Opinion ID: 759493
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Treaty Process

Text: 2 Before addressing the claims presented in this appeal, we think it is both helpful and necessary to explain in detail the history of the treaty process between the United States and the Menominee Tribe. In 1831, the Menominee Indian Tribe and the United States signed a treaty resolving various disputes involving land in the state of Wisconsin that was traditionally used and occupied by the Menominee Indians. The Tribe agreed to cede and forever relinquish to the United States, all their country [in Wisconsin] on the southeast side of Winnebago lake [sic], Fox river [sic], and Green bay [sic]. 1831 Treaty Art. Third, 7 Stat. 342, 343 (Feb. 8, 1831). The government intended to survey and sell the Wisconsin land east of the Fox River to white settlers. 1831 Treaty Art. Sixth. The Tribe also ceded a large tract of land west of the Fox River in the state of Wisconsin. 1831 Treaty Art. First. The government wanted to relocate several tribes from New York to the state of Wisconsin and settle them on the Menominee lands west of the Fox River. The Treaty, however, provided that if the New York tribes did not occupy these lands, such portion as would have belonged to said [New York] Indians, had it been occupied, shall revert to the United States ... to be laid off by the President. 1831 Treaty Art. First. In exchange for the land, the government agreed to protect, pay and provide various goods and services 1 to the Menominee Tribe. See 1831 Treaty Arts. Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth p 3. 3 In the 1831 Treaty, the Tribe reserved the right to use the land ceded on the east side of the Fox for hunting and fishing. 1831 Treaty Art. Sixth at p 1. Specifically, the Treaty states: 4 The Menomonee [sic] tribe of Indians shall be at liberty to hunt and fish on the lands they have now ceded to the United States, on the east side of Fox river [sic] and Green bay [sic], with the same privileges they at present enjoy, until it be surveyed and offered for sale by the President; they conducting themselves peaceably and orderly. 5 1831 Treaty Art. Sixth at p 1. Additionally, the Treaty reserved to the Tribe hunting rights in the Wisconsin land west of the Fox until the President of the United States, shall deem it expedient to extinguish their title. 1831 Treaty Art. Sixth at p 2. The parties do not dispute that the Wisconsin land east of the Fox was shortly thereafter surveyed and offered for sale to white settlers. 6 In 1836, the Tribe and the United States entered into another treaty, in which the Tribe ceded additional lands west of the Fox River. 1836 Treaty Art. First pp 1, 2, 7 Stat. 506, 506-507 (Sept. 3, 1836). The 1836 Treaty contains no explicit reservation of any use rights, but it provides that the Tribe would leave the ceded lands within one year of the treaty's ratification. 1836 Treaty Art. Fourth p 1. 7 In 1848, the Tribe signed another treaty in which it agreed to cede, ... sell, and relinquish to the United States all [its] lands in the State of Wisconsin wherever situated. 1848 Treaty Art. II, 9 Stat. 952, 952 (Oct. 18, 1848). The United States, in exchange, agreed to give the Tribe at least 600,000 acres of land located in Minnesota 2 and $350,000. 1848 Treaty Arts. III, IV. Further, the government agreed to finance a Menominee delegation [t]o enable the said Indians to explore and examine their new country, and as an inducement to an early removal thereto. 1848 Treaty Art. VI. Article VIII provided: 8 It is agreed that the said Indians shall be permitted, if they desire to do so, to remain on the land hereby ceded for and during the period of two years from the date hereof, and until the President shall notify them that the same are wanted. 9 The Menominee Tribe never left Wisconsin. Instead, in 1850, at the end of the two-year period, the Tribe requested and received the President's permission to remain temporarily on land located in Wisconsin at the Wolf and Oconto Rivers. 1854 Treaty Preamble at p 2, 10 Stat. 1064, 1064 (May 12, 1854). 10 On May 12, 1854, the Menominee Tribe and the government signed their fourth and final treaty. The preamble to the 1854 Treaty describes the terms of the 1848 Treaty, stating that the Tribe ceded all of its land in the state of Wisconsin to the United States in exchange for land in Minnesota. 1854 Treaty Preamble at p 2. It then recounts the manifestation of great unwillingness on the part of said Indians to remove to the country west of the Mississippi River ... and a desire to remain in the State of Wisconsin. 1854 Treaty Preamble at p 3. Finally, the preamble states that the purpose of the Treaty is to assuage the Tribe's interest in establishing a permanent home in Wisconsin. 1854 Treaty Preamble at p 4. To this end, the Menominee Tribe ceded their Minnesota lands (obtained in the 1848 Treaty) to the United States in exchange for a small reservation in Wisconsin at the mouth of the Oconto and Wolf Rivers. 1854 Treaty Arts. 1, 2. In addition to providing funds for various goods and services, the government agreed to pay the difference between the value of the Minnesota land ceded by the Tribe and the value of the Wisconsin reservation granted by the government. 1854 Treaty Art. 4.