{"id":38971,"date":"2025-07-18T08:37:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T13:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/the-treaty-of-1825\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T08:37:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T13:37:59","slug":"the-treaty-of-1825","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/the-treaty-of-1825\/","title":{"rendered":"The treaty of 1825"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Northern Great Plains, showing tribal regions and relevant locations at the time of the 1825 Atkinson- O\u2019Fallon expedition. Present-day state boundaries are shown. NSHS & Kingsley Bray<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

PINE RIDGE\u2014Two hundred years ago this month, the United States formally entered into a treaty of friendship and protection with the Sioux Nation\u2014a 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\u2014unequally\u2014 to this day.<\/p>\n

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council recently chose not to consider a prospective resolution that would have designated July 5, 2025, as \u201c1825 Treaty Day.\u201d 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\u2019s significance and educating tribal members about the legal and political history that began with its ratification.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first brick in the foundation,\u201d Gonzalez said in an earlier interview. \u201cOur entire legal relationship with the federal government began with that document. Not in 1851, not in 1868\u20141825.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s ratification by the U.S. Senate and proclamation by President John Quincy Adams as the formal beginning of a fiduciary relationship\u2014 one that remains binding, despite centuries of betrayal and delay.<\/p>\n

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\u2019Fallon. 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 \u201cpeace and friendship\u201d treaties with tribes including the Arikara, Mandan, Cheyenne, Crow, and various bands of the Sioux.<\/p>\n

The treaty with the Sioux, including the Oglala and Cuthead Yanktonai, contains blunt and consequential language.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cThe said nation admits that it resides within the territorial limits of the United States, acknowledges their supremacy, and claims their protection,\u201d reads Article I.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cThe United States agrees to receive them into their friendship and under their protection,\u201d says Article II.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Article III extends the U.S. Trade and Intercourse laws into Sioux territory\u2014laying a legal precedent that no tribal land could be sold, ceded, or conveyed without a treaty ratified by Congress.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez argued in the resolution that this provision, still codified today at 25 U.S.C. \u00a7 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.<\/p>\n

The resolution proposed a commemorative designation for July 5, 2025, as \u201c1825 Treaty Day.\u201d 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 \u201cBill\u201d Means.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

There is no official acknowledgement or explanation for not considering the resolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing, but not surprising,\u201d said one tribal official who asked not to be named. \u201cWe\u2019re not always the best at honoring our own legacy. We focus on the obvious ones\u20141868, the Black Hills\u2014but this was the first one. It\u2019s the legal keystone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike later treaties, the 1825 agreement didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe treaty effectively converted the Sioux into a protectorate nation under the United States,\u201d the resolution stated. \u201cThat relationship, built on federal trust responsibility, is what sustains our legal position today\u2014even in litigation, even in the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legal scholars point out that the 1825 treaty laid the basis for the U.S. to assert legal jurisdiction over Sioux territory\u2014jurisdiction that would expand in future decades through military posts, Indian agents, and eventually, land seizures.<\/p>\n

For many tribal educators and young legal scholars, the absence of formal commemoration this year is a lost opportunity\u2014not just to reflect, but to educate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost high school students on the reservation learn about 1868. They never hear about 1825,\u201d said a teacher at Red Cloud High School. \u201cThat\u2019s like teaching about the Constitution without mentioning the Declaration.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Still, some tribal members hope the proposal could be revived next year or recognized in another form.<\/p>\n

On July 5, 1825, the Sioux signed a treaty whose language\u2014 at once paternalistic and calculated\u2014 placed them under U.S. protection, regulated their trade, and promised peace.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For Mario Gonzalez, that story of origin still matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t remember how a relationship started,\u201d he said, \u201cthen you don\u2019t understand how it works now\u2014or how to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

(James Giago Davies is an enrolled member of OST. Contact him at skindiesel@msn.com)<\/span> <\/p>\n

The post The treaty of 1825<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Northern Great Plains, showing tribal regions and relevant locations at the time of the 1825 Atkinson- O\u2019Fallon expedition. Present-day state boundaries are shown. NSHS & Kingsley Bray PINE RIDGE\u2014Two hundred years ago this month, the United States formally entered into a treaty of friendship and protection with the Sioux Nation\u2014a <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a>
Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> July 18, 2025<\/p>\n

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