Research Guides: American Indian Law Research Guide: Treaties

Indian Treaties Generally

Honor the Treaties Poster
Honor the Treaties.Photo: Aaron Huey.
Artwork: Shepard Fairey & Ernesto Huey.
Courtesy of honorthetreaties.org

Sioux Proclamation
Sioux Treaty of 1868, also known as the Fort Laramie Treaty, 15 Stat. 635.

Indian Treaties: A Bibliography
By Beth DiFelice and published in 107 Law Library Journal 241 (2015). Describes sources for research into treaties between the U.S. government and Indian tribes, focusing on primary sources. The sources are preceded by an overview of the treaty process and the termination of the government's power to enter into treaties with Indian nations.
Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties
This seven volume compilation by Charles J. Kappler is the primary source for the texts of treaties, laws and executive orders pertaining to Native American Indian tribes. Volume two contains treaties from 1778 to 1883. The compilation also includes laws, executive orders and related government publications pertaining to Native American Indian tribes from 1778 - 1970. Enhanced by the editor's use of margin notations and a comprehensive index. Available online on the Oklahoma State University Digital Collection (linked title above) and in the U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library on HeinOnline. Hardcopy. Print versions are available at the Law Library and Wilson Library, Government Publications
Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations
(University of Nebraska - Lincoln) Contains nine treaties created between 1722 and 1805 that were not included in the Kappler's, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (above).

Documents of American Indian Diplomacy by Vine Deloria, Raymond J. DeMallie
Call Number: KF8202 1999 (Available online see below)
ISBN: 9780806131184
Publication Date: 1999
Reproduces hundreds of treaties and agreements made by Indian nations that are unavailable in Kappler's, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties.
Also available via EBSCOhost online access.
Early American Indian Documents: Treaties and Laws, 1607-1789 by Alden T. Vaughan
Call Number: KF8202 1979
ISBN: 0890931801
Publication Date: 1979
This 20 volume set includes early formal treaties between Anglo-American governments and various Indian tribes. It also includes various other documents: conference reports, council minutes, commissioners' reports, scouts' and interpreters' records and land sales deeds.
Kappler Revisited by Charles D. Bernholz
Call Number: Reference Office KF6201 .A1 B47x 2003
ISBN: 0962958646
Publication Date: 2003
Also available at Wilson Library Government Publication (General Reference) Quarto KF8203 2003.

United States Statutes at Large (HeinOnline) This link opens in a new window
Volume seven contains a compilation of treaties entered into between 1778 and 1885. HeinOnline features a handy index by tribal name. Treaties may also be found in subsequent volumes of the U.S. Statutes at Large (indexed in each volume by tribal name and under the subject headings: Indian affairs, Indian treaties,Indian department). Available online from HeinOnline and the Library of Congress has volumes 1-16 (1789-1874) available as part of its American Memory, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation website.

Indian Treaties in the United States by Donald L. Fixico, ed.
Call Number: KIE19 .I53 2018
ISBN: 9781440860478
Publication Date: 2018
Treaties with American Indians: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflicts and Sovereignty by Donald L. Fixico, Ed.
Call Number: Reference KF8203.6 .T74 2008
ISBN: 9781576078808
Publication Date: 2008
This 3 volume reference source provides an introduction to treaties of over 500 tribes in North America (including Canada, Alaska and Hawaii). Volume 1 contains several thematic and regional essays on treaties. Volume 2 contains entries for selected treaties and agreements from the 1684 to 1999; short essays on 28 important treaty sites; and primary sources documents (treaty text) for selected treaties. Volume 3 includes a historical chronology, brief biographies of noted individuals involved in treaties and a section with short entries/essays on treaty-related issues and concepts. Each volume also includes helpful finding aids and resources including: alternate tribal names and spellings table, tribal name meanings, a table of treaties by tribe name and a selected bibliography.

American Indian Treaties Portal
(Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, Univ. of Nebraska - Lincoln)
This portal includes the Early Recognized Treaties with American Indian Nations (see above); a biographical article of Charles J. Kappler; journal articles on various treaties and treaty analysis; nine articles on treaties before U.S. federal and state courts; and an article on the use of presidential vetoes on bills and resolutions related to Indian affairs between 1789 and 2000.
IDA Treaties Explorer
"While treaties between Indigenous peoples and the United States affect virtually every area in the USA, there is as yet no official list of all the treaties. The US National Archives holds 374 of the treaties, where they are known as the Ratified Indian Treaties. Here you can view them for the first time with key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of our shared lands."
Treaties Between the United States and Native Americans
(Avalon Project, Lilian Goldman Law Library, Yale University)
Full-text web versions of treaties entered into between 1778 and 1868.
Documents Relating to the Negotiation of Ratified and Unratified Treaties with Various Indian Tribes, 1861-1869
The University of Wisconsin Digital Collections website is home to this collection of that includes instructions to treaty commissioners, reports, letters, and in some cases copies of the treaties.
Native American Law Treaties
This Westlaw database contains the full text of Native American Indian treaties to which the U.S. government is a party. Native American treaties, as published in U.S. Statutes at Large, beginning with volume 7 (1797).
Native American People Treaties, Ratified and Unratified
Contains the full-text of all treaties, ratified and unratified from 1787 through 1883. Available on Lexis Advance.

Treaties With Minnesota Tribes

Why Treaties Matter
An exhibit of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, includes a section on Dakota and Ojibwe treaties with a treaty timeline, land cession treaties (background information and treaty text).
Treaties Involving Indigenous People/Land Within Minnesota Territory
Relations: Dakota & Ojibwe Treaties
Information on Dakota/Ojibwe land cession treaties, and a treaty timeline, from the Treatiesmatter.org website.
Map of Major Land Cessions in Minnesota Treaties
PDF copy of map.
The US-Dakota War of 1862
(Minnesota Historical Society) This website includes a section on treaties with background information and treaty text. A highly recommended resource.
1854 Treaty Authority
(Grand Portage and Bois Forte)
The 1854 Treaty Authority is an Inter-Tribal Natural Resource Management Organization that manages the off-reservation hunting, fishing and gathering rights of the Grand Portage and Bois Forte Bands of the Lake Superior Chippewa in the territory ceded under the Treaty of 1854.
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWFC)
The GLIFWFC formed in 1984, represents the Ojibwe tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan who reserved hunting, fishing and gathering rights under the 1837, 1842 and 1854 Treaties with the Federal government.

CALI Lessons

Indian Treaties
Access to CALI lessons is limited to University of Minnesota Law students and faculty (registration required). This lesson will teach you how to locate treaties between Indian tribes and the United States government. It will also show you how to determine whether a particular treaty provision is still in effect and how to interpret ambiguous treaty provisions. (Lesson completion time 30 minutes)