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Treaty

Mandan at Mandan Village (1825)

On 30 July 1825 at the Mandan Village, Mandan leaders promised peace after reported attacks and acknowledged United States supremacy.

Signed
July 30, 1825
Senate
Ratified
Promises
0 of 1 broken or only partly kept

What happened

On 30 July 1825, at the Mandan Village, Brigadier General Henry Atkinson and Major Benjamin O'Fallon, Indian agent, signed a treaty for the United States with the chiefs and warriors of the Mandan tribe. The signature block lists warriors of a first and second village.

The text opens with a complaint: acts of hostility had been committed against United States citizens by some restless men of the tribe. Article 1 therefore promises a firm and lasting peace and a friendly intercourse. In Article 2 of the treaty, the Mandan tribe admit that they live within the territorial limits of the United States, acknowledge its supremacy, and claim its protection, and they admit the right of the United States to regulate all trade and intercourse with them. In return the United States agrees to receive them into its friendship and under its protection, and to extend such benefits and acts of kindness as the President thinks convenient, just and proper.

Trade is to happen only at places the President designates, with traders the United States licenses. For injuries by individuals there is to be no private revenge; chiefs must deliver accused persons to be punished under United States law. The tribe also promises never to supply guns or ammunition to any nation not in amity with the United States.

The treaty cedes no land. The treaty was proclaimed on 6 February 1826.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Not known

    Receive the tribe into friendship and protection and extend such benefits as the President thinks proper. (Art. 3)

    extend to them, from time to time, such benefits and acts of kindness as may be convenient treaties.okstate.edu

Good to know. The promised protection and benefits were left to what the President found "convenient" and "just and proper". The reported attacks are described only in the preamble, without details.

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. acknowledge their supremacy, and claim their protectionTreaty with the Mandan Tribe, 1825, Tribal Treaties Database
  2. duly authorized by the United States, shall be admitted to trade or hold intercourse withTreaty with the Mandan Tribe, 1825, Tribal Treaties Database
  3. no private revenge or retaliation shall take placeTreaty with the Mandan Tribe, 1825, Tribal Treaties Database
  4. to put a stop to any further outrages of the sortTreaty with the Mandan Tribe, 1825, Tribal Treaties Database

Research notes. The protection and 'benefits' promise is conditioned on what the President finds 'convenient' and 'just and proper'; the sources cited do not show whether it was delivered. The text records the commissioners' view only, not the tribe's own account. The preamble says 'some restless men' of the tribe attacked citizens of the United States; no details of those events are given.

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

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-mandan-tribe-1825-0242reference work
    July 30, 1825. | 7 Stat., 264. / scan: 242 TREATY WITH THE MANDAN TRIBE, 1825.

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