The Ihanktonwan Nakota Oyate are organized under a Constitution (non-Indian Reorganization Act), approved by the Oyate on September 28, 1931 that gained Secretary of Interior approval on September 22, 1932. The original constitution was amended and approved July 17, 1962 by the Oyate and gained Secretary of Interior aproval on April 24, 1963. The Business and Claims committee is elected from the Oyate living on the reservation with absentee ballots available to members living elsewhere. The Business and Claims committee is empowered to act upon matters delineated in the constitution with all decisions subject to approval of the Oyate meeting in general council. The general council consists of all members of the People and they retain true and ancient sovereignty.
The list of Treaties, Agreements, Executive Orders, and laws are reproduced from the appropriate volumes of a two book set compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler, LL.M., Clerk to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The books from which these citations come were published in 1904 by the Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. In his PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION, Kappler reminds us that "It is not generally known that from 1778 to 1871 treaties were made by the United States with the Indian tribes, and that by the act of March 3, 1871 (16 Stats., 566, "Laws"--8), Congress provided 'that hereafter no Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power with whom the United States may contract by treaty.' Since 1871 the United States have entered into agreements with the Indian tribes, which agreements must pass both Houses of Congress and be signed by the President; whereupon they become laws" (v).
Treaty headings and portions of the first article listed below are compiled from Vols. I and II. Full texts of treaties, agreements, and laws may be viewed by pressing the heading on the appropriate entry. More treaties can be found on the Native American Rights Fund homepage.
TREATY WITH THE YANKTON SIOUX, 1815.
July 19, 1815.
_________________________
7 Stat., 128.
Ratified Dec., 26, 1815.
The parties being desirous of re-establishing peace and friendship between the United States and the said tribe, and of being placed in all things, and in every respect, on the same footing upon which they stood before the late war between the United States and Great Britain, have agreed to the following articles:
ARTICLE 1. Every injury or act of hostility committed by one or . . .
Found on page 115.
TREATY WITH THE TETON, ETC., SIOUX, 1825.
June 22, 1825.
____________________
7 Stat., 250.
Proclamation, Feb. 6, 1826.
Treaty with the Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians.
For the purpose of perpetuating the friendship which has heretofore existed, as also to remove all future cause of discussion or dissension, as it respects trade and friendship between the United States and their citizens, and the Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians, the President of the United States of America, by Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson, of the United States' army, and Major Benjamin O'Fallon, Indian Agent, with full powers and authority, specially appointed and commissioned for that purpose of the one part, and the undersigned Chiefs, head men and Warriors of the Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians, on behalf of said bands or tribe of the other part, have made and entered into the following Articles and Conditions; which, when ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; shall be binding on both parties--to wit:
ARTICLE 1.
It is admitted by the Teton, Yancton and Yanctonies bands of Sioux . . .
Found on pages 227-230.
TREATY WITH THE SIOUX, ETC., 1825.
Aug. 19, 1825.
____________________
7 Stat., 272.
Proclamation. Feb. 6, 1826.
Treaty with the Sioux and Chippewa, Sacs and Fox, Menominie, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawattomie, Tribes.
The United States of America have seen with much regret, that wars have for many years been carried on between the Sioux and the Chippewas, and more recently between the confederated tribes of Sacs and Foxes, and the Sioux; and also between the Ioways and Sioux; which, if not terminated, may extend to the other tribes, and involve the Indians upon the Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Lakes, in general hostilities. In order, therefore, to promote peace among these tribes, and to establish boundaries among them and the other trbes who live in their vicinity, and thereby to remove all causes of future difficulty, the United States have invited the Chippewa, Sac, and Fox, Menominie, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion of the Ottowa, Chippewa and Potawatomie Tribes of Indians living upon the Illinois, to assemble together, and in a spirit of mutual conciliation to accomplish these objects; and to aid therein, have appointed William Clark and Lewis Cass, Commissioners on their part, who have met the Chiefs, Warriors, and Representatives of the said tribes, and portion of tribes, at Prairie des Chiens, in the Territory of Michigan, and after full deliberation, the said tribes, and portions of tribes, have agreed with the United States, and with one another, upon the following articles:
ARTICLE 1.
There shall be a firm and perpetual peace between the Sioux and Chippewas . . .
Found on pages 250-255.
TREATY WITH THE SAUK AND FOXES, ETC., 1830.
July 15, 1830.
_____________________
7 Stat., 328.
Proclamation, Feb. 24, 1831.
Articles of a treaty made and concluded by William Clark Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Willoughby Morgan, Col. of the United States 1st Regt. Infantry, Commissioners on behalf of the United States on the one part, and the undersigned Deputations of the Confederated Tribes of the Sacs and Foxes; the Medawah-Kanton, Wahpacoota, Wahpeton and Sissetong Bands or Tribes of Sioux; the Omahas, Ioways, Ottoes and Missourias on the other part.
The said Tribes being anxious to remove all causes which may hereafter create any unfriendly feeling between them, and being also anxious to provide other sources for supply their wants besides those of hunting, which they are sensible must soon entirely fail them; agree with the United States on the following Articles.
ARTICLE 1. The said Tribes cede and relinquish to the United . . .
Found on pages 305-310.
TREATY WITH THE OTO, ETC., 1836.
Oct. 15, 1836.
____________________
7 Stat., 524.
Proclamation, Feb. 15, 1837.
Articles of a convention entered into and concluded at Bellevue Upper Missouri the fifteenth day of October one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, by and between John Dougherty U.S. agt. for Indian Affairs and Joshua Pilcher U.S. Ind. s. agt being specially authorized therefor; and the chiefs braves head men &c of the Otoes Missouries Omahaws and Yankton and Santee bands of Sioux, duly authorized by their respective tribes.
ARTICLE 1st. Whereas it has been represented that according to . . .
Found on pages 479-481.
TREATY WITH THE YANKTON SIOUX, 1837.
Oct. 21, 1837.
____________________
7 Stat., 542.
Proclamation, Feb. 21, 1838.
Articles of a treaty made at the city of Washington, between Carey A. Harris, thereto specially authorized by the President of the United States, and the Yankton tribe of Sioux Indians, by their chiefs and delegates.
ARTICLE 1st. The Yankton tribe of Sioux Indians cede to the United . . .
Found on pages 496-497.
Articles of a treaty made and conclused at Fort Laramie, in the Indian Territory, between D. D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, Indian agent, commissioners specially appointed and authorized by the President of the United States, of the first part, and the chiefs, headmen, and braves of the following Indian nations, residing south of the Missouri River, east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the lines of Texas and New Mexico, viz, the Sioux or Dahcotahs, Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, Crows, Assinaboines, Gros-Ventre Mandans, and Arrickaras, parties of the second part on the seventeenth day of September, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.{a}
[Peace to be observed.]
ARTICLE 1. The aforesaid nations, parties to this treaty, having
assembled for the purpose of establishing...
Found on pages 594-596.
ARTICLE 1. . . .
Found on pages 776-780.
ARTICLE 1. From this day forward all war between the parties to . . .
Found on pages 998-1007.
Sioux Reservations
Ihanktonwan Nakota
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13 February 1999, lrb