Articles
Explore every article on the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie — its purpose, history, legal significance, and ongoing relevance.
The Black Hills, the Gold Rush, and the Breaking of the 1868 Treaty
The Black Hills, known to the Lakota as a place of profound spiritual significance, sit at the heart of one of the most consequential…
The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie and the Great Sioux Reservation
Seventeen years after the great council of 1851, the United States and the Lakota and their allies negotiated a second major agreement at Fort…
Daily Life on the Northern Plains Before 1851
To understand the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, it helps to picture the world it touched. The Northern Plains before the treaty era were…
The Traders and Interpreters at the 1851 Council
The great treaty council of 1851 brought together thousands of people speaking many different languages. For negotiations to happen at all, a crucial group…
The Overland Trails and the Northern Plains
The overland trails that crossed the Northern Plains in the mid-nineteenth century were among the great migration routes in American history. For the Plains…
Fort Laramie: From Fur-Trade Post to Army Post
Few places capture the changing history of the Northern Plains as clearly as Fort Laramie. Standing near the meeting of the Laramie and North…
Intertribal Boundaries Defined in the 1851 Treaty
Among the most ambitious features of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie was its effort to define boundaries not only between Native nations and…
The Promised Annuities and How Congress Reduced Them
A central promise of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie was the annuity: an annual distribution of goods that the United States pledged to…
Why the U.S. Sought the 1851 Treaty: Overland Emigration
To understand why the United States pursued a treaty on the Northern Plains in 1851, one must look at the great migration then reshaping…
The Eight Nations and the 1851 Territorial Map
One of the distinctive features of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie was its attempt to map the Northern Plains. The agreement described territories…
The U.S. Commissioners and Their Aims at Fort Laramie, 1851
The 1851 treaty at Fort Laramie was negotiated on the United States side by federal commissioners who came to the Plains with clear objectives…
The Horse Creek Treaty Council of 1851
The treaty signed in September 1851 near Fort Laramie is often remembered by the name of the place where the great council actually gathered:…