Treaty of Mendota (Mdewakanton and Wahpekute), 1851
The 1851 Treaty of Mendota ceded Mdewakanton and Wahpekute lands in Minnesota and Iowa for $1,410,000; leaders later signed traders' papers.
- Signed
- August 5, 1851
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 25 million acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 738,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On August 5, 1851, Luke Lea and Alexander Ramsey, commissioners for the United States, signed a treaty at Mendota in Minnesota Territory with the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute bands of Dakota. In Article 2 the bands ceded and relinquished all their lands and all their claim to any lands whatever in Minnesota Territory or Iowa. In Article 4 the United States agreed to pay $1,410,000. That included $220,000 to the chiefs to settle their affairs and move, and $30,000 for schools, mills and farms. The other $1,160,000 was to stay in trust, with five per cent interest paid for fifty years. The Senate struck out Article 3.
The Minnesota Historical Society says the commissioners told the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute that, with the upper bands' land sold, they would be surrounded by white colonists and eventually forced to give up their land. It says the Dakota owed Henry Sibley and other traders a great deal of money. In November 1851 the leaders of the two bands signed traders' papers, and "some sources suggest that tribal leaders and their agents were bribed."
MNopedia says the two 1851 treaties were "a step towards the loss of their homeland and the US-Dakota War of 1862." The Senate approved them, with changes, on June 23, 1852, and forty-five chiefs of the lower bands signed the amended treaty on September 4, 1852. The OSU page shows the treaty proclaimed on February 24, 1853.
Good to know. Sources give the date as August 5 or August 6, 1851. MNopedia's bribery statement is hedged ("Some sources suggest").
Summarized with AI assistance from 6 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.
do hereby cede and relinquish all their lands and all their right, title and claim to any lands whatever, in the Territory of Minnesota
Treaty with the Sioux, Mdewakanton and Wahpekute, 1851 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)one million, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars ($1,160,000) to remain in trust with the United States
Treaty with the Sioux, Mdewakanton and Wahpekute, 1851 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)would be surrounded by white colonists, and eventually forced to give up their land
Treaty of Mendota, 1851 (MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society)Some sources suggest that tribal leaders and their agents were bribed into signing the papers.
Treaty of Mendota, 1851 (MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society)do hereby cede and relinquish all their lands
Treaty with the Sioux, 10 Stat. 954 (govinfo)Treaty with the Sioux, Signed August 6, 1851 at Mendota
1851 Dakota Land Cession Treaties (Why Treaties Matter)
Research notes. The date varies by source: the OSU page and MNopedia give August 5, 1851; Why Treaties Matter gives August 6. The cited sources give no acreage for this treaty alone. MNopedia's bribery statement is hedged ("Some sources suggest") and is reported as such. Article 3 is shown only as "[Stricken out.]" in the OSU text.
What the treaty did to the land
About 25 million acres given up. about 738,000 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.
partly ceded to the United Statesabout 25 million acres
Land of the Sioux (Wahpeton and Sisseton Bands) in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, ceded 1851 (area 289)
Ceded by the Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux in July 1851, their lands in Iowa and eastern Minnesota; in the August 1851 Mendota treaty the Medewakanton and Wahpekuta ceded the same lands.
set aside as a reservationabout 738,000 acres
Land of the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands) in Minnesota and South Dakota, ceded 1863 (area 440)
Set apart in 1851 along the Minnesota River for the Sioux and kept south of the river in 1858; after the 1862 outbreak, an 1863 act took it and ordered it sold.
Linked to this treatyabout 517,000 acres
Land of the Sioux (Wahpeton and Sisseton Bands) in Minnesota, recorded 1851 (area 414)
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.
- 1851
Land lost
About 25 million acres ceded to the United States by the Sioux (Wahpeton and Sisseton Bands)
By Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (Sisseton and Wahpeton), 1851
- 1851
Land kept
About 738,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands)
By Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (Sisseton and Wahpeton), 1851
- 1851
This treaty
Part of the land ceded by the Sioux (Wahpeton and Sisseton Bands). About 738,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands)
The 1851 Treaty of Mendota ceded Mdewakanton and Wahpekute lands in Minnesota and Iowa for $1,410,000; leaders later signed traders' papers.
- 1858
Land kept
About 738,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands)
By Sioux (Mdewakanton and Wahpekuta [Wahpekute]) at Washington, DC (1858)
- 1862
Promise broken
Dakota 1851 treaties, 1862 war and the Act of Feb. 16, 1863
After the 1862 war Congress declared the Dakota treaties abrogated in 1863 and forfeited their Minnesota lands and annuities.
- 1863
Land lost
About 738,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Sioux (Sisseton, Wahpeton, Medewakanton, and Wahpekute bands)
The 1899 record: “Their reserve in Minnesota to be sold by U. S. for their benefit”
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:
- Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
- Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota
- Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota
- Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota
- Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska
- Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota
- Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
- Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
Working with these nations
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate) Nation government Pe' Sla (1,942 acres, Nov 30, 2012)
- Owamniyomni Okhodayapi (formerly Friends of the Falls) Native-led Dakota-led restoration and return of care for sacred St. Anthony Falls (Owamniyomni) site in Minneapolis, with… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Lakota People's Law Project (program of Sacred Defense Fund) Native-led Legal advocacy 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
- Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) Native-led Youth programs Website
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
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
- Indian Law Resource Center Native-led Legal assistance to Indigenous nations to protect lands, resources, treaty and human rights 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
- digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/176246554reference work
Research notes
Kappler page. Combined-acreage claim from Wikipedia (pointer). 1862 Dakota War and 1863 forfeiture act followed.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.