1833 treaty between the United States and representatives of the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi peoples, ratified 1835
Forced the Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi to cede five million acres in Illinois and Michigan Territory, accelerating Indigenous removal west of the Mississippi.
Key Facts
- Land ceded
- 5,000,000 acres acres
- Tribes involved
- Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi
- Regions affected
- Illinois and Michigan Territory (incl. Wisconsin, part of Minnesota)
- Year ratified
- 1835
- Preceding treaty
- 1821 Treaty of Chicago
- Legislative basis
- Indian Removal Act
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The passage of the Indian Removal Act created a framework for forcing Indigenous tribes east of the Mississippi River to relocate westward. The United States government pursued a series of removal treaties with tribes across the Old Northwest, pressuring them to relinquish ancestral lands in exchange for promises of cash payments and western territories.
On September 26, 1833, representatives of the United States and the Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes signed the Treaty of Chicago. Under its terms, the tribes agreed to cede approximately five million acres of land in Illinois and the Michigan Territory—including their existing reservations—to the federal government, agreeing to relocate west of the Mississippi River.
The treaty, ratified in 1835, formally dispossessed the three tribes of their remaining lands in Illinois and the Michigan Territory. In return, the tribes received promises of cash payments and replacement land grants west of the Mississippi. The agreement contributed to the large-scale displacement of Indigenous peoples from the Great Lakes region during the era of Indian removal.
Political Outcome
The three tribes ceded approximately five million acres in Illinois and Michigan Territory and agreed to relocate west of the Mississippi River in exchange for cash payments and western land grants.
Chippewa, Odawa, and Potawatomi held approximately five million acres in Illinois and Michigan Territory
United States acquired full title to those lands; tribes committed to removal west of the Mississippi River