City of Kalamazoo issued the following announcement on Aug 27.
The Gun Lake Tribal Council has released the following statement acknowledging the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Chicago:
This weekend marks 200 years since the negotiation and signing of the 1821 Treaty of Chicago. While this is not an event to be celebrated, it is important to acknowledge the significant historical and contemporary legacies this treaty has wrought. The Treaty of Chicago, signed August 29, 1821, was one of the most significant treaties to impact the Pottawatomi. Under this treaty, the majority of Pottawatomi territory in Southwest Michigan was ceded to the U.S. Government. The ancestors of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band (Gun Lake Tribe) retained only a three square mile reservation under the provisions of this treaty, which is located at present-day downtown Kalamazoo. The treaty provisions reserved tracts of land for in Michigan as well as Indiana and Illinois to establish the Detroit-Chicago Road through the ceded territories. Treaties like the 1821 Treaty of Chicago brought about the establishment of government-to-government relationships between Tribes and the United States Government as signatories to these treaties. They are the supreme law of the land and take precedence over any non-federal laws.
Gun Lake Tribal Council is encouraged by partnerships like the one we’ve built with the City of Kalamazoo in order to educate the public, foster historical preservation and interpretation efforts and for the protection and management of Pottawatomi historical and cultural resources.
For more information and the history of the Treaty of Chicago, please click here.
For interviews contact:
Laura Kaminski, Communications Manager
269.491.7560
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up