Complete Schedule
"Half-Breeds," Squatters, and Land Speculators: The Struggle Over the Half- Breed Tract in Southeast Iowa
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation (Electronic Copy Not Available)
Keywords
Racially mixed people--Iowa; Indian reservations--Iowa; Land tenure--Iowa;
Abstract
In an 1824 treaty with the Sauk and Meskwaki, the United States created the “Half-Breed Tract,” an allotment of 119,000 acres between the Des Moines and the Mississippi Rivers in southeast Iowa to people with a mixed Indian and French heritage, then called “half-breeds.” In 1834, a group of these mixed-race peoples requested that the government permit them to sell their stakes in the land. Congress responded with an 1834 law that gave them ownership of the land but failed to physically partition it into tracts or assign land to specific people, making resale difficult. Expecting the prime real estate to soon be put up for sale, squatters and land speculators flooded into the Half-Breed Tract, trying to stake their own claim to the land. Since the land had not been legally partitioned or sold, a legal conflict over ownership ensued, stretching into the late 1850s. Using court records, treaties, land records, and secondary sources, my project explores the struggle for ownership of the Half-Breed Tract and highlights the significance of mixed-race peoples in treaties between the United States and Indian nations, the role of land speculators and squatters in the battle over Native American’ land, and the fluidity and confusion surrounding race and identity in nineteenth century Iowa.
Start Date
3-4-2018 1:00 PM
End Date
3-4-2018 4:00 PM
Faculty Advisor
Leisl Carr-Childers
Department
Department of History
Copyright
©2018 Matthew Hill
Embargo Date
3-30-2018
"Half-Breeds," Squatters, and Land Speculators: The Struggle Over the Half- Breed Tract in Southeast Iowa
In an 1824 treaty with the Sauk and Meskwaki, the United States created the “Half-Breed Tract,” an allotment of 119,000 acres between the Des Moines and the Mississippi Rivers in southeast Iowa to people with a mixed Indian and French heritage, then called “half-breeds.” In 1834, a group of these mixed-race peoples requested that the government permit them to sell their stakes in the land. Congress responded with an 1834 law that gave them ownership of the land but failed to physically partition it into tracts or assign land to specific people, making resale difficult. Expecting the prime real estate to soon be put up for sale, squatters and land speculators flooded into the Half-Breed Tract, trying to stake their own claim to the land. Since the land had not been legally partitioned or sold, a legal conflict over ownership ensued, stretching into the late 1850s. Using court records, treaties, land records, and secondary sources, my project explores the struggle for ownership of the Half-Breed Tract and highlights the significance of mixed-race peoples in treaties between the United States and Indian nations, the role of land speculators and squatters in the battle over Native American’ land, and the fluidity and confusion surrounding race and identity in nineteenth century Iowa.
