Nez Perce Treaty of 1855
The 1855 Nez Perce treaty ceded most Nez Perce territory for a reservation and $200,000; an 1863 treaty cut the reservation sharply.
- Signed
- June 11, 1855
- Senate
- Ratified March 8, 1859
- Land given up
- about 6.9 million acres
- Land set aside for the nations
- about 7.4 million acres
- Promises
- 1 of 1 broken or only partly kept
What happened
What happened
On June 11, 1855, at Camp Stevens in the Walla Walla Valley, Isaac Stevens and Joel Palmer signed a treaty with chiefs and delegates of the Nez Perce, who lived partly in Oregon and partly in Washington. The Nez Perce ceded their country and kept a reservation for their exclusive use. They secured fishing "at all usual and accustomed places" and hunting rights, and the United States promised $200,000. Encyclopedia.com says they ceded most of 13 million acres of ancestral territory in exchange for a guarantee that 7.5 million acres would remain a reservation.
HistoryLink says the Nez Perce were divided at the council, with Lawyer favoring a treaty and Looking Glass opposed. Stevens used promised gifts and threats of force, and refused a delay the Indians requested.
Encyclopedia.com reports that gold was found on Nez Perce land in the early 1860s, settlers rushed in, and an 1863 treaty, called the Thief Treaty, reduced the reservation to 780,000 acres, excluding Chief Joseph's Wallowa Valley home territory. Joseph's band was ordered out in 1877, leading to the Nez Perce War.
What was promised, and what happened
- Broken
A reservation set apart for the exclusive use and benefit of the Nez Perce tribe. (Art. 2)
they decided to draft a new treaty so the areas where settlers were living were no longer a part of the reservation at all
nps.gov
Good to know. Encyclopedia.com's entries put the 1855 reservation at about 7.5 million acres and the reservation left after the 1863 treaty at 780,000 or 750,000 acres. The treaty itself states no acreage.
Summarized with AI assistance from 4 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.
a combination of promised gifts and threats of force.
Isaac Stevens convenes the First Walla Walla Council, May 29, 1855 (HistoryLink Essay 5188)ceding most of their 13 million acre ancestral territory to the government in exchange for money and a guarantee that 7.5 million acres
Nez Perce, Encyclopedia.comIn what came to be known among tribal members as the Thief Treaty
Nez Perce, Encyclopedia.comthe sum of two hundred thousand dollars
Treaty with the Nez Perces, 1855 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
Research notes. Acreage figures come from Encyclopedia.com, a reference summary: it says the treaty left a reservation of 7.5 million acres out of 13 million acres of ancestral territory, and that the 1863 treaty reduced it to 780,000 acres (another entry on the same page says 750,000). The treaty text states no acreage. This account does not draw on the Nez Perce Tribe's own published history. The treaty was ratified March 8, 1859, and proclaimed April 29, 1859.
What the treaty did to the land
About 6.9 million acres given up. about 7.4 million 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 6.9 million acres
Land of the Nez Percé in Washington, ceded 1855 (area 366)
Ceded by the Nez Percé in the 1855 treaty, land in Washington; they kept a reserve, part of which was later ceded in 1863.
set aside as a reservationabout 6.6 million acres
Land of the Nez Percé in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, ceded 1863 (area 441)
Kept by the Nez Percé as a large reserve in Idaho, Oregon and Washington in 1855, then given up in the 1863 treaty, except a smaller new reserve.
set aside as a reservationabout 825,000 acres
Land of the Nez Percé in Idaho, ceded 1894 (area 442)
Kept by the Nez Percé as their smaller reserve in 1863; the land not allotted to individuals was ceded in a May 1893 agreement that Congress confirmed in 1894.
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.
- 1855
This treaty
About 6.9 million acres ceded to the United States by the Nez Percé. About 7.4 million acres set aside as a reservation for the Nez Percé
The 1855 Nez Perce treaty ceded most Nez Perce territory for a reservation and $200,000; an 1863 treaty cut the reservation sharply.
- 1859
This treaty
Ratified by the Senate
- 1863
Land lost
About 6.6 million acres ceded to the United States by the Nez Percé
By Nez Perce Treaty of 1863
- 1863
Land kept
About 825,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Nez Percé
By Nez Perce Treaty of 1863
- 1863
Promise broken
Nez Perce: the 1855 reservation, the 1863 'thief treaty,' and 1877
An 1855 treaty gave the Nez Perce a large reservation; an 1863 treaty signed by some leaders shrank it, over others' objections.
- 1894
Land lost
About 825,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Nez Percé
The 1899 record: “Confirms agreement with these Indians made May 1, 1893, by which they cede to the U. S. all their title and interest in the unallotted lands of their reservation in Idaho”
- 1969
In court
Sohappy v. Smith (Belloni decision)
A 1969 federal ruling limited Oregon's regulation of Columbia River treaty fishing and said the tribes were owed a fair share.
The law behind it
The legal ideas behind the decisions, and related records without a date. Court cases and laws with a date are in what happened next, above.
Legal doctrine
reserved rights
Treaties are 'a grant of right from' tribes, not to them: reserved hunting and fishing rights survived cessions, statehood and even termination.
Legal doctrine
treaty fishing rights
Treaties that reserved fishing rights have been read as rights the tribes kept, not gifts: Winans (1905), Fishing Vessel (1979) and Mille Lacs (1999).
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:
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
- digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/178309326reference work
- treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-nez-perces-1855-0702reference work
Ratified Mar. 8. 1859. | Proclaimed Apr. 29, 1859.
Corrections to this record
- date ratified was listed as “”; corrected from treaties.okstate.edu
Ratified Mar. 8. 1859. | Proclaimed Apr. 29, 1859.
Research notes
Acreages (, not entered). Reduced ~90% by the 1863 'Steal Treaty' (RIT 323).
Shapes are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land, title or jurisdiction.