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Treaty

Menominee at Cedar Point on Fox River, Near Green Bay, Wisconsin Territory (1836)

In 1836 the Menominee ceded about four million acres in Wisconsin for $20,000 a year for twenty years and agreed to leave.

Signed
September 3, 1836
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 2.9 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On September 3, 1836, Henry Dodge, Governor of Wisconsin Territory and commissioner for the United States, signed articles of agreement at Cedar Point on the Fox River near Green Bay. The other party was the chiefs and head men of the Menomonie (Menominee) nation. In Article 1 the nation agreed to cede a district of country described by boundaries, from the mouth of the Wolf River to the Chippewa boundary and down to Green Bay and the Fox River. The treaty estimates it at about four million acres. A separate tract on the Wisconsin River, eight townships or 184,320 acres, was also ceded.

In Article 2 the United States agreed to pay $20,000 a year for twenty years, plus $3,000 a year in provisions, tobacco and salt, and $500 a year for farming tools and cattle. It agreed to supply two blacksmiths. It also agreed to pay the Menominee's debts, scheduled at $99,710.50, but only after the Commissioner of Indian Affairs examined each one. Another $80,000 went to relatives of mixed blood.

In Article 3 the nation released the United States from some provisions of the 1831 and 1832 treaties, and the United States set aside $76,000 for them. Article 4 says the Menominee agreed to remove from the ceded country within one year after ratification. The treaty was proclaimed on February 15, 1837. The text does not describe the negotiation, and the sources used here do not say what followed.

Good to know. The four million acres is the treaty's own estimate.

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. the quantity of land contained in the tract hereby ceded, being estimated at about four millions of acresTreaty with the Menominee, 1836 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. agree to remove from the country ceded, within one year after the ratification of this treatyTreaty with the Menominee, 1836 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. being estimated at about four millions of acresTreaty with the Menominee, 7 Stat. 506 (govinfo)

Research notes. Four million acres is the treaty's own estimate. Article 4 set removal within one year of ratification; the cited sources do not say whether or how it was carried out.

What the treaty did to the land

About 2.9 million 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.

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.

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-menominee-1836-0463reference work
    Treaty with the Menominee, 1836 Sept. 3, 1836. | 7 Stat., 506.

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