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Violation

California: 18 unratified treaties (1851-52) and the secrecy until 1905

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

Eighteen 1851-52 treaties promised California tribes reserved land; the Senate rejected them in secret and kept them sealed until 1905.

Treaty
Eighteen treaties negotiated by Redick McKee, George W. Barbour and Oliver M. Wozencraft
Nations
More than 100 California tribes and bands (Pomo, Miwok, Yokuts, Maidu, Wintun, Yurok and others)
When
1852-1905
Land affected
Everything that was to be reserved, plus aboriginal lands ceded in the course of the negotiations.
Acreage
about 7.5 million acres (about 7% of California; one Wikipedia page's 'one-seventh' is inconsistent)

What happened

In 1851 and 1852 federal commissioners negotiated 18 treaties with California Indian groups. The Mechoopda Tribe's history says the treaties reserved "more than eight million acres of land." Tribes agreed to give up claims to land outside the reservations in return for the promised land and goods.

The Mechoopda history says the California State Senate and the Governor objected to reserving lands for Indians that "might be of either agricultural or gold bearing value," and that the U.S. Senate "secretly rejected the treaties on July 8, 1852." The Bunker Hill exhibit also dates the closed-door vote to July 8, 1852. The treaties were then placed under a seal of secrecy. "Not until 1905, over fifty years later, would the injunction of secrecy be removed." Tribes had been told they would have reservations, but the treaties were never ratified.

The Bunker Hill exhibit says officials in California kept acting as if the treaties were in force and the tribes were apparently never told their status had changed. It says the reservations that came to exist covered roughly one-hundredth of the state, not the promised one-seventh. The Mechoopda history adds that not until 1928 were California Indians permitted to sue the federal government for compensation.

Good to know. These treaties were never ratified, so they never took legal effect; this is not a broken ratified treaty.

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 U.S. Senate secretly rejected the treaties on July 8, 1852Treaties (Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria)
  2. under an injunction of secrecy and transferred to an obscure federal archiveNative Americans exhibit (Bunker Hill history exhibit)

Research notes. Both opened sources give July 8, 1852 for the Senate vote; a different date seen in a search result was not found in an opened source. The Madley death estimate, the 1964 Indian Claims Commission award and other figures from the old record were not verified and are omitted. The mechanism is non-ratification, not a broken ratified treaty.

Unratified treatyShapes from the 1899 federal record: approximate, not legal boundaries.

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Concerns the instrument 18

Show all 18

Nations named 3

Land returns that respond to this 3

Located in 1

Policy era 1

Sources

  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Genocidepointer
  2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Rush_(California)pointer
  3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_M._Wozencraftpointer
  4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redick_McKeepointer
  5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_Californiapointer
The record’s fields
What happened
California: 18 unratified treaties (1851-52) and the secrecy until 1905 -- Between Mar. 19, 1851 and Jan. 7, 1852 three federal commissioners negotiated 18 treaties reserving land for tribes. They were submitted to the Senate on June 1, 1852 and rejected in closed session (a citation dates the action July 8, 1852) after California's state government lobbied against them; Historian William Ellison suggests the large land reservations and costs made them unpopular. The treaties were sealed from the public until Jan. 18, 1905. The tribes had given up claims on the strength of promises that were never ratified. The reservations totaled about 11,700 square miles, roughly 7% of California (about 7.5 million acres). Historian Benjamin Madley estimates that at least 9,400 to 16,000 California Indians were killed by non-Indians between 1846 and 1873.
Legal aftermath
Compensation came only through later claims: the often-cited 1964 Indian Claims Commission award of about $29 million at about 47 cents per acre (not verified here); a different Wikipedia passage lists $17.5 million (1944) and $46 million (1946). No land was returned.not yet checked against a source
Kind
Violation
Confidence
Medium
Nation review
Not yet reviewed by this nation
Notes
  • Some details are disputed
  • Some details not yet checked against a source

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