Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights
All treaties and agreements

Treaty

Kansa at Kansas Agency, Kansas Territory (1859)

The 1859 Kansa treaty kept a nine-by-fourteen-mile tract for allotment and put the rest of the reservation up for sale.

Signed
October 5, 1859
Senate
Ratified
Land given up
about 191,000 acres
Land set aside for the nations
about 95,000 acres
The land in this treaty’s record. Open on the map

What happened

In October 1859, at the Kansas agency, Commissioner Alfred B. Greenwood and chiefs and headmen of the Kansa (Kaw) agreed to divide their reservation. A tract nine miles by fourteen miles stayed with the tribe, and members would receive allotments of up to forty acres each. The rest of the reservation would be sold.

The treaty's own recital says the Kansa "having now more lands than are necessary for their occupation and use" wished to end holding land in common. Sale proceeds were to pay for houses, tools and stock, and to settle the tribe's debts. The land was to go to the highest bidder for cash in parcels of no more than 160 acres. Settlers who had improved land before December 2, 1856 could buy their claims at set prices.

The text shows a sale and allotment plan, not removal. Allotted tracts could not be sold except to the United States or other tribal members, and white people could not live on the reservation without permission. The OSU treaty database lists ratification on June 27, 1860.

Summarized with AI assistance from 2 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 Kansas Indians having now more lands than are necessary for their occupation and useTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Kansa, 1859
  2. shall be sold, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in parcels not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres eachTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Kansa, 1859

Research notes. This account is based on the treaty text alone, so it does not describe the conditions of the negotiation. The treaty states no acreage total. It was signed October 5, 1859, ratified June 27, 1860, and proclaimed November 17, 1860.

What the treaty did to the land

About 191,000 acres given up. about 95,000 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. 1846

    Land kept

    About 191,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Kansa

    By Kansa at Methodist Mission, Kansas Country (1846)

    area 421 area 420

  2. 1859

    This treaty

    About 191,000 acres ceded to the United States by the Kansa. About 95,000 acres set aside as a reservation for the Kansa and Western Shoshoni

    The 1859 Kansa treaty kept a nine-by-fourteen-mile tract for allotment and put the rest of the reservation up for sale.

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-kansa-tribe-1859-0800reference work
    Treaty with the Kansa, 1859 Oct. 5, 1859. | 12 Stat., 1111.

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