WHY TREATIES MATTER - TREATY RIGHTS DAY MARCH 20, 2026
Treaties did not grant sovereignty to Native nations — they recognized sovereignty that already existed.
By Vivian LaMoore, Inaajimowin Editor
Long before the United States existed, Dakota and Ojibwe nations governed themselves. They maintained diplomatic relationships, established territorial boundaries, and entered into agreements with neighboring nations. They were sovereign long before they signed treaties with European powers or the United States.
When the United States began making treaties with Native nations, it did so on a government-to-government basis. The U.S. Constitution affirms this authority:
"All treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby." — United States Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2
Treaties did not grant sovereignty to Native nations. They recognized sovereignty that already existed.
For Dakota and Ojibwe peoples, land has never been about ownership in a commercial sense. It is about relationship, responsibility, and identity. In Ojibwe, Indinawemaaganidog - "all of my relatives" — reflects the understanding that people are related to the earth, the water, the animals, and one another, and that relationship carries responsibility.
Ojibwe oral tradition tells of a westward migration to the place "where food grows on the water" — wild rice. Territory was not defined by property lines but by homeland — a place to gather food, visit sacred sites, raise families, and sustain a way of life.
As the United States expanded westward, treaties became its primary tool for acquiring Native lands and resources. For Native nations, treaties were about peace, survival, and preserving homelands in a changing world.
Between 1777 and 1871, the United States ratified more than 365 treaties with Indian nations. In Minnesota alone, Dakota and Ojibwe bands negotiated approximately 16 treaties between 1837 and 1867, ceding vast territories while reserving smaller tracts on which to live and retaining rights to hunt, fish, and gather on ceded lands.
The Treaty of 1837 ceded approximately 12 million acres east of the Mississippi River. In exchange, the Ojibwe secured payments and, in Article 5, a guarantee of hunting, fishing, and gathering rights in the ceded territory.
The Treaty of 1855 was especially significant for the Mille Lacs Band. After exclusion from the Treaty of 1854, the Band secured a "permanent homeland" in Article 2 of the 1855 Trea-ty, which established the Mille Lacs Reservation and defined its boundaries. The Band's right to remain there was later affirmed in the Treaties of 1863 and 1864 and in the Nelson Act of 1889.
Treaty Rights Day marks March 24, 1999 — the day the U.S. Supreme Court decided Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians. Nearly a decade after the Band first filed suit, the Court affirmed that the rights guaranteed in Article 5 of the 1837 Treaty remain in force. In a 5-4 decision, the Court rejected an 1850 executive order by President Zachary Taylor that attempted to rescind those rights and order the Ojibwe's removal, ruling the order invalid.
Following the decision, Mille Lacs Band Chief Executive Marge Anderson said, "Today, the United States has kept a promise." Secretary/Treasurer Herb Weyaus added that sovereignty carries responsibility - including protecting natural resources central to culture and identity.
Today, treaty rights are exercised through co-management of natural resources in the ceded territory by the state and the tribes, represented by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. Band members continue to harvest fish, game, maple sap, birch bark, and wild rice under tribal regulations while working to protect land and water for future generations.
As Commissioner of Natural Resources Kelly Applegate explains, treaty rights preserve lifeways practiced for generations - harvesting, hunting, fishing, gathering medicine, and sustaining community.
Treaties matter because they are promises between sovereign nations. They affirm inherent sovereignty. They protect homelands and cultural practices. They establish boundaries. They endure in law and in lived practice.
More than 180 years after the Treaty of 1837 and more than 170 years after the Treaty of 1855 established the Mille Lacs Reservation, those agreements remain in force. They continue to shape governance and cultural continuity.
Treaties are not relics of the past. They are living agreements — carried forward each time nets are set, rice is harvested, boundaries are defended, and the next generation is taught what it means to belong.
