Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights
All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Menominee at Washington, DC (1831)

In 1831 the Menominee set aside land for New York tribes and ceded about 2.5 million acres, according to the treaty's own estimates.

Signed
February 8, 1831
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 502,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On February 8, 1831, John H. Eaton, Secretary of War, and Samuel C. Stambaugh, Indian Agent at Green Bay, signed articles with chiefs and head men of the Menomonee nation at Washington. The Menomonee first defined the boundaries of their country. They said they had not yet sold any of their lands and so received no annuities, while the Pootowottomees and Winnebagoes had sold much of theirs, received large annuities and were "now encroaching" on Menomonee land.

The agreement was partly meant to settle a long dispute with the New York Indians, who claimed to have bought part of the Menomonee country. The Menomonee declared they were "always protesting that they are under no obligation to recognize any claim of the New York Indians." They said they "neither sold nor received any value" for it. Even so, "at the solicitation of their Great Father, the President," they agreed to set apart land west of the Fox River as a home for New York tribes. The treaty puts it at "about five hundred thousand acres," to be paid for with $20,000.

In the third article they ceded all their country southeast of Winnebago Lake, the Fox River and Green Bay, "by estimation, two million five hundred thousand acres." They kept a reservation on the Fox River. The United States promised farmers, teachers, houses, a mill, goods and $6,000 a year for twelve years. The Menomonee could hunt and fish on the ceded land until it was surveyed and offered for sale. The Statutes at Large record a proclamation on July 9, 1832.

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.

  1. they neither sold nor received any value, for the land claimed by these tribesTribal Treaties Database (OSU)
  2. the whole comprising by estimation, two million five hundred thousand acresTribal Treaties Database (OSU)
  3. MenomoneeStatutes at Large, vol. 7 (GovInfo)

Research notes. Acreage figures are the treaty's own estimates.

What the treaty did to the land

About 502,000 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. 1831

    This treaty

    About 502,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Menomini

    In 1831 the Menominee set aside land for New York tribes and ceded about 2.5 million acres, according to the treaty's own estimates.

  2. 1832

    Land record

    About 502,000 acres named in the record

    The 1899 record: “hereby agree to cede for the benefit of the New York Indians along the .southwestern boundary line of thl^ present 500.000 acres described iu the tirst”

    area 158

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:

Working with these nations

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. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-menominee-1831-0319reference work
    Feb. 8, 1831. | 7 Stat., 342. / scan: 319

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