The Yankton Treaty was a treaty signed in 1858 between the United States government and the

Yankton Sioux The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...

(Nakota) Native American tribe, ceding most of eastern

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

(11 million acres) to the United States government. The treaty was signed in April 1858, and ratified by the United States Congress on February 16, 1859. The agreement immediately opened this territory up for settlement by whites, resulting in the establishment of an unofficial

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

not recognized by Washington. The treaty also created the 430,000 acre

Yankton Sioux Reservation Yankton is the name of: People * Yankton Dakota, division of the Dakota people, sometimes referred to as Yankton Places * Yankton County, South Dakota ** Yankton, South Dakota * Yankton, Oregon Other * Lake Yankton, a lake in Minnesota * Yankton ...

, located in present-day

Charles Mix County Charles Mix County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 9,373. Its county seat is Lake Andes. The county was created in 1862 and organized in 1879. It was named for Charles Eli ...

in South Dakota. Smutty Bear (''Ma-to-sa-be-che-a''), a chief within the Yankton Sioux tribe, opposed the treaty because he thought it would only bring further white aggression as they assumed an authority over the land. Strike-the-Ree (''Pa-le-ne-a-pa-pe'', also known as "The Man that Struck the Ree"), the elder Yankton Sioux chief, also felt that too many whites were settling there, but decided that opposing them was futile, and he signed the treaty. Charles F. Picotte, a speculator, business venturist, and translator for these meetings was rewarded by the government with a 640-acre land grant in the newly

incorporated territory Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the federal government of the United States. The various American territories differ from the U.S. states and tribal reservations as they are not sover ...

, which would later become a major part of

Yankton, South Dakota Yankton is a city in and the county seat of Yankton County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,411 at the 2020 census, and it is the principal city of the Yankton Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the entirety of Y ...

.Karolevitz, Robert F. (1972). Yankton: A Pioneer Past - North Plains Press - 1972 - pp. 2-4. U.S. Library of Congress Number 72-88949

References

{{Reflist United States and Native American treaties Pre-statehood history of South Dakota