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Page Number: 7

4 

MCGIRT v. OKLAHOMA 

Opinion of the Court 

gress not only “solemnly guarantied” the land but also “es-
tablish[ed] boundary lines which will secure a country and 
permanent  home  to  the  whole  Creek  Nation  of  Indians.”
1832 Treaty, Art. XIV, 7 Stat. 368; 1833 Treaty, preamble,
7 Stat. 418.  The government’s promises weren’t made gra-
tuitously.  Rather,  the  1832  Treaty  acknowledged  that
“[t]he United States are desirous that the Creeks should re-
move to the country west of the Mississippi” and, in service
of  that  goal,  required  the  Creeks  to  cede  all  lands  in  the
East. Arts. I, XII, 7 Stat. 366, 367.  Nor were the govern-
ment’s promises meant to be delusory.  Congress twice as-
sured the Creeks that “[the] Treaty shall be obligatory on 
the contracting parties, as soon as the same shall be ratified
by the United States.”  1832 Treaty, Art. XV, id., at 368; see 
1833 Treaty, Art. IX, 7 Stat. 420 (“agreement shall be bind-
ing and obligatory” upon ratification).  Both treaties were 
duly ratified and enacted as law.

Because the Tribe’s move west was ostensibly voluntary,
Congress held out another assurance as well.  In the statute 
that  precipitated  these  negotiations,  Congress  authorized 
the President “to assure the tribe . . . that the United States 
will forever secure and guaranty to them . . . the country so
exchanged with them.” Indian Removal Act of 1830, §3, 4 
Stat. 412.  “[A]nd if they prefer it,” the bill continued, “the
United States will cause a patent or grant to be made and 
executed to them for the same; Provided always, that such 
lands shall revert to the United States, if the Indians be-
come extinct, or abandon the same.”  Ibid.  If agreeable to
all sides, a tribe would not only enjoy the government’s sol-
emn treaty promises; it would hold legal title to its lands.

It was an offer the Creek accepted.  The 1833 Treaty fixed 
borders for what was to be a “permanent home to the whole 
Creek  nation  of  Indians.”    1833  Treaty,  preamble,  7  Stat.
418.  It also established that the “United States will grant 
a patent, in fee simple, to the Creek nation of Indians for 
the land assigned said nation by this treaty.”  Art. III, id.,