Description
Summary:This treaty, signed on September 17, 1851, was an essential agreement between the United States government and representatives of the Lakota, Dakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations. In this treaty, the United States acknowledged that the area surveyed by the treaty was Indigenous land and recognized each nation's exclusive territorial rights over a portion defined by geographical boundaries. Equally, the tribes agreed that the US government had the right to establish roads and posts—military and other—within their territories. They also promised to abstain from hostilities against other tribes, pay for any wrongs committed by their people, allow for the safe passage of travelers, surveyors, and workers through their land, and select head-chiefs to represent them in all their dealing with the US government. In return, the United States guaranteed it would protect the Indigenous Nations from American citizens and make annual annuities for fifty years. Before ratifying this treaty on May 24, 1852, Congress amended the term of annuities from fifty to ten years. This treaty is also known as the Horse Creek Treaty of 1851 and the Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1851. https://commons.und.edu/indigenous-gov-docs/1101/thumbnail.jpg