Ratified Indian treaties

On the 16 rolls of this microfilm publication are reproduced ratified Indian treaties, 1722-1869, with related papers; a chronological list of the treaties; and indexes by place and by tribe. Tne list and indexes include a few entries dated as late as 1883. Negotiation of formal treaties with the Indians by the United States Government followed a custom established by Great Britain and the colonial goverrnments. Indian treaties were made by the Continental Congress and by the Congress of the Confederation and were continued under the Constitution adopted in 1789. The form for such treaties and the U.S. procedure for putting them into effect were the same as for treaties with foreign nations. The treaties required ratification by the Senate and had the same status, force, and dignity as agreeoents with sovereign nations. This practice of according full treaty status to agreements with Indian tribes was discontinued by an act of Congress of March 3, 1871 (16 Stat. 566), which forbade further recognition of Indian tribes as nations or independent powers and prohibited further treaty negotiations with them. The act did not abrogate existing treaties.