Why Treaties Matter: Relations: Dakota & Ojibwe Treaties

Ojibwe and Dakota people in what is now Minnesota signed dozens of treaties with the United States. Among these treaties are famous land cession agreements in which sovereign American Indian groups retained ownership or use of natural resources — land, water, timber, minerals — or transferred these rights to the U.S.

But treaties are about more than who owns what. They tell a story about how people relate to one another, and how people relate to the land. In these frequently-misunderstood events, we find a contrast between different ways of looking at the world: material progress versus sustainability; business relationships versus family relationships; land as privately owned real estate, versus land as our connection to something bigger than our individual selves.

This website presents information on relationships that shaped some of the most transformative events in the history of the continent — the U.S. treaties with Dakota and Ojibwe people...