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All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Delaware at Washington, DC (1854)

In 1854 the Delaware ceded their land at the fork of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers and kept a reserved home.

Signed
May 6, 1854
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 2.4 million acres
Land set aside for the nations
about 333,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On May 6, 1854, in Washington, Commissioner George W. Manypenny and Delaware delegates signed a treaty. The Delaware "cede, relinquish, and quit-claim to the United States all their right, title, and interest" in their country in the fork of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers and in the "outlet" to the west, except the part sold to the Wyandot and the land east and south of a line running to Big Island Creek on the Missouri, which they kept as their permanent home. The ceded land was to be surveyed and sold like public land.

The United States agreed to pay $10,000 for the outlet and to pay the Delaware the proceeds of land sales. It also paid $148,000 in two installments in exchange for their permanent annuities. Roads and railroads could cross the reserve; the treaty gave "all roads and highways laid out by authority of law" a right of way. The Kansas Historical Society says Manypenny convinced 11 Kansas tribes to cede nearly 13 million acres between March and June 1854, and that under his allotment plan excess land was to be sold to railroad companies, white settlers and speculators.

The Society adds that the 1887 Dawes Act formalized allotment, and that many tribal holdings were mortgaged, leased or sold to whites. In 1885 Manypenny wrote that had he known what would result from those treaties, "I would be compelled to admit that I had committed a high crime." The OSU treaty database lists ratification on July 11, 1854.

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

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. cede, relinquish, and quit-claim to the United States all their right, title, and interestTreaty with the Delawares, 1854 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. all roads and highways laid out by authority of law, shall have a right of way through the reserved landsTreaty with the Delawares, 1854 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. convincing 11 Kansas tribes between March and June of 1854 to cede nearly 13 million acresKansas Territory map, Kansapedia (Kansas Historical Society)

Research notes. The Kansas Historical Society page describes the 1854 treaties generally and does not name the Delaware. No acreage is stated in the treaty for the ceded or reserved lands. The cited sources do not trace later Delaware removals.

What the treaty did to the land

About 2.4 million acres given up. about 333,000 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. 1854

    This treaty

    About 2.4 million acres ceded to the United States by the Delaware. About 333,000 acres recognized as land of the Delaware. About 48,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Delaware

    In 1854 the Delaware ceded their land at the fork of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers and kept a reserved home.

  2. 1858

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Delaware

    The 1899 record: “Christian Indians sell four sections purchased of the Delawares under treaty of May 6, 1854, and sale confirmed by Congress”

    area 317

  3. 1860

    Land lost

    About 333,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Delaware

    By Delaware at Sarcoxieville, Delaware Reservation, Kansas Territory (1860)

    area 425

  4. 1860

    Land lost

    Part of the land ceded by the Delaware

    By Delaware at Sarcoxieville, Delaware Reservation, Kansas Territory (1860)

    area 488

  5. 1861

    Land record

    Earlier terms confirmed for the land of the Delaware

    By Delaware Tribe of Indians at Leavenworth City, Kansas (1861)

    area 425

  6. 1866

    Land lost

    About 48,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Delaware

    By Delaware at Delaware Agency, Kansas (1866)

    area 488

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. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-delawares-1854-0614reference work
    Treaty with the Delawares, 1854 May 6, 1854. | 10 Stats., 1048.

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