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All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Chickasaw at Washington, DC (1852)

The 1852 Chickasaw treaty had the United States keep the tribe's funds in trust and gave their council a say over claims.

Signed
June 22, 1852
Senate
Ratified

What happened

On June 22, 1852, in Washington, commissioner Kenton Harper and three Chickasaw commissioners signed a treaty that dealt mainly with money and land sales, not a new cession. The page shows it ratified August 13, 1852, and proclaimed February 24, 1853.

Article 1 has the Chickasaw "acknowledge themselves to be under the guardianship of the United States" and says a U.S. agent would continue to live among them. Article 2 says the sale of land ceded under the 1832 treaty had been costing more than it brought in, so the unsold remainder was to be sold as soon as practicable in the way least expensive to the Chickasaws.

Article 3 sent the Chickasaw claim to a four-mile-square reservation on the Sandy River in Tennessee to the Secretary of the Interior, who would decide what, if anything, was owed, at no more than $1.25 an acre. Article 4 ordered an accounting of their money from the 1832 and 1834 treaties, with their exceptions decided by the Secretary.

Article 5 has the United States keep the national fund "in trust" and invested, with interest paid yearly. Article 7 barred paying any claim from that fund unless the Chickasaw General Council allowed it first.

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

Supported by the sources below; some details rest on one source.

  1. acknowledge themselves to be under the guardianship of the United StatesTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chickasaw at Washington, DC (1852)
  2. the United States shall continue to hold said fund, in trust as aforesaidTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chickasaw at Washington, DC (1852)
  3. No claim or account shall hereafter be paid by the Government of the United States out of the Chickasaw fundTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Chickasaw at Washington, DC (1852)

Research notes. The treaty text is the only source cited; it does not say what happened afterward, so this story stops at the signed terms. The articles after Article 8 are not summarized here. The treaty left the Sandy River reservation claim to the Secretary of the Interior; his decision is not shown.

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.

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Native legal and land defense, nationally

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-chickasaw-1852-0596reference work
    Treaty with the Chickasaw, 1852 June 22, 1852. | 10 Stat., 974.

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