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Minnesota Treaties QuizHow much do YOU know about treaties in

Minnesota’s History?

This painting of the 1851 treaty signing at Traverse de Sioux by Francis Millet hangs in the Governor's Reception Room in Minnesota's state capitol. On the stage, Dakota leaders shake hands, while at the table, individuals sign away the money now owed to them by the treaty to traders who have trapped them in a cycle of debt and dependence. The painting celebrates the “gaining” of land of Minnesota. What message does having this painting still displayed at the state capitol send to present day American Indians?

First Question

How many American Indian - U.S. Treaties affected Minnesota

Territory?

1 out of every 2

1 out of every 10

1 out of every 50

1 out of every 100

Incorrect Answer

Would you like to try again?

Yes, give me another chance. No, go to the next question.

Correct Answer!

1 out of every 10.

Forty-one U.S.-Indian

Treaties affected

Minnesota Territory.*

*Information courtesy of Allies: Research and Writing.

Next Question

How many non-Native people lived in Minnesota in 1850 when the

Dakota ceded 24 million acres to the U.S. government?

6,000

20,000

80,000

1 million

Incorrect Answer

Would you like to try again?

Yes, give me another chance. No, go to the next question.

Correct Answer!

6,000 non-Native people

lived in Minnesota in

1850 when the Dakota

ceded 24 million acres to

the U.S. government.*

*Information courtesy of Allies: Research and Writing.

Map of Minnesota Territory

Map by Thomas Cowperthwait & Company, 1850. Next Question

Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey called for the ____________ of all

Sioux people in 1862.

Extermination or banishment

Fair treatment and tolerance

Arrest or imprisonment

Honor and respect

Incorrect Answer

Would you like to try again?

Yes, give me another chance. No, go to the next question.

Correct Answer!

Extermination or banishment.

After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862,

Governor Ramsey declared, "The

Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be

exterminated or driven forever

beyond the borders of the state.“

Many Dakota people were killed or

forcibly removed from Minnesota

after this war.

Governor Alexander Ramsey

Would the same declaration today be considered genocide?

Next Question

Minnesota Territory Treaties involved how many sovereign

Indian nations?

2

4

6

Incorrect Answer

Would you like to try again?

Yes, give me another chance. No, go to the next question.

Correct Answer!

Six. Minnesota treaties

involved six sovereign

nations: Dakota, Ojibwe,

Menominee, Ho-Chunk,

Sac, and Fox nations.*

*Information courtesy of Allies: Research and Writing. Map sources:• Indian Land Cessions in the United States, compiled by Charles C. Royce and presented as Part 2 of the Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1896-97. Printed by the Government Printing Office in 1899.• Indian Land Cessions. U.S. Serial Set, Number 4015, 56th Congress, 1st Session.

Next Question

True or False: Reservations were portions of land given to

Indian nations by the U.S. government.

True

False

Incorrect Answer

Would you like to try again?

Yes, give me another chance. No, go to the next question.

Correct Answer!

False. Reservations were portions of land

reserved by Indian nations for themselves as

part of land cession treaties in which

Indigenous people ceded land to U.S. control.

The U.S. government could not give away land

that it did not own.

Next Question

As of 2010 there are 11 federally-recognized tribes in the State of Minnesota.

True or False: American Indian – U.S. Treaties are still relevant

today.

True

False

Incorrect Answer

Would you like to try again?

Yes, give me another chance. No, go to the next question.

Correct Answer! True. “Treaties are morethan relics of the past. Tribal sovereignty based ontreaties works in everydaylife, particularly incontemporary commercialventures from fishing to thecreation of utilitycompanies.”*

*Information courtesy of Allies: Research and Writing.

John Czeck of Leech Lake holds a sign during a protest at Bemidji waterfront park May 2010 in Bemidji, Minn. The treaty the sign refers to is the 1855 treaty with the Anishinaabeg by the state of Minnesota. MPR Photo/Derek MontgomeryNext Question

True or False: Treaties affected relationships between bands

within Indigenous nations.

True

False

Incorrect Answer

Would you like to try again?

Yes, give me another chance.

Correct Answer! True. “The homelands of Indigenous nations – andsubsequently their land cession – seldomcorresponded to any U.S. state or territorialboundaries. Treaties, especially among theDakota and Ojibwe, were made by autonomousbands from within the larger nations; consequently,several of the treaties concern not only relationsamong the U.S. and Indigenous nations, but alsorelations among bands from within a singlenation.”*

*Information courtesy of Allies: Research and Writing.

More Info

A collaboration between the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, the Minnesota Humanities Center, and the

Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, Minnesota American Indian Treaties project will

explore the “absent narrative” or missing story of circumstances surrounding our Minnesota land, its use, and

the treatment of our land’s indigenous peoples today.

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About the Minnesota American Indian Treaties Project

Coming Spring 2011

Traveling Exhibit

Website

Teacher Resources

“Imagine if every child in Minnesota grew up having learned what tribal sovereignty is… Together, we can work to

educate a new generation of Minnesotans who understand basic important facts about Minnesota’s tribal nations.”

- Kevin Gover, DirectorNational Museum of the American Indian

-------------------------

Learn more at www.MinnesotaHumanities.org

Glossary• To cede: to yield or formally surrender to

another.• Sioux: a French word used to refer to

Dakota Indians.• Sovereign: Independent of, and unlimited

by, any other; possessing, or entitled to, original authority or jurisdiction; as, a sovereign state; a sovereign discretion. (1913 Webster’s dictionary)

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