Background Information

In 1836, the U.S. Government and the Menominee Indians signed the Treaty of the Cedars.  This treaty immediately changed the face of the area of Northeastern Wisconsin by opening approximately 4,000,000 acres of Menominee land to settlement by Yankees and Europeans.  The landscape of Northeastern Wisconsin that we know today, including farms and cities like Oshkosh, Menasha, Neenah, and Appleton, all began with the Treaty of the Cedars.  The Treaty and subsequent settlement also profoundly affected the Menominee Indians, resulting in drastic changes to their culture and lifestyle.

The Treaty of the Cedars encompassed an area that stretched from Oshkosh in the south to Marquette, Michigan in the north and from Wisconsin Rapids in the west to Green Bay in the east.  In exchange for this land cession, the U.S. Government paid the Menominee $700,000 (17¢ an acre) less the debts the Menominee owed to traders and agents.  The Government also promised the Menominee a reservation at Lake Poygan.

This treaty was really the culmination of years of pressure on the Menominee to cede (or give up) their land.  In 1827, at the Treaty of Butte des Morts, the Menominee reluctantly reported the boundaries of their land to the U.S. Government, thus opening the door for the Government to push for further land cessions.  In an 1831 Treaty, the Menominee agreed to cede 400,000 acres, including 50,000 acres for the New York Indians (Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee, and Brothertown).  The Treaty of the Cedars followed and the cession represented ½ of the tribe’s remaining lands.  The Menominee ceded the remainder of their lands in 1848, and in 1854 the current Menominee reservation was formed. 

In the wake of the Treaty of Cedars, a land rush began immediately.  Surveyors and speculators moved in, and land offices quickly sold off parcels of land.  The buyers were Yankees from the eastern U.S. as well as European immigrants from Germany, Holland, Ireland, Scandinavia, England, and Scotland.  The immigrants came looking for better opportunities.  People of the same ethnic group supported each other and tried to make this new land feel like home.  These newcomers established towns like Appleton, Little Chute, Kaukauna, Ledyard (now part of Kaukauna), Combined Locks, Kimberly, Buchanan, Neenah, and Menasha.  They also built canals, locks, and dams on the Fox River and railroads over the land.  These activities had a huge environmental impact through clear cutting of forests, depletion of the soil, and changing the natural course of rivers.

Also, as the Menominee were forced off their land and into contact with the settlers, their housing and clothing styles became anglicized.  They were also compelled to leave behind a nomadic lifestyle and take up farming.  The government strongly encouraged, sometimes through force, the Menominee to send their children to boarding schools where they were taught the white man’s ways.

Treaty - Treaty of The Cedars, 1836

Letters - Transcript of Dutch immigrant Arnold Verstegen's letters, 1850 and 1852

Advertisement for the "Wisconsin Emigrant's Land, Loan and Information Office," from The Emigrant's Handbook and Guide to Wisconsin, DATE.

Newspaper article "Emigration to this Country-Hollanders coming!", Appleton Crescent, April 10, 1858

Newspaper article "And Still They Come!", Appleton Crescent, August 14, 1858

Newspaper article "Hollanders Coming," Appleton Crescent, April 20, 1867

Newspaper article "Eighty Hollanders...," Appleton Crescent, May 11, 1867

Newspaper article "More Emigration!", Appleton Crescent, June 1, 1867

The Treaty of the Cedars

Click on a Primary Source Document or a Classroom Activity

Activity #1: An Agreement Between Two Nations

Activity #2: Letters From A New Home

Activity #3: Land For Sale