- Date
- 1836-03-28
- Kind
- Legal proceeding
- Eras
- Early American eraIndigenous era
- Concepts
- governancetreaty-rightsanishinaabe-odawa
Summary
The Treaty of Washington with the Ottawa and Chippewa nations was concluded at Washington City on 28 March 1836, with commissioner Henry R. Schoolcraft signing for the United States. Its text includes a five-year reservation of the Beaver islands for the use of Beaver-island Indians and a schedule naming Kainwaybekis and Pazhikwaywitum “of Beaver islands.” The full text, its cession and reservation articles, and the schedule are read and quoted at length in the document article; this event records only the dated act of conclusion.
Two signing dates
The treaty as printed carries two dates. The thirteen numbered articles close “In testimony whereof … this twenty-eighth day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six” (Kappler II, p. 454) — the date this event is keyed to. A “Supplemental Article,” added to guard against misconstruction of the fifth, sixth, ninth and eleventh articles, was signed separately “at Washington the seat of Government, this thirty-first day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six” (Kappler II, p. 456) — three days later, by an overlapping but not identical set of chiefs and delegates. Both dates precede the treaty’s ratification and 27 May proclamation.
The reservation
Article Third of the treaty as concluded reserves the Beaver islands, among other tracts, for five years:
“The Beaver islands of Lake Michigan for the use of the Beaver-island Indians” (Kappler II, p. 451).
Evidence and limits
This event indexes the dated conclusion of the legal instrument. It does not reconstruct negotiation, consent, attendance, translation, implementation, or the treaty’s present legal effect. The schedule’s association of the two names with Beaver islands does not establish that they signed or attended the treaty, held a title, or can be identified with later people of similar names.
See also
Read the document
7 pages, rendered from the held scan.
Sources
- Described in this archive: Treaty of Washington with the Ottawa, etc., 1836.The federal original, held by the archive as a U.S. Government publication in the public domain (digitized by Oklahoma State University Library). Records signature at Washington City on 28 March 1836 (Article Third, p. 451) and the schedule naming Kainwaybekis and Pazhikwaywitum “of Beaver islands” (p. 456).documents · treaty_1836_washington_kappler · sources · kappler-vol2-treaty-with-the-ottawa-etc-1836-pp450-456
- Described in this archive: Treaty of Washington with the Ottawa, etc., 1836.Secondary witness, not republished by the archive. A transcription scraped from Oklahoma State University's Tribal Treaties Database, whose webpage carries a fair-use notice rather than a public-domain license. It independently transcribes the same treaty and agrees with the held Kappler scan on the signature date, the Article Third reservation, and the schedule entries quoted here.web · treaty_1836_washington
Added 2 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Treaty of Washington with the Ottawa, etc., concluded, 1836”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/treaty-of-washington-concluded-1836/, accessed [date], citing Charles J. Kappler, comp., Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, vol. II (Treaties), Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904, pp. 450–456, “Treaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1836.” (and 1 further source listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-02. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “Treaty of Washington with the Ottawa, etc., concluded, 1836”RIS for “Treaty of Washington with the Ottawa, etc., concluded, 1836”