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Great Lakes / Old NorthwestTreaty

Treaty of La Pointe (1842) with the Chippewa of the Mississippi and Lake Superior

The 1842 La Pointe treaty ceded Chippewa lands around western Lake Superior; courts later held its hunting rights survived the 1854 treaty.

Signed
October 4, 1842
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 19 million acres
Promises
1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On October 4, 1842, Robert Stuart, commissioner for the United States, signed a treaty at La Pointe on Lake Superior, in Wisconsin Territory, with the Chippewa Indians of the Mississippi and Lake Superior, through their chiefs and headmen. In Article I they ceded the country east of a line running from the American Fur Company's trading post on the Fond du Lac (St. Louis) River to the line of the July 29, 1837 treaty, including all the islands of Lake Superior within the boundary. The treaty states no acreage.

In Article II the Indians stipulated for the right of hunting on the ceded territory, with the other usual privileges of occupancy, until required to remove by the President. In Article IV the United States agreed to pay each year for twenty-five years $12,500 in specie and $10,500 in goods, with further sums for provisions, tobacco, blacksmiths, farmers, carpenters and schools. It also allowed $75,000 for their debts in the ceded district. Article VI made the Indians on the mineral district subject to removal at the President's pleasure. The treaty was proclaimed on March 23, 1843.

A later court case concerned these rights. A 1985 Seventh Circuit opinion recounts that in Lac Courte Oreilles Band v. Voigt (1983) the court held that the rights established by the 1837 and 1842 treaties "were neither terminated nor released by the 1854 treaty." It also notes the district court found the President's 1850 Removal Order was without legal effect.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Partly kept

    Chippewa kept the right of hunting on the ceded territory until required to remove by the President. (Art. II)

    neither terminated nor released by the 1854 treaty law.resource.org

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. The Indians stipulate for the right of hunting on the ceded territory, with the other usual privileges of occupancy, until required to removeTreaty of La Pointe with the Chippewa, 1842 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. annually, for twenty-five years, twelve thousand five hundred (12,500) dollars, in specieTreaty of La Pointe with the Chippewa, 1842 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. neither terminated nor released by the 1854 treatyLac Courte Oreilles Band v. Wisconsin, 760 F.2d 177 (7th Cir. 1985) (law.resource.org)
  4. the President's Removal Order of 1850 was not authorized by previous treaties, was beyond the scope of the President's powers and was without legal effectLac Courte Oreilles Band v. Wisconsin, 760 F.2d 177 (7th Cir. 1985) (law.resource.org)
  5. The Indians stipulate for the right of huntingTreaty with the Chippewa, 7 Stat. 591 (govinfo)

Research notes. The 1983 Voigt holding is quoted as recounted in a later 1985 opinion in the same case (760 F.2d 177). The finding that the 1850 removal order was without legal effect is the district court's, as recounted there. The 1850 removal order and the Sandy Lake events are not covered here. The treaty states no acreage.

What the treaty did to the land

About 19 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.

  1. 1842

    This treaty

    About 19 million acres ceded to the United States by the Chippewa of the Mississippi and Lake Superior

    The 1842 La Pointe treaty ceded Chippewa lands around western Lake Superior; courts later held its hunting rights survived the 1854 treaty.

  2. 1850

    Promise broken

    Sandy Lake (1850): removal order and annuity relocation in breach of Ojibwe treaties

    In 1850 an executive order and a payment moved to Sandy Lake left thousands of Ojibwe stranded in winter; about 400 died, MNopedia says.

  3. 1970

    Promise broken

    Voigt decision (1983): Wisconsin's denial of 1837/1842 treaty rights

    In 1983 a federal appeals court held that Ojibwe bands kept 1837 hunting and fishing rights in Wisconsin; protests followed.

  4. 1999

    In court

    Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians

    The Chippewa kept their 1837 Treaty hunting and fishing rights; an 1850 order, the 1855 Treaty and Minnesota statehood did not end them.

The law behind it

The legal ideas behind the decisions, and related records without a date. Court cases and laws with a date are in what happened next, above.

  • Legal doctrine

    abrogation

    Abrogation is Congress overriding a treaty: Lone Wolf (1903) allowed it, but modern courts require clear evidence Congress chose to break the treaty.

  • Legal doctrine

    canons of construction

    Courts read ambiguous treaties in favor of tribes and as the Indians would have understood them, rules the Supreme Court has repeated for more than a century.

  • Legal doctrine

    reserved rights

    Treaties are 'a grant of right from' tribes, not to them: reserved hunting and fishing rights survived cessions, statehood and even termination.

  • Legal doctrine

    treaty fishing rights

    Treaties that reserved fishing rights have been read as rights the tribes kept, not gifts: Winans (1905), Fishing Vessel (1979) and Mille Lacs (1999).

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. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/68161617reference work
Research notes

Kappler page. Basis for Lac Courte Oreilles v. Voigt litigation.

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