The Treaty of Mississinewas or the Treaty of Mississinewa also called Treaty of the Wabash is an 1826

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...

between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and Potawatomi Tribes regarding purchase of Indian lands in Indiana and Michigan. The signing was held at the mouth of the

Mississinewa River The Mississinewa River is a tributary of the Wabash River in eastern Indiana and a small portion of western Ohio in the United States. It is long and is the third largest tributary behind the White and Little Wabash Rivers, only slightly larger t ...

on the Wabash, hence the name.

Terms

After negotiations with the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

to build the

Michigan Road The Michigan Road was one of the earliest roads in Indiana. Roads in early Indiana were often roads in name only. In actuality they were sometimes little more than crude paths following old animal and Native American trails and filled with sinkhol ...

through Indiana by

James B. Ray James Brown Ray (February 19, 1794 – August 4, 1848) was an Indiana politician and the only Indiana Senate president pro tempore to be elevated to governor of the state of Indiana. Ray served during a time when the state transitioned from per ...

and

Lewis Cass Lewis Cass (October 9, 1782June 17, 1866) was an American military officer, politician, and statesman. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He w ...

on behalf of President

John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States S ...

, Cass negotiated a pair of treaties to purchase lands in Indiana and Michigan, collectively called the Treaty of Mississinewa. By the treaty, the Miami leadership agreed to cede to the United States the bulk of Miami reservation lands held in Indiana by previous treaties. In compensation, the families of Chief Richardville and certain other Miami notables were given estates in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, with houses like the

Richardville House The Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville House was built near Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1827. Subsidized by the U.S. federal government through the 1826 Treaty of Mississinewas, it is believed to be one of only three treaty houses built east of th ...

and livestock furnished at government expense. The federal government agreed to buy out some of the estates granted by the previous

Treaty of St. Mary's The Treaty of St. Mary's may refer to one of six treaties concluded in fall of 1818 between the United States and Natives of central Indiana regarding purchase of Native land. The treaties were *Treaty with the Wyandot, etc. *Treaty with the Wy ...

. Small reservations were to be carved out along the

Eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

and Maumee rivers. The tribe was also to be compensated with $31,040.53, $10,000 of this in silver, the first year; and $26,259.47 in goods the next. Promises were made of a $15,000 annuity thereafter, in addition to monies provided for by other treaties. $2,000 per annum was to be set aside for the "…poor infirm persons of the Miami tribe, and for the education of the youth of the said tribe…" as long as the Congress should "…think proper…"

Hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

rights would continue to be enjoyed "…so long as the same shall be the property of the United States."

Problems

Adherence to the treaty terms was difficult for both sides. White treaty makers did not necessarily understand the complexities and fluidity of Indian tribal societies, and often overestimated the nature of the authority vested in a particular chief by the band, the permanence of tribal membership and intertribal alliances, and the permanence of Indian settlements, which often shifted according to the season. Younger males were more likely than their elders to prefer the use of force against white settlers to negotiations. Mixed-race native and

Canadien French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...

tribal members were more likely to support the treaty and its implementation, as they benefited more from land grants and subsidies than other tribespeople. Disagreements about the applicability of treaty terms made it more difficult to create the

on lands that were supposed to have been ceded by the treaty.Juanita Hunter, Indiana Magazine of History'', Volume 83, Issue 3, "The Indians and the Michigan Road", pp 244-266; after Rollo B. Oglesbee and Albert Hale, ''History of Michigan City'', Indiana: La Porte, Ind.,1908), 4

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty Of Mississinwas Miami tribe Native American history of Indiana Mississinwas 1826 treaties

Terms

Problems

See also

References