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Treaty

Kansa at Methodist Mission, Kansas Country (1846)

In 1846 the Kansa (Kaw) ceded two million acres on the east of their country for $202,000, most of it funded at five percent.

Signed
January 14, 1846
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 5.2 million acres
Land set aside for the nations
about 191,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On January 14, 1846, Thomas H. Harvey and Richard W. Cummins, commissioners for the United States, signed a treaty at the Methodist Mission in the Kansas country with the Kansas tribe of Indians. In Article 1 the tribe ceded two million acres on the east part of its country, across the full thirty-mile width and running west for quantity.

In Article 2 the United States agreed to pay $202,000. Two hundred thousand dollars was to be funded at five per cent, with the interest paid annually for thirty years. Of the interest, $1,000 a year was for education, $1,000 for farming help, and $8,000 was paid to them. The other $2,000 covered the costs of the treaty, $400 to the Methodist Episcopal missionary society for improvements, $600 for a mill, and provisions for the year. Article 4 required the tribe to move from the ceded lands by May 1, 1847. Article 5 provided that if the President found there was not enough timber on the land remaining, he would lay off other land near the western boundary, and the tribe would cede the rest of its 1825 reservation. The treaty was proclaimed on April 15, 1846.

The Kaw Nation's history says the 1825 treaty left a 2 million-acre reservation and that promised annuities were seldom delivered. It says the Treaty of 1846 further reduced Kaw territory to 256,000 acres at present-day Council Grove, and that on May 27, 1872, over the strong protests of Chief Allegawaho and his people, a federal act moved the Kanza to a 100,137-acre site in northern Kay County, Oklahoma.

Good to know. The 256,000-acre figure and the account of later moves come from the Kaw Nation's own page.

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 Kansas tribe of Indians cede to the United States two millions of acres of land on the east part of their countryTreaty with the Kansa, 1846 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. to move from the lands ceded to the United States, by the first article of this treaty, by the first day of May, 1847Treaty with the Kansa, 1846 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. the Treaty of 1846 further reduced Kaw territory to 256,000 acres at present-day Council GroveThe Kanza People (Kaw Nation)
  4. Promised annuities were seldom delivered or were obligated to unscrupulous tradersThe Kanza People (Kaw Nation)
  5. embracing the entire width, thirty miles, and running west for quantityTreaty with the Kansa, 9 Stat. 842 (govinfo)

Research notes. The 256,000-acre figure and the later moves come from the Kaw Nation's own history. The annuity remark in the Kaw Nation's account concerns promises under earlier treaties, not the 1846 terms. The treaty itself does not say the final reserve size.

What the treaty did to the land

About 5.2 million acres given up. about 191,000 acres recognized, kept or set aside for the nations. 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. 1825

    Promise broken

    Kaw (Kanza): annuities delayed, sale and removal from Kansas (1873), and Kaw Lake

    The Kaw ceded Missouri and Kansas land by treaty, kept a shrinking reserve, and were removed from Kansas to Indian Territory in 1873.

  2. 1846

    This treaty

    About 5.2 million acres ceded to the United States by the Kansas. About 191,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Kansa

    In 1846 the Kansa (Kaw) ceded two million acres on the east of their country for $202,000, most of it funded at five percent.

  3. 1859

    Land lost

    About 191,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Kansa

    By Kansa at Kansas Agency, Kansas Territory (1859)

    area 421

  4. 1859

    Land kept

    About 72,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Kansa

    By Kansa at Kansas Agency, Kansas Territory (1859)

    area 420

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:

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-kansa-tribe-1846-0552reference work
    Treaty with the Kansa Tribe, 1846 Jan. 14, 1846. | 9 Stat., 842.

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