History Commons^™

Black Hawk And The War Of 1832: Removal In The North, John Bowes

John P. Bowes

In 1804, a delegation of five Sauk leaders signed a treaty with the U.S. government ceding all of the tribe's lands east of the Mississippi River. Although the treaty was not immediately enforced by the United States, the situation would change in 1822. That summer, an influx of white miners arrived in northwestern Illinois and the southwestern part of Michigan Territory to extract lead from the profitable mines of the region. The trickle of settlers soon turned into a flood: By 1829, thousands of white settlers had moved into the region and settled on Sauk lands. The following year, Congress …