The Eighteen treaties

The Constitution of the United States, June 21, 1788

Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, the Commerce Clause "Powers delegated to congress" ...To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes

Article VI, Clause 2, The Supremacy Clause states as follows: ...2. This Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made pursuant thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding...

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Feb. 2, 1848

Guaranteed United States citizenship to Mexican citizens in California and recognition of their land titles. Indigenous Californians were citizens in Mexican and Spanish Law. Their absolute title to the State of California was clear...and acknowledged by the united States. In this statement...

Senator John Fremont made this report to the President on Sept 16, 1850

"...statements I have given you, Mr. President ...show that ...Spanish law clearly and absolutely secured to Indians fixed rights of property in the lands that they occupy...and that some particular provision will be necessary to divest them of these rights." "Our occupation is in conflict with theirs...to render this occupation legal and equitable...I have introduced this bill (to enact negotiations)...which recommends...the favorable consideration of the Senate...by its obvious necessity...because it is right in itself...because it is politic...and because it is conformable to the established custom of this Government."

But the new citizens were needed for slaves, as assets of the squatters (oops, we mean pioneers) ...

Opponents to negotiated treaties in the U.S. Senate "....saw a policy...deeply affecting the present and future prosperity of the State." "...they (treaty commissioners) have undertaken to assign to the Indian Tribes, a considerable portion of the richest of our mineral lands." "...gentlemen have undertaken to assign a considerable portion of the latter to the Indian tribes, wholly incapable, by habit or taste, of appreciating its value." (we must ask here why indigenous Californians fought and struggled) "...they will...supply, to a great extent, what is so much needed, the labor, without which it will be long before California can feed herself." "To take any...country...west of the Sierra Nevada...for the home of the wild and generally hostile Indians...we claim an undoubted right...to remove all Indian tribes beyind(sic)...limits of the State..."

Eighteen treaties were negotiated to secure legal title to public domain land and guaranteeing reserved lands and protection from white violence for indigenous Californians in 1851-1852

Table of 18 Unratified California Indian Treaties
the full text of these treaties available online at http://www.tachi-yokut.com/ (Tachi-Yokut tribal site)

Area	Name	Date Signed	Main US Negotiator
A	Treaty at Camp Belt	May 13, 1851	George W. Barbour
B	Treaty at Camp Keyes	May 30, 1851	George W. Barbour
C	Treaty at Camp Buron	June 3, 1851	George W. Barbour
D	Treaty at Camp Persifer F. Smith	June 10, 1851	George W. Barbour
E	Treaty at Dent's and Vantine's Crossings	May 28, 1851	O. M. Wozencraft
F	Treaty at Camp Union	July 18, 1851	O. M. Wozencraft
G	Treaty at Bidwell's Ranch	August 1, 1851	O. M. Wozencraft
H	Treaty at Reading's Ranch (aka Redding, California)	August 16, 1851	O. M. Wozencraft
I	Treaty at Camp Colus	September 8, 1851	O. M. Wozencraft
J	Treaty at Fork of Cosumnes River	September 18, 1851	O. M. Wozencraft
K	Treaty at the village of Temecula	January 5, 1852	O. M. Wozencraft
L	Treaty at the Village of Santa Isabel	January 7, 1852	O. M. Wozencraft
M	Treaty at Camp Fremont (Southern Costanoan Territories assumed to be included)	March 19, 1851	Redick McKee, George W. Barbour & O. M. Wozencraft
N	Treaty at Camp Barbour	April 29, 1851	Redick McKee, George W. Barbour & O. M. Wozencraft
O	Treaty at Camp Lu-pi-yu-ma	August 20, 1851	Redick McKee
P	Treaty at Camp Fernando Feliz	August 22, 1851	Redick McKee
Q	Treaty at Camp Klamath (Lower Klamath)	October 6, 1851	Redick McKee
R	Treaty at camp in Scott's Valley (Upper Klamath)	November 4, 1851	Redick McKee

These treaties were never openly and publically debated (thus not appearing in the Congressional Record) and instead were hidden and remained so until discovered in the early 1900's, then denied. Meanwhile, indigenous Californians enjoyed the "protection" of the 1850 ACT which made slaves of them and turned life in the so-called land of the free into a horror, a travesty of the Constitution...the population of these people, about 200,000 -300,000 in 1848, was reduced to 15,238 by 1890.

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