:''For the 1868 treaty, see
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)''
The 'Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851' was signed on
September 17 between
United States treaty commissioners and representatives of the
Sioux,
Cheyenne,
Arapaho,
Crow,
Shoshone,
Assiniboine,
Mandan,
Hidatsa, and
Arikara nations. The U.S. government promised control of the
Great Plains which was the bulk of Native American territory, for "as long as the river flows and the eagle flies". The Indians guaranteed safe passage for settlers on the
Oregon Trail in return for promises of an annuity in the amount of fifty thousand dollars annually for fifty years. The Native American nations also allowed roads and forts to be built in its territories. The
United States Congress later unilaterally cut appropriations for the treaty to ten years' annuities, and several tribes never received the commodities promised as payments. The treaty produced a brief period of peace.
External link
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Text of the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty