Living Law,
Living LandSupport land rights

Violation

Fort Laramie 1851: Pike's Peak gold rush invades treaty territory

Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.

The 1851 treaty promised protection from US citizens; gold seekers settled Cheyenne and Arapaho land and the US then sought a cession.

Treaty
Treaty of Fort Laramie (Horse Creek), 11 Stat. 749
Nations
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota (Sioux), Crow, Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara
When
1858-1861
Land affected
Cheyenne-Arapaho treaty territory in Colorado.
Legal aftermath
No contemporaneous remedy. 1868 Fort Laramie (V024) later redrew boundaries for the Lakota.

What happened

In the Treaty of Fort Laramie (Horse Creek), signed on September 17, 1851, the United States recognized the territories of the Plains nations, including a shared Cheyenne and Arapaho area. In Article 3, the United States bound itself "to protect the aforesaid Indian nations against the commission of all depredations by the people of the said United States." The nations in turn agreed that the United States could build roads and military posts. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty with an amendment cutting the annuity term in Article 7 from fifty years to ten, subject to the tribes' acceptance. The Oklahoma State University database note says the assent of all tribes except the Crows was procured.

Gold was found near present-day Denver in 1858 and 1859 and, according to the National Park Service, more than one hundred thousand emigrants crossed the Plains. Many stayed and built what the Park Service calls illegal settlements on land the 1851 treaty recognized as Cheyenne and Arapaho. The same NPS timeline says pressure on the government to acquire the land and remove the Indians increased. In February 1861 the United States formed Colorado Territory, much of it on land the 1851 treaty had recognized.

This is context, not a court-decided violation. In February 1861 the Fort Wise treaty ceded all Cheyenne and Arapaho lands except a reserve on the Arkansas River.

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 bind themselves to protect the aforesaid Indian nations against the commission of all depredationsTreaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc., 1851 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)
  2. Many of these gold seekers stay and establish illegal settlements on lands belonging to the Cheyenne and Arapaho under the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty.Timeline, Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site (National Park Service)
  3. do hereby cede and relinquish to the United States all lands now owned, possessed, or claimed by them, wherever situated, except a tractTreaty with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, 1861 (OSU Tribal Treaties Database)

Research notes. No source I read says in so many words that the government failed to enforce Article 3; I state only what the NPS timeline records (illegal settlements, pressure to acquire the land) and that I found no enforcement or remedy. The input says Denver was founded on this territory; I could not source that and omitted it. The 'ten years instead of fifty' Senate amendment and the Crow non-assent are from the OSU Kappler note. Article 5 boundary language was not quoted. Only two sources were used because the third candidates were Wikipedia or advocacy pages.

Treaty or agreementTreaty under documented pressureShapes from the 1899 federal record: approximate, not legal boundaries.

Who is doing the work

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Land return and Native-led work nearby

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Connections

These links were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.

Nations named 10

Located in 3

Policy era 1

Concerns the instrument 1

Sources

  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Laramie_Treaty_of_1851pointer
  2. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-of-fort-laramie-with-sioux-etc-1851-0594reference work
The record’s fields
What happened
Fort Laramie 1851: Pike's Peak gold rush invades treaty territory -- Signed Sept. 17, 1851 at Horse Creek, near Fort Laramie. In Article 3 the United States agreed to protect the nations against depredations by U.S. citizens; Article 5 set each nation's territory (the Cheyenne and Arapaho held a shared area south of the North Platte, mainly in present Wyoming and Colorado). The Senate ratified with an amendment cutting the annuity term (Article 7) from fifty years to ten. The 1858 Pike's Peak gold rush brought miners and settlers into Colorado over tribal protests, and the government did not enforce the treaty. Denver was founded in that territory. The Cheyenne and Arapaho were then pressed into the Fort Wise cession (V021).
Acreage
not stated in sources read (an unverified secondary figure of nearly 12 million acres across five states exists for the whole treaty)
Kind
Violation
Confidence
Medium
Nation review
Not yet reviewed by this nation

Correct this record