Native Nations and Treaties
Native Nations are the first peoples of North America, and treaties are official agreements made between those nations and the U.S. government that both sides promised to honor.
Reading is good — doing is better. Practice Native Nations and Treaties as an interactive lesson.
Try the lessonDefinition
A Native Nation (also called a tribe or Indigenous nation) is a group of Native American people who share a culture, language, and homeland and have their own government. A treaty is a written, legal agreement between two governments. When the U.S. government made treaties with Native Nations, both sides agreed to certain things — for example, Native Nations might agree to share or give up land, and the U.S. government would promise to protect their remaining land, provide food or money, or respect their rights. These agreements were meant to be permanent laws.
Remember the rule
A treaty is a two-way promise: the Native Nation gives something AND the U.S. government promises something in return — breaking a treaty is breaking the law.
Key words
- Native Nation
- A group of Native American people with their own government, culture, and homeland — like the Cherokee Nation or the Lakota Nation.
- Treaty
- An official written agreement between two governments, signed and promised to be kept forever.
- Indigenous
- The first or original people to live in a place, before others arrived.
- Sovereignty
- The right of a nation to rule itself and make its own laws. Native Nations have sovereignty, meaning they are self-governing.
- Reservation
- Land set aside by the U.S. government for a Native Nation to live on after treaties were made.
- Cession
- When one group formally gives up land to another, often as part of a treaty agreement.
- Tribal Government
- The official government of a Native Nation, which makes laws and decisions for its people.
- Indian Removal Act
- A U.S. law passed in 1830 that forced many Native Nations to leave their homelands and move west, breaking many earlier treaty promises.
Worked examples
The U.S. government signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — wait, that's a different treaty. Let's use a real one: In 1778, the U.S. signed its FIRST treaty with a Native Nation. Which nation was it, and what did it promise?
→ The first U.S. treaty was with the Lenape (Delaware) Nation in 1778. The U.S. promised friendship, trade, and that the Lenape could form their own state someday. In return, the Lenape agreed to allow U.S. troops to pass through their land. · This shows that early treaties treated Native Nations as powerful, equal partners.
The Cherokee Nation had a homeland in Georgia. The U.S. government wanted that land. What happened with the Treaty of New Echota in 1835?
→ A small group signed the Treaty of New Echota giving up Cherokee land, even though most Cherokee people and their chief did NOT agree. The U.S. used it anyway to force about 16,000 Cherokee people to march to Oklahoma in 1838 — a journey called the Trail of Tears. About 4,000 people died. · This is an example of a treaty that was not made fairly and whose consequences were devastating.
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was signed with the Lakota Nation. What did it promise, and was it kept?
→ The U.S. promised the Lakota Nation the Black Hills of South Dakota as their land forever. But in 1874, gold was discovered there. The U.S. took the Black Hills away — breaking the treaty. The Lakota still consider the Black Hills their sacred homeland today. · Breaking a treaty is illegal, yet it happened many times throughout U.S. history.
If a Native Nation has sovereignty, can the U.S. government just pass a law that applies to them without their agreement?
→ Not easily. Because Native Nations are sovereign, they have their own laws and courts. The U.S. government must work with tribal governments. Many court cases have confirmed that treaties must be honored and that Native Nations keep rights promised in those treaties. · Sovereignty is why Native Nations have their own schools, courts, and laws on reservations today.
How many treaties did the U.S. government sign with Native Nations in total?
→ The U.S. government signed about 375 treaties with Native Nations between 1778 and 1871. After 1871, Congress stopped making new treaties but agreements continued in other forms. · 375 treaties — and historians say the U.S. broke or violated every single one of them to some degree.
Common mistakes
- Thinking Native Nations are all the same — there are 574 federally recognized Native Nations in the U.S. today, each with its own language, culture, and government.
- Thinking treaties were gifts from the U.S. government — they were legal agreements where Native Nations gave up something valuable (usually land) in exchange for promises.
- Thinking Native Nations and their cultures are only in the past — millions of Native Americans are alive today and their nations are active governments.
- Confusing a reservation with a prison or punishment — a reservation is land a Native Nation kept or was moved to, and it is governed by the tribe itself.
- Thinking that because a treaty was broken it no longer matters — courts today still use treaties to decide cases about Native land rights, fishing rights, and water rights.
FAQs
Why did the U.S. government make treaties with Native Nations instead of just taking the land?
Because Native Nations were recognized as sovereign governments with power over their own land. To legally acquire land, the U.S. had to negotiate and sign agreements — just like making a deal between two countries. Of course, many treaties were made under pressure or broken later, which was wrong and illegal.
What is the Trail of Tears?
The Trail of Tears was the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation and other Native Nations from their homelands in the southeastern U.S. to Oklahoma in the late 1830s. About 16,000 Cherokee were forced to march hundreds of miles in harsh weather, and roughly 4,000 died along the way. It happened because the U.S. broke its treaty promises.
Do treaties still matter today?
Yes! Treaties are still the law. Native Nations use them in court to protect their rights to fish in certain rivers, hunt on certain lands, and keep control of their territory. For example, the Boldt Decision in 1974 confirmed that Pacific Northwest tribes had the right to half of the salmon catch because their old treaties said so.
What does it mean that Native Nations are sovereign?
It means Native Nations are self-governing — they make their own laws, run their own courts, and manage their own governments. The U.S. government recognizes them as 'domestic dependent nations,' meaning they are inside the U.S. but have their own governing power. Think of it like a nation within a nation.
Why were so many treaties broken?
Many treaties were broken because settlers and the U.S. government wanted more land, especially when gold, timber, or good farmland was discovered on Native land. The U.S. government passed new laws, used military force, or simply ignored treaty terms. This was unjust, and Native Nations fought back in courts and in other ways.
How many Native Nations exist in the U.S. today?
There are 574 federally recognized Native Nations in the United States today. They range from large nations like the Navajo Nation (with about 175,000 members) to smaller nations with just a few hundred members. Each has its own government, traditions, and identity.
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