The Land Changes Hands
Chapter Six
Minnesota
• 150 years fur traders and
European travelers had come
and gone from Minnesota
• They were not interested in
changing the ways of the Indians
• Not interested in owning land
• Some wrote reports and drew
maps
• Minnesota began to appear on
charts of the world
Minnesota
• In Europe, different
countries wanted to
claim Minnesota
• It was once part of New
France
1645
Minnesota
• Later it was divided
between England and
Spain
• Then among England,
Spain, and a new
country called the
United States
• Finally, the United
States claimed all of it
1795
Westward Expansion
• Early 1800s, thousands of settlers are moving west
• Pressure the government to make land available
• U.S. Government supported this westward
expansion
• Acquired land from native people who lived on it
The government made
written agreements, or
treaties, with the Indian’s
to buy the land for cash
and goods.
Treaties
• We still make treaties with
other countries (sovereign
nations: a nation with the
power to control its own
affairs)
• The treaty process between
the Indian’s and U.S.
government was a different
process
• http://youtu.be/fb24eNe-q6I
Treaties
• The United States saw
Indian groups as
sovereign nations and
as groups who needed
the governments
protection
• In Minnesota, the land
the government
wanted belonged to
the Dakota and
Ojibwe
The First Land Deal
Zebulon
Pike
• Read The First Land Deal page 76-77
• 1805 Zebulon Pike Treaty with the
Sioux (Dakota)
• Ceded most of Minneapolis and St.
Paul
• The land Fort Snelling and the
airport are located on
• Treaty describes the purpose of a
land cession as for a military fort
• http://youtu.be/GB4chnGmA0w
Fort Snelling
A Place to Gather
• The Dakota liked to gather at
Mendota, “where rivers meet,”
just below the fort
• Sometimes the Ojibwe would
come down and old conflicts
would flare up
• Lawrence Taliaferro was an
Indian agent
• He oversaw relations with the
Indians and tried to resolve
disputes
• Indian agencies were created to help control
trade
• Taliaferro welcomed the Indians to the agency
day and night
• A trading post was nearby with a guest house
for travelers
Historic Mendota
Indians
• Minnesota was home
• Belonged to the people who
lived there and the people
belonged to the land
• Graves of their ancestors
• Sacred traditions
• No one owned the land so no
one could sell it
Minnesota Settlers
• Land of riches
• Property to be bought
and sold and fenced
• Dark, rich, soil made for
good farming
• Forests were rich in
timber
• Rivers for transportation
and power
Making Treaties
• 1837: First major treaty
– Covered a large part of
western Wisconsin and large
part of eastern Minnesota
• Lumbermen came cut down
trees
• Settlements of Stillwater,
Marine on the St. Croix, and
Taylors Falls grew up
• http://youtu.be/PabZTQyxeM
Wisconsin portion
Minnesota portion
Fountain Cave
Pig’s Eye
• 1838, Pig’s Eye Landing
• One eyed man opened a
tavern along the
Mississippi
• Fur trapper
• As the fur trade slowed,
he began to make spirits
which he would sell to the
Indians and soldiers
Saint Paul
• Missionary, Father Lucien
Galtier renamed the town
Saint Paul
• Founded Saint
Peter’s church
• Oldest Catholic
Church in Minnesota
• Galtier Plaza in
downtown Saint Paul
is named after him
Chapel of Saint Paul
• Galtier founded the Chapel of Saint Paul on
the bluff over looking the Mississippi River
• It late became the Cathedral of Saint Paul
• http://youtu.be/PQZcYPvvBqo
Interpreters
• George Bonga
• Son of an African American fur trader and
Ojibwe woman
• Language barriers posed serious problems
when making treaties
• Spoke three languages
– English, Ojibwe, and French
Many Motives
• 1849 Minnesota became a
territory
• Already there were more
than 5,000 settlers in
Minnesota
In Favor of Treaties
• Indians felt pressured to sell their land
– they felt that whites would take over their land no
matter what
• Dakota believed that through treaties they
– could at least keep some of their land
– Have some control over their future
– They could trade for food and money
Read quote by Dakota
elder Running Walker,
page 79
Against Treaties
• Dakota believed that no one
owned the land
• Land could not be sold
• They worried that the U.S.
would not keep the promises
it made in the treaties
Government Officials
• America needed to expand if it
was going to be great
• Open the land to white settlers
• Minnesota still belonged to the
Indians even though it was a U.S.
territory
• Alexander Ramsey was
appointed as Minnesota
territories first governor
• http://youtu.be/4nixl1NCaLs
Fur Traders
• By 1849, the fur trade was dying out
• People turned to new businesses
such as lumbering and selling land
• Many traders extended credit to
Indians
– They would pay them back after the
treaty was signed
• Henry Sibley was Minnesota’s most
powerful fur trader
Henry Sibley
• Served as Minnesota’s
territorial representative in
Washington
• Played a major role in the
treaty making process
• “The Indians are prepared to
make a treaty when we tell
them to do so”
Missionaries
• Main goal: to persuade
Indians to become Christians
• Thought treaties would help
them with this goal
• Wanted Indians to give up their
traditional ways
– Go to schools
– Learn to farm
Reverend Stephen Riggs
Traverse des Sioux
• Read about the treaty, page 81 - 82
This painting of the 1851 treaty signing at Traverse de Sioux by Francis Millet hangs in
the Governor's Reception Room in Minnesota's state capitol.
Treaty of Traverse des Sioux
Treaty of Traverse des Sioux land cession area shown in green
across northern Iowa, southern Minnesota and eastern South
Dakota.
The Aftermath
• Dakota gave up 35
million acres
• Government promised
them $3 million and a
permanent reservation
along the Minnesota
River
The Aftermath
• Dakota feared they would be cheated
• The terms of the treaty were changed
– Reservations were temporary
– Some of the cash went to fur traders
– Some went to missionaries: claimed Indians had
damaged their property
• http://youtu.be/oK2fNJwTFG0
• Whites began streaming into Minnesota
• In the coming years the Dakota and Ojibwe
would sign more treaties
• Indians were seen an “obstacles” that were
keeping Minnesota from becoming great