Wea at Vincennes, Indiana (1820)
In 1820 the Wea ceded the lands reserved in their 1818 treaty for $5,000 in money and goods, contemplating a move from the Wabash.
- Signed
- August 11, 1820
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 24,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On August 11, 1820, Benjamin Parke, a commissioner for the United States, signed a treaty at Vincennes with the chiefs, warriors and head men of the Wea.
In the first article the Wea ceded and relinquished "all the lands reserved by the second article" of their treaty with the United States made at Saint Mary's on October 2, 1818. In other words, they gave up the land they had held back in that earlier treaty. The United States paid "five thousand dollars, in money and goods," which both sides considered "a full compensation for the cession and relinquishment."
The third article looks ahead. It says "it is contemplated by the said Tribe, to remove from the Wabash," and so the annuity secured to the Wea by the 1818 treaty would from then on be paid to them at Kaskaskia, in Illinois. An annuity is a yearly treaty payment.
The treaty bound both sides once the President and Senate ratified it. The Statutes at Large record a proclamation on January 8, 1821. The treaty text does not say how much land was involved or where the Wea went next.
Summarized with AI assistance from 3 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.
it is contemplated by the said Tribe, to remove from the Wabash
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)is considered by the parties a full compensation for the cession and relinquishment above mentioned
Statutes at Large, vol. 7 (GovInfo)Proclamation, Jan. 8, 1821
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)
Research notes. Acreage is not stated. What was reserved is described only as this treaty describes it; the 1818 treaty has its own entry.
What the treaty did to the land
About 24,000 acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
ceded to the United Statesabout 24,000 acres
Land of the Wea in Indiana, ceded 1820 (area 114)
Kept by the Wea as a 7-mile tract on the Wabash in the October 1818 treaty, then ceded to the United States in August 1820.
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.
- 1818
- 1820
This treaty
About 24,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Wea
In 1820 the Wea ceded the lands reserved in their 1818 treaty for $5,000 in money and goods, contemplating a move from the Wabash.
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-wea-1820-0190reference work
Aug. 11, 1820. | 7 Stat., 209. / scan: 190 TREATY WITH THE WEA, 1820.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.