Partly-printed DS as president, one page, 8 x 10.5, no date [March 8, 1859]. President Buchanan directs the Secretary of State to “affix the Seal of the United States to the Ratification of the Treaty between the United States and the Nez Perce tribe of Indian.” Signed neatly at the conclusion by James Buchanan. In fine condition, with light toning and wrinkling. Accompanied by a printed copy of the 'Treaty with the Nez Perces, 1855.'
Originally, the Nimiipuu, or Nez Perce, people occupied an area that included parts of present-day Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. They moved throughout this region and parts of what is now Montana and Wyoming to fish, hunt, and trade. The 1855 Treaty with the Nez Perce, also known as the Treaty of Walla Walla, established a 7.5 million acre reservation, but before the treaty was even ratified (which this document specifically concerns), mass trespass driven by gold discoveries throughout the region resulted in boom towns and violence between the Nez Perce and whites. The Nez Perce appealed to Congress to honor the terms of the treaty, and in response, the federal government forced the Tribe into a second treaty in 1863, which reduced the reservation to about 750,000 acres. White immigrants demanded that the government move, forcibly if required, all Nez Perce living outside the new reservation boundaries onto the new reservation. Chief Joseph and his band in the Wallowa Valley refused, precipitating the Nez Perce War of 1877. The present Nez Perce reservation is 770,000 acres.
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