The treaty of 1825

PINE RIDGE—Two hundred years ago this month, the United States formally entered into a treaty of friendship and protection with the Sioux Nation—a foundational moment in federal Indian law. The treaty, signed July 5, 1825, was the first legal agreement between the U.S. government and the seven bands of the Titonwan, including the Oglala. It marked the start of a nation-to-nation political relationship that endures—unequally— to this day.

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council recently chose not to consider a prospective resolution that would have designated July 5, 2025, as “1825 Treaty Day.” The resolution was drafted by longtime tribal attorney and member Mario Gonzalez, and would have established a two-day observance aimed at honoring the 1825 treaty’s significance and educating tribal members about the legal and political history that began with its ratification.

“It’s the first brick in the foundation,” Gonzalez said in an earlier interview. “Our entire legal relationship with the federal government began with that document. Not in 1851, not in 1868—1825.”

Gonzalez, a veteran of tribal legal fights and perhaps best known for conceiving and filing the 11thhour injunction that blocked the disbursement of the $114 million Black Hills settlement in 1980, has long argued that the 1825 treaty deserves more attention. His draft resolution cited the treaty’s ratification by the U.S. Senate and proclamation by President John Quincy Adams as the formal beginning of a fiduciary relationship— one that remains binding, despite centuries of betrayal and delay.

The 1825 treaty, signed on the banks of the Missouri River near present-day Pierre, South Dakota, was part of a wider campaign orchestrated by General Henry Atkinson and Indian Agent Benjamin O’Fallon. In the aftermath of the War of 1812, U.S. officials sought to cement their supremacy in the Upper Missouri region by striking a series of near-identical “peace and friendship” treaties with tribes including the Arikara, Mandan, Cheyenne, Crow, and various bands of the Sioux.

The treaty with the Sioux, including the Oglala and Cuthead Yanktonai, contains blunt and consequential language.

• “The said nation admits that it resides within the territorial limits of the United States, acknowledges their supremacy, and claims their protection,” reads Article I.

• “The United States agrees to receive them into their friendship and under their protection,” says Article II.

• Article III extends the U.S. Trade and Intercourse laws into Sioux territory—laying a legal precedent that no tribal land could be sold, ceded, or conveyed without a treaty ratified by Congress.

Gonzalez argued in the resolution that this provision, still codified today at 25 U.S.C. § 177, is why the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that the seizure of the Black Hills violated federal law. And why any future land settlement must be done through the very treaty process this agreement initiated.

The resolution proposed a commemorative designation for July 5, 2025, as “1825 Treaty Day.” It also called for events on July 1 and 2, to be organized in cooperation with Oglala Lakota College and the tribal legal department, featuring speakers such as tribal historian Rick Williams, author Kingsley M. Bray, and tribal elder William “Bill” Means.

Topics would have included the evolution of treaty law, the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties, and modern treaty enforcement challenges. It was to include a welcome address by President Frank Star Comes Out and an opening prayer by Rick Two Dogs.

There is no official acknowledgement or explanation for not considering the resolution.

“It’s disappointing, but not surprising,” said one tribal official who asked not to be named. “We’re not always the best at honoring our own legacy. We focus on the obvious ones—1868, the Black Hills—but this was the first one. It’s the legal keystone.”

Unlike later treaties, the 1825 agreement didn’t involve land cessions. Instead, it imposed recognition of U.S. authority, regulated tribal trade, and sought to stop intertribal warfare that was disrupting the fur trade. While U.S. negotiators sold the treaties as guarantees of protection and peace, they functioned more as instruments of federal control.

“The treaty effectively converted the Sioux into a protectorate nation under the United States,” the resolution stated. “That relationship, built on federal trust responsibility, is what sustains our legal position today—even in litigation, even in the courts.”

Legal scholars point out that the 1825 treaty laid the basis for the U.S. to assert legal jurisdiction over Sioux territory—jurisdiction that would expand in future decades through military posts, Indian agents, and eventually, land seizures.

For many tribal educators and young legal scholars, the absence of formal commemoration this year is a lost opportunity—not just to reflect, but to educate.

“Most high school students on the reservation learn about 1868. They never hear about 1825,” said a teacher at Red Cloud High School. “That’s like teaching about the Constitution without mentioning the Declaration.”

The proposed commemorative events would have offered rare historical depth, helping tribal members understand not just what the U.S. took, but how it first claimed the legal authority to take it.

Still, some tribal members hope the proposal could be revived next year or recognized in another form.

On July 5, 1825, the Sioux signed a treaty whose language— at once paternalistic and calculated— placed them under U.S. protection, regulated their trade, and promised peace.

That treaty, like so many others, was not honored in full. But it remains, legally, a binding agreement. Its passage marked the beginning of a long, complex, and often painful political relationship between the United States and the Sioux.

For Mario Gonzalez, that story of origin still matters.

“If you don’t remember how a relationship started,” he said, “then you don’t understand how it works now—or how to fix it.”

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com)

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