Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1825)

What happened

On August 19, 1825, William Clark and Lewis Cass, commissioners for the United States, met chiefs, warriors and representatives at Prairie du Chien, then in the Territory of Michigan. The nations named in the treaty are the Sioux, Chippewa, Sac and Fox, Menominie, Ioway, Winnebago, and a portion of the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi.

The opening says the United States "have seen with much regret" that wars had been fought for years between the Sioux and Chippewas, the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux, and the Ioways and Sioux. It invited the tribes "to promote peace among these tribes, and to establish boundaries among them and the other tribes who live in their vicinity."

Article 1 declares a firm and perpetual peace between those groups. Article 2 sets the line between the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux, from the mouth of the Upper Ioway River to the Missouri. It adds that the line from the forks of the Des Moines to the Missouri was not settled until the Yancton band agreed.

Treaties Matter says Native delegates pointed out that the game they hunted did not recognize boundaries. It also says the treaty "clear[ed] the title" to Indian lands, "making it easier to purchase specific tracts," and that within three years the United States was buying land inside the 1825 boundaries.

Good to know. Treaties Matter says nearly a dozen nations took part, while the treaty names eight groups. The treaty itself ceded no land.

Summarized with AI assistance from 2 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error