The 1833 Treaty of Chicago was an agreement between the United States government and the Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes. It required them to cede to the United States government their of land (including reservations) in Illinois and the Michigan Territory (which then included Wisconsin and part of Minnesota) to move west of the Mississippi River. In return, the tribes were given promises of various cash payments and tracts of land west of the Mississippi River. The treaty was one of the removal treaties to come after the passage of the Indian Removal Act. It was the second treaty referred to as the "Treaty of Chicago," after the 1821 Treaty of Chicago.
Background The negotiation of the cession treaty came roughly three years after the United States government ratified the Indian Removal Act. While many cession treaties had previously been negotiated between the United States government and Native American tribes during the late 18th century and the early 19th century, those that were negotiated after the ratification of the Indian Removal Act differed by usually including stipulations requiring that required Native American tribes that were parties to the treaties to move west of the Mississippi River. In such post-Indian Removal Act cession treaties, the United States government agreed to compensate tribes for their lands, liquidate their debts, and assist them in establishing a new permanent settlement west of the Mississippi. The Chicago Treaty of 1833 was typical of such treaties.
One of the impetuses for the treaty were rumors that had arisen in the aftermath of the 1832 Black Hawk War that Native Americans were coming into conflict with the settlers arriving in Illinois. The number of settlers arriving in Illinois and its surrounding area in search of farmland had increased after the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal, with the canal having opened up an easier route to travel Illinois from the Eastern United States via the Great Lakes. Illinois residents pressured the government to remove the Indians from the land they occupied in the state, which would make that land instead available to settlers. One of the ways in which advocates applied pressure was by making regular reports to complain of misconduct and hostility from the Native peoples. These reports were relayed by John Reynolds to the United States Department of War. The reports delivered by Reynolds and the reports made by investigators that Reynolds tasked with examining this state of affairs were founded entirely on second-hand accounts. Officials that were closer to the situation gave accounts that contradict the reports of native misconduct and aggression. Thomas Jefferson Vance Owen (the United States government's Indian agent in Chicago and the president of the Chicago Town Board of Trustees), General Winfield Scott, and George Bryan Porter (the territorial governor of Michigan) all communicated to the Office of Indian Affairs that the rumors and newspaper stories covering them were untrue and unfair.
In early 1833, the Office of Indian Affairs began exploring the prospect of removing the Potawatomi. Elbert Herring (the commissioner of Indian affairs) and Lewis Cass (the United States secretary of war) ordered several figures to find land that could be used to house removed the Potawatomi, Odawa, and Chippewa populations "should they consent to remove." Among those who receive such instructions were Montfort Stokes, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, and John F. Schermerhorn. The latter had been previously involved in the relocation of the Potawatomi of Indiana to land west of the Mississippi River.
In a March 5, 1833 letter, Chicago Indian Agent Owen told Herring that, after having spoken with the, "most intelligent and influential" native chiefs, he had concluded that it was very unlikely that they would agree to cede all of their lands. His letter declared that he believed that they could be induced to move west only if they were first permitted to have a delegation travel to inspect the land they would be moving to first and that they would be "unwilling to make any exchange until they are satisfied of the fact that their new home and country possessed advantages not inferior to those incident to" the land they already occupied. He opined that Potawatomi land cession would be expensive to secure. A copy of the letter was also sent to Governor Porter, who expressed the belief that the spending of great expenses would be justified if it secured the cession of the Potawatomi from their lands. Porter also believed that the government could recoup its expense when it would sell the land to settlers. He also suggested that Michigan Territory could possibly secure a cession of the few remaining plots of land in the territory that were still controlled by Native Americans.
Negotiations The federal government decided for there to be treaty negotiations with the Potawatomi, Odawa, Chippewa, and Kickapoo natives. Chicago, then a town in the state of Illinois was selected as the site for a treaty to be negotiated, as it had already long established itself as a consequential trading center, was home to the Fort Dearborn garrison, and was a traditional Potawatomi resort. On April 6, 1833, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Herring informed Chicago Indian Agent Owen that the United States Congress had approved the appropriation of $10,000 () needed to hold the treaty negotiations. Owen took charge of planning the meeting. In preparation for the meeting, a large open arbor was built in Chicago at the corner of Rush Street and Michigan Avenue to be used as a council house during the meeting.
On April 8, 1833, Secretary of War Cass appointed the commissioners for the negotiations, naming Michigan Territory Governor Porter, Chicago Indian Agent Thomas Jefferson Vance Owen, and Colonel William Weatherford. Weatherford, who served to represent the people of Illinois in the investigation, ultimately played a relatively negligible role in the negotiations. Secretary Cass instructed the commissioners to work to secure the clearance of the entire region of Native American land claims. Cass called the objective
Cass gave the commissioners warnings that he believed other treasuries for treaties had been excessively expensive, with too many individuals receiving gratuities. Furthermore, Cass declared that no liquor should be involved in the dealings of the treaty's treasury and that its location should be on Native American territory and placed under the protection of the Army's commanding officer at Fort Dearborn.
William Lee D. Ewing served as secretary for the commissioners.
Plans to facilitate the travel of a Native American delegation to inspect land West of the Mississippi ahead of the negotiations were scrapped after appropriations for such an undertaking failed to come through. Porter, who believed that would increase the difficulty of negotiating the treaty, requested in an August 23, 1833, to John F. Schermerhorn for Schermerhorn to travel to Chicago to help with the negotiations by sharing his expert knowledge about land west of the Mississippi. Schermerhorn would come to during the meetings, staying from September 22 through September 26, 1833.
During the meeting, it was estimated that 3,000 out-of-town visitors descended on Chicago, including Native Americans, government officials, troops of the United States Army, land speculators, and other travelers to witness the proceedings unfold. At the time, Chicago was just a small village with merely 150 buildings. Thousands of Native Americans descended on the city in the week that the meeting started. Among the non-Natives who came to Chicago were those who saw the trial as important to the interests of their personal profit, including, "men pursuing Indian claims, some for tracts of land,... creditors of the tribes, or of particular Indians, who know that they have no chance of getting their money, if they do not get it from Government agents." While traders worked hard to influence the treaty, it appears that they had very little influence on the actual terms reached. During the meeting, there was much unruliness among the many visitors who had flocked to the city.
The meeting was held between September 10 and October 7, 1833. Formal proceedings of negotiations were originally scheduled to begin on September 12, 1833. However, the Native Americans, who were in no hurry to start the assembly, caused that to be delayed, and the first day of the council for the negotiations was held on September 14. At the beginning of the proceedings, a fire was kindled inside of the council house, and a peace pipe was passed between the federal government's commissioners and the chief and head men of the Native tribes.
While the natives were against the cession of their land, it was clear from past experiences that the United States government would not take "no" for an answer once it had decided that it wanted to see Natives cede their land. Therefore, the Natives likely saw it as in their best interests to strike a bargain, despite their desire to remain on their existing lands.
An initial version of the treaty was agreed to on September 26, 1833. Supplementary articles were agreed to the following day. After the treaty was agreed to, the commissioners gave medals to a number of Native chiefs. From September 30 through October 4, 1833, the commissioners examined claims that individuals held against the Natives. From October 5 to 6, they created a statement of their accounts and checked invoices.
Porter, who had been enthusiastic in his role in creating and finalizing the treaty, wrote a letter to Lewis Cass to report the completion of the treaty. In it, he also suggested that the United States act fast to remove from Native possession remaining small reservations; "thus this whole country may probably be altogether relieved from any serious impediment to its entire settlement, by the removal of a population which will always embarrass and retard it."
Signatories and witnesses
Stipulations The treaty ceded of land to the United States government. It also stipulated that the Odawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi would cede their lands in Illinois, the Wisconsin Territory, and the Michigan Territory in exchange for a sum of presents, certain annuities, liquidation of all their debt, and a tract of equal size in the Kansas Territory along the Missouri River, to where they were required move within three years. The Potawatomi were the largest tribe in regards to population residing West of the Mississippi among the three tribes that were party to the treaty. The sum promised to the tribes was unprecedented for such a treaty. The treaty marked the cession of what was the last immense tract of Native American land that remained north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. That marked a landmark in accomplishing the Indian removal goals being pursued by President Andrew Jackson and the Office of Indian Affairs.
Ratification and implementation Commissioner Herring and Secretary Cass both considered the treaty to be a significant success for the United States. Herring told the opening of the Fall 1833 session of the United States Congress:
In a report to the president, Secretary Cass lauded that the Natives were better off west of the Mississippi, declaring that they were, "comfortable and contented" there. He also celebrated seeing the land north of the Ohio River and West of the Mississippi River "cleared of the embarrassments of Indian relations."