Blood, Guts and 50 million Acres to Spare
In the early 1800s, the Sauk and Fox Native Americans lived along the Mississippi River from northwestern Illinois to southwestern Wisconsin. They lived peacefully until 1804, when the creation of the St. Louis Treaty took place. The Sauk and Fox Indians were treated unfairly by the United States government in the treaty. This began a war between Sauk and United States which decimated the tribes.
By a treaty of doubtful validity, concluded in St. Louis on November 3, 1804, the Sauk and Fox Indians agreed to give the United States all their land east of the Mississippi and some claims west of it. In exchange for 50 million acres, they were to receive $2,500 in goods and $1,000 in cash from the United …show more content…
It was designed in favor of settlers who needed more land, which the Native Americans had. The treaty duped the Natives out of millions of acres of land for an unreasonably low price. The cost per acre was less than one cent. At $0.00045 an acre, the United States robbed the Sauk of their land. The treaty was negotiated by Indiana Territory governor William Henry Harrison. From the U.S. perspective, the Treaty of 1804 was binding and legal. Black Hawk believed the treaty was invalid and refused to sign it and remained at his village of Saukenuk. The four men who signed over the land to the Americans had not been authorized by the Sauk and Fox tribal councils to cede any land, let alone negotiate a treaty of this magnitude. These four men were exhausted after riding for days on horseback and after finally reaching St. Louis, they were plied with alcohol. Tired and under the influence, …show more content…
Years of isolated incidents followed until the whites finally forced the Natives out in 1831. Keokuk and other Sauk leaders thought it was futile to resist the overwhelming military force along with an 1829 government order to move across the Mississippi in return for enough corn to get through the winter. Black Hawk and a group of 1,200 Sauk left Iowa Territory and returned to their homes across the Mississippi River into northern Illinois. Black Hawk believed that his Ho-Chunk neighbors would join him in fighting the Americans if necessary, and in the event of full-scale war the British would also come to his