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Partly-printed DS as president, one page, 8 x 10, November 6, 1868. President Johnson authorizes and directs the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to "the Proclamation of a Treaty, concluded March 2, 1868, between the United States and the Tabeguache, Muache, Capote, Weeminuche, Yampa, Grand River, and Uintah bands of Ute Indians." Boldly signed at the conclusion in ink by President Andrew Johnson. Affixed by its left edge inside a paper folder, along with an official printing of the treaty. In fine condition, with light toning to the edges and folds.
The Ute Treaty of 1868, also known as the 'Kit Carson Treaty,' was an agreement between the United States government and seven bands of the Ute people, aiming to create a vast reservation for the Utes in western Colorado in exchange for their Central Rockies homeland. Negotiated by figures such as Kit Carson and Ute leader Ouray, the treaty promised food annuities, tools, and land allotments while also pushing assimilation policies like forced schooling and the suppression of Ute cultural practices. Although it briefly protected some Ute lands, the treaty served primarily to open mineral-rich mountain areas to white settlers and miners, reflecting broader U.S. strategies of expansion under the guise of diplomacy.
Despite the promises made, the government routinely failed to deliver supplies and uphold treaty terms. Mismanagement and cultural imposition at agencies like White River led to tensions, culminating in the Meeker Incident of 1879, where Nathan Meeker and others were killed. This event gave federal authorities the pretext to forcibly remove most Utes from Colorado to Utah in 1881, with only a small strip of Southern Ute land remaining. Though it was initially framed as a peace effort, the 1868 treaty exemplifies how U.S. Indian policy used treaties as temporary tools to facilitate land seizures, undermining Indigenous sovereignty and leading to the dispossession and displacement of the Ute people.
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