Treaty of La Pointe

The Treaty of La Pointe may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in La Pointe, Wisconsin between the United States and the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Native American peoples. In addition, the Isle Royale Agreement, an adhesion to the first Treaty of La Pointe, was made at La Pointe.

The first treaty of La Pointe was signed Robert Stuart for the United States and representatives of the Ojibwe Bands of Lake Superior and the Mississippi River on October 4, 1842 and proclaimed on March 23, 1843, encoded into the laws of the United States as 7 Stat. 591. By this treaty, the Ojibwa ceded extensive tracts of land that are now parts of the states of Wisconsin and Michigan, specifically the latter's Upper Peninsula.

The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed on August 9, 1842, between Great Britain and the United States, officially ending their boundary dispute on what now is the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota, as well as settling other claims. This news did not reach the United States parties to the La Pointe Treaty negotiation. Consequently, the Grand Portage Band, then considered to be in Canadian British territory, was not invited to join the signing of this treaty. It is now considered to occupy territory in the United States.

In 1844, the United States and Grand Portage Band signed the Isle Royale Agreement as an adhesion to this treaty.

As determined subsequently by the United States Supreme Court, the signatory tribes retain hunting, fishing and gathering rights on their former lands in this region. In addition, the Supreme Court held that the treaty obligated the United States to provide reservations for peoples of the signatory bands. For instance, it acquired land in the 1930s for the Bay Mills Indian Community, whose people had historically long been located on Lake Superior in Michigan.

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