Sioux of Mississippi at Washington, DC (1837)

What happened

On September 29, 1837, Joel R. Poinsett, authorized by the President, signed a treaty at Washington with certain chiefs and braves of the Sioux nation. In Article 1 they ceded to the United States all their land east of the Mississippi River and all their islands in the river. The treaty states no acreage.

In Article 2 the United States agreed to invest $300,000 in State stocks and pay the chiefs and braves an income of not less than five per cent every year, forever. It agreed to pay $110,000 to relatives and friends of the chiefs and braves with at least one quarter Sioux blood, and $90,000 toward the Sioux's just debts. It also promised $10,000 a year in goods for twenty years, $8,250 a year for medicines, farm tools and workers, and $5,500 a year in provisions. The Senate struck out Article 3. The treaty was proclaimed on June 15, 1838.

The Minnesota Historical Society's MNopedia says Dakota leaders traveled to Washington in 1837 and that, there, "the Dakota were pressured and eventually agreed to give up lands east of the Mississippi for annual cash payments." It also says that in 1851 the Dakota leader Wacouta spoke bitterly about the trip and claimed the whites deceived the Indian leaders.

Good to know. The words "pressured" and "deceived" come from a Minnesota Historical Society biography of the chief Wacouta I; the second is Wacouta's own claim as reported there.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error