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Treaty

Shawnee at Washington, DC (1854)

In 1854 the Shawnee ceded their Kansas reserve, estimated at 1.6 million acres, and received 200,000 acres back plus $829,000.

Signed
May 10, 1854
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 1.8 million acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On May 10, 1854, in Washington, Commissioner George W. Manypenny and Shawnee delegates signed a treaty for the "now united tribe" of Shawnee. They ceded the tract west of Missouri that a federal deed had conveyed to the tribe in 1844. The treaty describes it by metes and bounds as "estimated to contain sixteen hundred thousand acres, more or less." The United States ceded back 200,000 acres, to be selected near the Missouri line and divided among individuals and families, with small tracts for mission schools and churches.

The United States agreed to pay $829,000, including $700,000 in seven annual installments. The Kansas Historical Society says Manypenny promoted allotment to individual members, with excess land bought by the government and sold to railroad companies, settlers and speculators. It adds that this ignored a clause in the Kansas-Nebraska Act and opened many Kansas lands to settlement.

The Society records that the 1887 Dawes Act formalized allotment and that many holdings were lost by mortgage, lease or sale. 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 August 2, 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. estimated to contain sixteen hundred thousand acres, more or lessTreaty with the Shawnee, 1854 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. The United States hereby cede to the Shawnee Indians two hundred thousand acres of landTreaty with the Shawnee, 1854 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  3. Any excess property would be purchased by the government which would sell it to railroad companies, white settlers, and speculators.Kansas Territory map, Kansapedia (Kansas Historical Society)

Research notes. The Kansas Historical Society page is general and does not name the Shawnee. The cited sources do not show how the 200,000 acres were later divided or follow Shawnee history after 1854. The treaty estimates the ceded reserve at 1,600,000 acres, more or less, and cedes 200,000 acres back to the Shawnee.

What the treaty did to the land

About 1.8 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. 1825

    Land kept

    About 1.8 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Shawnee

    By Shawnee at St. Louis (1825)

    area 318 area 319

  2. 1854

    This treaty

    About 1.8 million acres ceded to the United States by the Shawnee

    In 1854 the Shawnee ceded their Kansas reserve, estimated at 1.6 million acres, and received 200,000 acres back plus $829,000.

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-the-shawnee-1854-0618reference work
    Treaty with the Shawnee, 1854 May 10, 1854. | 10 Stat., 1053.

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