Sauk and Fox of Missouri at Washington, DC (1854)
In 1854 the Sac and Fox of Missouri ceded their half of the Missouri River strip, keeping fifty sections for $48,000.
- Signed
- May 18, 1854
- Senate
- Ratified
- Land given up
- about 141,000 acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 47,000 acres
What happened
What happened
On May 18, 1854, in Washington, Commissioner George W. Manypenny and five delegates of the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri signed a treaty. They ceded the lower half of the strip on the Missouri River assigned to them and the Ioways in 1836, "saving and reserving fifty sections, of six hundred and forty acres each," to be selected in the western part and set off by metes and bounds. If the delegates and agent could not find that much in one body, they could extend the selection onto public land to the west or northwest, and any part chosen outside the reservation reduced the reserve by the same amount.
In payment the United States agreed to pay $48,000 in installments, starting with $15,000 in October 1854 and 1855. The Kansas Historical Society says Manypenny's 1854 treaties led 11 Kansas tribes to cede nearly 13 million acres, ignoring a Kansas-Nebraska Act clause, and opened Kansas to settlers.
The Society also lists a Sac and Fox reservation in Brown County among the four federally recognized reservations in Kansas today.
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.
saving and reserving fifty sections, of six hundred and forty acres each
Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes of Missouri, 1854 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)the sum of forty-eight thousand dollars
Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes of Missouri, 1854 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)the Sac and Fox reservation is in Brown County
Kansas Territory map, Kansapedia (Kansas Historical Society)
Research notes. The Kansas Historical Society page names the Sac and Fox reservation in Brown County but does not tie it to this treaty; the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri link is inferred. The treaty says the delegates could select the reserve outside the ceded country, so the final location is not fixed by the text. The treaty reserves fifty sections of 640 acres each.
What the treaty did to the land
About 141,000 acres given up. about 47,000 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.
ceded to the United Statesabout 141,000 acres
Land of the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri in Kansas, ceded 1854 (area 324)
Assigned in 1836 as the lower half of a strip for the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri, then ceded by them in 1854.
set aside as a reservationabout 47,000 acres
Land of the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa in Nebraska, ceded 1861 (area 427)
Chosen as a Nebraska reserve by the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri under the 1854 treaty, then ceded by them in the 1861 treaty.
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.
- 1836
Land kept
About 141,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri
By Iowa and Sauk and Fox of the Missouri (West of Missouri) at Fort Leavenworth (1836)
- 1854
This treaty
About 141,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri. About 47,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa
In 1854 the Sac and Fox of Missouri ceded their half of the Missouri River strip, keeping fifty sections for $48,000.
- 1861
Land lost
About 47,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and the Iowa
By Sauk and Fox of the Missouri and Iowa at Great Nemaha Agency, Nebraska Territory (1861)
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:
- Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
- Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska
- Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma
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
- 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
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy 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
- treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-sauk-and-foxes-of-missouri-1854-0631reference work
Treaty with the Sauk and Foxes of Missouri, 1854 May 18, 1854. | 10 Stat., 1074.
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.