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Pacific NorthwestTreaty

Nez Perce Treaty (1868 amendatory), last ratified treaty

The 1868 Nez Perce amendments protected reservation timber, directed farm allotments and ordered repayment of school money spent on other things.

Signed
August 13, 1868
Senate
Ratified
Promises
0 of 1 broken or only partly kept

What happened

On August 13, 1868, in Washington, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Nathaniel G. Taylor and three Nez Perce chiefs, Lawyer, Timothy and Jason, signed amendments to the treaty of June 9, 1863. The preamble says the tribe desired amendments and the United States was willing to assent. The Senate ratified the amendments on February 16, 1869.

Article 1 said farmable land inside the 1863 reservation would be surveyed and allotted. Nez Perce living outside could be moved onto allotments inside it. If there was not enough land, they could stay on land they already used, up to twenty acres for each man over twenty-one or head of a family, and the military would protect them there.

Article 2 annulled the 1863 clause that let the United States use reservation timber to maintain forts or garrisons. It said the military would help protect the timber. No timber could be cut without the written consent of the head chief, the agent and the superintendent of Indian affairs. Article 3 said money due for schools and teachers, which had been "used for other purposes" since 1864, was to be repaid by Congress, invested in bonds and held in trust.

In 1871 Congress provided that no tribe would be recognized as a nation with which the United States could contract by treaty.

What was promised, and what happened

  • Not known

    Congress will repay school and teacher money used for other purposes since 1864 and hold it in trust. (Art. 3)

    shall be re-imbursed to said tribe by appropriation by Congress treaties.okstate.edu

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

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. the stipulations contained in the 8th article of the treaty of June 9th, 1863, relative to timber, are hereby annulledTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Nez Perces, 1868
  2. shall be re-imbursed to said tribe by appropriation by CongressTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Nez Perces, 1868
  3. Ratified Feb. 16, 1869.Tribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Treaty with the Nez Perces, 1868
  4. No Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation25 U.S. Code § 71 - Future treaties with Indian tribes

Research notes. 25 U.S.C. 71 ended treaty-making after March 3, 1871, but the cited sources do not say whether this was the last ratified 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.

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

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Sources

  1. digitreaties.org/treaties/treaty/200192673reference work
Research notes

Last ratified treaty per National Archives Center for Legislative Archives page (Nez Perce 1868). Kappler page.

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