Oto and Missouri at Oto Village, Platte River (1833)
In 1833 the united Oto and Missouria bands ceded their claims south of the Little Nemaha River for annuities and farming aid.
- Signed
- September 21, 1833
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 1.1 million acres
What happened
What happened
On September 21, 1833, Henry L. Ellsworth, commissioner for the United States, signed a treaty at the Otoe Village on the Platte River with the united bands of Otoes and Missourias.
In Article 1 they ceded "all their right and title" to the lands lying south of a line. It began on the Little Nemohaw River at the northwest corner of the land reserved at the 1830 Prairie du Chien treaty for certain half-breeds. It ran west along the Little Nemohaw to its head branches and then due west "as far west, as said Otoes and Missourias, have, or pretend to have any claim." The page gives no acreage.
In return the United States agreed to continue their $2,500 annuity and their $500 farming-tool annuity for ten years from July 15, 1840. It also agreed to $500 a year for schools for five years, a horse mill and two farmers for five years, and $1,000 in stock.
Article 7 made the mill, school, farmers and stock conditional. They would not be provided until the tribes located themselves "in such convenient agricultural districts, as the President may think proper," and payments would not continue if they abandoned that location. In Article 8 the tribes declared their "entire willingness to abandon the chase for the agricultural life." They also agreed to refer disputes with other tribes to an arbiter. The Statutes at Large record a proclamation on April 12, 1834.
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.
nor shall the payments be continued, if the Otoes and Missourias shall abandon such location as the President shall think best
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)cede and relinquish to the United States, all their right and title
Tribal Treaties Database (OSU)Otoes
Statutes at Large, vol. 7 (GovInfo)
Research notes. The page describes no coercion; the conditions in Article 7 are noted in the story. No acreage is stated. The sources cited do not cover later events.
What the treaty did to the land
About 1.1 million acres given up. Each shape is a numbered area in the federal government’s 1899 record of land cessions.
ceded to the United Statesabout 1.1 million acres
Land of the Missouri and Oto in Nebraska, ceded 1833 (area 186)
Ceded by the Oto and Missouri in 1833, lands south of the Little Nemaha line in Nebraska.
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.
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-oto-and-missouri-1833-0400reference work
Treaty with the Oto and Missouri, 1833 Sept. 21, 1833. | 7 Stat., 429.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.