Washington Treaty (1834)

The Treaty of Washington was a treaty signed in Washington, DC on May 24, 1834 , between the Indian Chickasaw and the government of the United States of America . The purpose of the treaty was an extension of the previous Treaty of Pontotoc from 1832, in which the cession of the tribal areas of the Chickasaw to the United States was established. After the conclusion of the Washington Treaty, the Pontotoc Treaty became valid with a number of secondary conditions through the supplementary contract.

prehistory

According to the Chickasaw, various financial and social concerns of the tribe were not sufficiently taken into account in the Pontotoc land assignment agreement. Initially, these subsequent demands were rejected by the US government. After the assignment of the areas had already been settled, the resettlement of the Chickasaw was delayed again and again. The pressure of the white settlers who speculated on the Chicksaw's land grew and the government opened up to the demands of the Chickasaw to accelerate their resettlement in Indian territory with the help of some concessions.

Agreements of the contract

The agreement reached concerned in particular the size of the parcels allocated to the individual Chickasaw families in Mississippi , Alabama and Tennessee . The parcels were enlarged, extended families and slave owners were given more land, and the proceeds from this additional land to be sold during the resettlement were to flow into a Chicksaw fund to cover the cost of the trip to the West. In addition, orphans were given half a plot of land, the proceeds of which were to be used for their livelihood.

consequences

With the signing of the contract, the previous contract came into effect. After several expeditions in the years between 1832 and 1837, negotiations with the Choctaw failed several times. The Chickasaw's preferred settlement area was in their government-allocated section of Indian territory. Under pressure from the government to speed up the resettlement, the Chickasaw and Choctaw signed the Doaksville Treaty, despite their strained relations . In the agreement signed on January 17, 1837, the Chickasaw received the right to settle in the west of the Choctaw area, today's southwestern Oklahoma, in return for payment of $ 530,000. The Chickasaw's original plans to buy the land to build a sovereign society were thwarted. They received the area only on loan, in addition they were allowed to represent their interests in the council of the Choctaw. The Chickasaw resettlement took place in the summer of 1837 and is now considered an eviction related to the Trail of Tears that deported the Five Civilized Tribes to Oklahoma .

literature

• Arrell M. Gibson: The Chickasaws. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK et al. 1971, ISBN 0-8061-0945-9 ( The Civilization of the American Indian Series 109).
• Francis Paul Prucha: American Indian Treaties. The History of a Political Anomaly . University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1997, ISBN 0-520-20895-1 .

Web links

• Charles J. Kappler. Washington: United States Government Printing Office , 1904: TREATY WITH THE CHICKASAW, 1834. In: Electronic Publishing Center Oklahoma State University. Oklahoma State University, accessed March 24, 2009 (transcribed from the original text of the Treaty of Washington, 1834).