III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 499 

Acknowledging the reprehensible policy of the United States regarding the 

forced relocation of the Potawatomi people from their homeland east 

of the Mississippi River to Kansas and Oklahoma and the devastating 

hardships the Potawatomi people endured during the march west, known 

as the ‘‘Potawatomi Trail of Death’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2020 

Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Ms. STABENOW, and Mr. PETERS) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Acknowledging the reprehensible policy of the United States 

regarding the forced relocation of the Potawatomi people 

from their homeland east of the Mississippi River to 

Kansas and Oklahoma and the devastating hardships 

the Potawatomi people endured during the march west, 

known as the ‘‘Potawatomi Trail of Death’’. 

Whereas the Potawatomi people, collectively known as the 

‘‘Potawatomi Nation’’, are comprised of members of the 

many villages, communities, and bands that resided for 

millennia in their homeland in the southern Great Lakes 

region of the present day States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin; 


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•SRES 499 IS 

Whereas the advanced farming techniques, extensive trade 

and commerce networks, and well-established transportation routes of the Potawatomi Nation had a significant 

influence on the early history of North America; 

Whereas Potawatomi leaders entered into 44 treaties with the 

United States, including a series of treaties the Potawatomi people were pressured to sign between 1818 and 

1828, under which the Potawatomi people ceded vast 

areas of the homeland of the Potawatomi people in exchange for annuities, small reservations in the States of 

Indiana and Illinois, and scattered individual allotments; 

Whereas, in 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Act 

of May 28, 1830 (4 Stat. 411, chapter 148) (commonly 

known as the ‘‘Indian Removal Act’’), into law, which authorized the President to provide land in the so-called Indian territory in the western United States ‘‘for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may 

choose to exchange the lands where they now reside, and 

remove there . . .’’; 

Whereas 3 treaties signed by Potawatomi leaders in October 

1832 further reduced the remaining homeland of the Potawatomi people in the States of Indiana and Illinois to 

several small reservations and individual allotments, including a reservation at a village on the Yellow River in 

Twin Lakes, Indiana (referred to in this preamble as the 

‘‘Twin Lakes Reservation’’), under a Potawatomi leader 

named Menominee; 

Whereas pressure from United States negotiators resulted in 

Potawatomi leaders signing a number of treaties between 

1834 and 1837, known as the ‘‘Whiskey Treaties’’, which 

ceded the remaining Potawatomi land in the State of InVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR499.IS SR499

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•SRES 499 IS 

diana and included a commitment to move to reservations 

in the West within 2 years; 

Whereas Menominee and a number of other Potawatomi leaders— 

(1) refused to participate in the negotiations that 

produced the Treaty of August 5, 1836 (7 Stat. 505) 

(commonly known as the ‘‘Yellow River Treaty’’), which 

purported to relinquish the rights of the Yellow River 

Band of the Potawatomi people (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Yellow River Band’’) to the Twin Lakes 

Reservation; and 

(2) later submitted a petition to United States General John Tipton that challenged the validity of the Yellow River Treaty; 

Whereas, after the 2-year period for the Yellow River Band 

to move west expired, White settlers who wanted to occupy the lands of the Twin Lakes Reservation petitioned 

Indiana Governor David Wallace for protection, and, in 

response, Governor Wallace authorized General Tipton to 

mobilize a militia of 100 volunteers to forcibly remove the 

Yellow River Band from the reservation; 

Whereas, on August 30, 1838, General Tipton and a volunteer militia surprised the Yellow River Band at the Twin 

Lakes Reservation, and, over the next several days, the 

soldiers burned the crops and destroyed the village of the 

Yellow River Band to discourage anyone from trying to 

return; 

Whereas, on September 4, 1838, the forced relocation of 859 

members of the Yellow River Band proceeded from Twin 

Lakes, Indiana, under the armed escort of the militia, including the Potawatomi leaders Menominee, 

Makkatahmoway, and Pepinawa, who were treated as 


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prisoners of war and rode along in a wagon under armed 

guard; 

Whereas, over the course of 61 days, through deprivation and 

often brutal heat along the march west, known as the 

‘‘Trail of Death’’, that extended from Twin Lakes, Indiana, through the States of Illinois and Missouri to the 

eventual destination of the Yellow River Band some 660 

miles away in Osawatomie, Kansas, some 42 Potawatomi 

individuals died, including 28 children; and 

Whereas some of the Potawatomi Nation, including the 

Pokagon Band, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band, the Gun 

Lake Band, and the Hannahville Indian Community, 

evaded forced relocation and the devastating consequences of the Trail of Death by fleeing to other locations in the Great Lakes region, including to Canada, 

and elsewhere in the United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

3 The Senate— 

4 (1) recognizes— 

5 (A) the special legal and political relation6 ship Indian Tribes have with the United States; 

7 and 

8 (B) the solemn covenant that the Pota9 watomi people of the United States share with 

10 the land; and 

11 (2) acknowledges the extreme hardship, vio12 lence, and maltreatment inflicted on the Potawatomi 


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•SRES 499 IS 

1 people by the United States through the cruel and 

2 ill-conceived policy of forcible removal of the Pota3 watomi people from their homeland east of the Mis4 sissippi River. 

5 SEC. 2. DISCLAIMER. 

6 Nothing in this resolution— 

7 (1) authorizes or supports any claim against 

8 the United States; or 

9 (2) serves as a settlement of any claim against 

10 the United States. 

Æ 


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