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Treaty

Choctaw and Chickasaw at Washington, DC (1855)

The 1855 treaty separated the Chickasaw District from the Choctaw Nation and leased the western Choctaw and Chickasaw lands for Wichita settlement.

Signed
June 22, 1855
Senate
Ratified
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

On June 22, 1855, in Washington, Commissioner George W. Manypenny and commissioners of the Choctaw and Chickasaw signed a treaty. Its preamble says the political connection between the tribes had caused "unhappy and injurious dissensions." Article 2 set up a separate Chickasaw District, and Article 9 had the Choctaws relinquish their claim west of the 100th meridian. Both nations leased to the United States their common territory west of the 98th meridian for the settlement of the Wichita and other tribes. The treaty also referred the Choctaws' claim to net proceeds from the Mississippi lands ceded in 1830 to the Senate.

The preamble states that "the United States desire that the Choctaw Indians shall relinquish all claim to any territory west of the one hundredth degree of west longitude." A Wichita State University journal article says three issues drove the talks: the net proceeds claim, Chickasaw demands for political autonomy, and the lease of land for the Wichita. It describes the Choctaws' negotiating position as relatively weak.

The treaty gave the United States use of the western strip and left the Chickasaw with their own district. The OSU treaty database lists ratification on February 21, 1856.

Good to know. The treaty settled matters between the Choctaw and Chickasaw themselves, not only with the United States.

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. the United States desire that the Choctaw Indians shall relinquish all claim to any territory west of the one hundredth degree of west longitudeTreaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw, 1855 (Oklahoma State University Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. the relative weakness of the Choctaw's negotiating positionThe Choctaw "Net Proceeds" Delegation and the Treaty of 1855 (Kirk Scott, Wichita State University journal)
  3. lease of land in the western portion of the Choctaw Nation to the United StatesThe Choctaw "Net Proceeds" Delegation and the Treaty of 1855 (Kirk Scott, Wichita State University journal)

Research notes. For the relinquishment and lease, Article 10 promised $600,000 to the Choctaws and $200,000 to the Chickasaws; Article 8 had $150,000 paid to the Choctaws out of Chickasaw funds. The cited sources give no acreage. This was a negotiation between two tribes about each other as well as with the United States, which the 'treaty' label only partly captures.

What the treaty did to the land

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. 1855

    This treaty

    About 7.7 million acres named in the record

    The 1855 treaty separated the Chickasaw District from the Choctaw Nation and leased the western Choctaw and Chickasaw lands for Wichita settlement.

  2. 1866

    Land lost

    About 7.7 million acres ceded to the United States by the Chickasaw and Choctaw

    By Reconstruction Treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw, 1866

    area 485

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-choctaw-and-chickasaw-1855-0706reference work
    Treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw, 1855 June 22, 1855. | 11 Stats., 611.

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