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Osage, Kansa, and Shawnee [Documents Accompanying the Message Transmitting the Osage, Kansa, and Shawnee Treaties, 1825, to the 19th Congress] (1825)

This National Archives file holds the papers sent to Congress in 1825 with the Osage, Kansa and Shawnee treaties.

Signed
1825
Senate
Not recorded

What happened

This is not a treaty. It is a file of papers sent to Congress with three 1825 treaties. The National Archives describes it as documents accompanying the message that transmitted the Osage, Kansa and Shawnee treaties (Ratified Indian Treaties 126, 127 and 143) to the 19th Congress. A cover slip notes it was read on 14 December.

According to the Archives' description, the file includes letters from the Secretary of War appointing William Clark to open negotiations with the Osage and Kansa and to relocate the Shawnee, a report from Henry Atkinson and Benjamin O'Fallon on commissioners' proceedings, and a hand-drawn map of the country ceded by the Osage and Kansa. It also holds Shawnee and Delaware papers, including a talk to the President and a letter asking that public sale of land granted to them be suspended.

The three treaties it accompanied are on the Oklahoma State database. On 2 June 1825 at St. Louis, the Osage ceded lands in Missouri and what was then Arkansas Territory and west of them, kept a reserved tract, and were promised seven thousand dollars a year for twenty years. On 3 June the Kansa ceded their Missouri lands and others to its west, kept a reserve, and were promised 3,500 dollars a year for twenty years. On 7 November the Shawnee gave up a tract near Cape Girardeau for fifty miles square west of Missouri.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 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

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. Appointing Clark as a Commissioner to Open Negotiations with the Osage and Kansa Indians and to Relocate the Shawnee TribeRatified Indian Treaty 143A, Treaties Explorer (National Archives and Indigenous Digital Archive)
  2. Hand Drawn Map of the Country Ceded to the United States by the Osage and the Kansa Indians by TreatiesRatified Indian Treaty 143A, Treaties Explorer (National Archives and Indigenous Digital Archive)
  3. yearly, and every year, for twenty years, from the date of these presents, the sum of seven thousand dollarsTreaty with the Osage, 1825 (2 June), Tribal Treaties Database
  4. three thousand five hundred dollars per annum, for twenty successive yearsTreaty with the Kansa, 1825 (3 June), Tribal Treaties Database
  5. a tract of land equal to fifty (50) miles squareTreaty with the Shawnee, 1825 (7 Nov.), Tribal Treaties Database

Research notes. The summary rests on the National Archives catalog description of the file. The treaty terms summarized come from the Oklahoma State transcripts and are only the main points. The file has no date of its own on the Archives page ('Creation date None').

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

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

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Sources

No source is linked to this record yet. That is a gap we are working to close.

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