warriors, in full council assembled." The treaty says its aim was "to settle all territorial controversies" and to head off complaints that could disturb the peace.

In Article 2 the Chickasaw ceded "all claim or title" to land north of the Tennessee state line at 35 degrees north latitude. It runs from the Tennessee River west to the Mississippi near the Chickasaw Bluffs, up the Mississippi to the Ohio, and up the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. The United States agreed in Article 3 to pay $20,000 a year for fifteen years. At the chiefs' request it also agreed to pay two debts: $1,115 owed by General William Colbert to a Tennessee captain, and $2,000 owed to a Kentucky captain who supplied soldiers in 1795. Article 4 reserved a tract four miles square around a salt lick for the benefit of "the poor and warriors" of the nation.

The Tennessee Encyclopedia says the Chickasaw had long occupied the tract. It says Tennessee had "a flood of North Carolina land warrants to honor," and that Jackson and Shelby argued the warrants "prevented federal action to deter settlement." It adds that "the Chickasaws agreed to sell the tract for three hundred thousand dollars." The region opened to settlement in 1819, speculators including Jackson founded Memphis, and within six years the Jackson Purchase held sixteen counties.

Good to know. The Tennessee Encyclopedia calls this the Treaty of Tecumseh.

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 Chickasaws, 1818, 7 Stat. 192 (U.S. Statutes at Large, govinfo.gov)
  2. all claim or title which the said nation has to the land lying north of the south boundary of the state of TennesseeTreaty with the Chickasaws, 1818, 7 Stat. 192 (U.S. Statutes at Large, govinfo.gov)
  3. the sum of twenty thousand dollars per annum, for fifteen successive yearsTreaty with the Chickasaws, 1818, 7 Stat. 192 (U.S. Statutes at Large, govinfo.gov)
  4. the Chickasaws agreed to sell the tract for three hundred thousand dollarsJackson Purchase (Tennessee Encyclopedia)

Research notes. The Tennessee Encyclopedia calls it the 'Treaty of Tecumseh' and describes the area as west Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky; the treaty text places the council at the Chickasaw council house and describes the boundary by latitude and rivers. No acreage is stated.

What the treaty did to the land

About 8.0 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

    Land lost

    About 25,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Chickasaw

    By Chickasaw at Chickasaw Council House (1816)

    area 81

  2. 1818

    This treaty

    About 8.0 million acres ceded to the United States by the Chickasaw. About 25,000 acres named in the record

    The Chickasaw ceded land between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers (the Jackson Purchase) for $20,000 a year for fifteen years.

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. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/100464152reference work
Research notes

Land description from memory.

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