1851 treaty between the United States government and representatives of Upper Dakota Sioux
This treaty transferred 21 million acres of Dakota Sioux land to the U.S., opening present-day Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota to American settlement.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- July 23, 1851
- Land ceded
- 21 million acres acres
- Payment agreed
- $1,665,000 USD
- Bands signatory
- Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota
- U.S. lead negotiator
- Alexander Ramsey, Governor of Minnesota Territory
- Statute citation
- 10 Stat. 949
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
U.S. officials, driven by westward migration pressure, sought to acquire Dakota lands in the upper Midwest. Governor Alexander Ramsey and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Luke Lea initiated negotiations, aided by territorial delegate Henry Hastings Sibley and traders pressing to recover debts attributed to the Dakota bands.
On July 23, 1851, at Traverse des Sioux in Minnesota Territory, the United States and the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota bands signed a land cession treaty. The Dakota sold approximately 21 million acres spanning present-day Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota in exchange for $1,665,000.
The treaty, justified to Congress by the unstoppable tide of westward migration, stripped the Upper Dakota Sioux of their homeland and opened vast territory to American settlement. It was paired with the Treaty of Mendota and set conditions that contributed to growing tensions between the Dakota and the U.S. government in subsequent decades.
Political Outcome
The Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota ceded 21 million acres to the United States in exchange for $1,665,000, opening the land to American settlement.
Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota held sovereignty over 21 million acres in present-day Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota
Land title transferred to the United States, displacing Dakota bands and enabling large-scale American settlement