III 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. RES. 499 Acknowledging the reprehensible policy of the United States regarding the forced relocation of the Potawatomi people from their homeland east of the Mississippi River to Kansas and Oklahoma and the devastating hardships the Potawatomi people endured during the march west, known as the ‘‘Potawatomi Trail of Death’’. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 13, 2020 Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Ms. STABENOW, and Mr. PETERS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs RESOLUTION Acknowledging the reprehensible policy of the United States regarding the forced relocation of the Potawatomi people from their homeland east of the Mississippi River to Kansas and Oklahoma and the devastating hardships the Potawatomi people endured during the march west, known as the ‘‘Potawatomi Trail of Death’’. Whereas the Potawatomi people, collectively known as the ‘‘Potawatomi Nation’’, are comprised of members of the many villages, communities, and bands that resided for millennia in their homeland in the southern Great Lakes region of the present day States of Ohio, Indiana, Michi- gan, Illinois, and Wisconsin; VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR499.IS SR499 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 499 IS Whereas the advanced farming techniques, extensive trade and commerce networks, and well-established transpor- tation routes of the Potawatomi Nation had a significant influence on the early history of North America; Whereas Potawatomi leaders entered into 44 treaties with the United States, including a series of treaties the Pota- watomi people were pressured to sign between 1818 and 1828, under which the Potawatomi people ceded vast areas of the homeland of the Potawatomi people in ex- change for annuities, small reservations in the States of Indiana and Illinois, and scattered individual allotments; Whereas, in 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Act of May 28, 1830 (4 Stat. 411, chapter 148) (commonly known as the ‘‘Indian Removal Act’’), into law, which au- thorized the President to provide land in the so-called In- dian territory in the western United States ‘‘for the re- ception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the lands where they now reside, and remove there . . .’’; Whereas 3 treaties signed by Potawatomi leaders in October 1832 further reduced the remaining homeland of the Pot- awatomi people in the States of Indiana and Illinois to several small reservations and individual allotments, in- cluding a reservation at a village on the Yellow River in Twin Lakes, Indiana (referred to in this preamble as the ‘‘Twin Lakes Reservation’’), under a Potawatomi leader named Menominee; Whereas pressure from United States negotiators resulted in Potawatomi leaders signing a number of treaties between 1834 and 1837, known as the ‘‘Whiskey Treaties’’, which ceded the remaining Potawatomi land in the State of In- VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR499.IS SR499 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 499 IS diana and included a commitment to move to reservations in the West within 2 years; Whereas Menominee and a number of other Potawatomi lead- ers— (1) refused to participate in the negotiations that produced the Treaty of August 5, 1836 (7 Stat. 505) (commonly known as the ‘‘Yellow River Treaty’’), which purported to relinquish the rights of the Yellow River Band of the Potawatomi people (referred to in this pre- amble as the ‘‘Yellow River Band’’) to the Twin Lakes Reservation; and (2) later submitted a petition to United States Gen- eral John Tipton that challenged the validity of the Yel- low River Treaty; Whereas, after the 2-year period for the Yellow River Band to move west expired, White settlers who wanted to oc- cupy the lands of the Twin Lakes Reservation petitioned Indiana Governor David Wallace for protection, and, in response, Governor Wallace authorized General Tipton to mobilize a militia of 100 volunteers to forcibly remove the Yellow River Band from the reservation; Whereas, on August 30, 1838, General Tipton and a volun- teer militia surprised the Yellow River Band at the Twin Lakes Reservation, and, over the next several days, the soldiers burned the crops and destroyed the village of the Yellow River Band to discourage anyone from trying to return; Whereas, on September 4, 1838, the forced relocation of 859 members of the Yellow River Band proceeded from Twin Lakes, Indiana, under the armed escort of the militia, in- cluding the Potawatomi leaders Menominee, Makkatahmoway, and Pepinawa, who were treated as VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR499.IS SR499 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 499 IS prisoners of war and rode along in a wagon under armed guard; Whereas, over the course of 61 days, through deprivation and often brutal heat along the march west, known as the ‘‘Trail of Death’’, that extended from Twin Lakes, Indi- ana, through the States of Illinois and Missouri to the eventual destination of the Yellow River Band some 660 miles away in Osawatomie, Kansas, some 42 Potawatomi individuals died, including 28 children; and Whereas some of the Potawatomi Nation, including the Pokagon Band, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band, the Gun Lake Band, and the Hannahville Indian Community, evaded forced relocation and the devastating con- sequences of the Trail of Death by fleeing to other loca- tions in the Great Lakes region, including to Canada, and elsewhere in the United States: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, 1 SECTION 1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 2 The Senate— 3 (1) recognizes— 4 (A) the special legal and political relation- 5 ship Indian Tribes have with the United States; 6 and 7 (B) the solemn covenant that the Pota- 8 watomi people of the United States share with 9 the land; and 10 (2) acknowledges the extreme hardship, vio- 11 lence, and maltreatment inflicted on the Potawatomi 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR499.IS SR499 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 499 IS people by the United States through the cruel and 1 ill-conceived policy of forcible removal of the Pota- 2 watomi people from their homeland east of the Mis- 3 sissippi River. 4 SEC. 2. DISCLAIMER. 5 Nothing in this resolution— 6 (1) authorizes or supports any claim against 7 the United States; or 8 (2) serves as a settlement of any claim against 9 the United States. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Feb 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR499.IS SR499 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS