The Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855, or the Point Elliott Treaty,—also known as Treaty of Point Elliot (with one t) / Point Elliott Treaty—is the lands settlement treaty between the United States government and the Native American tribes of the greater Puget Sound region in the recently formed Washington Territory (March 1853), one of about thirteen treaties between the U.S. and Native Nations in what is now Washington. The treaty was signed on January 22, 1855, at Muckl-te-oh or Point Elliott, now Mukilteo, Washington, and ratified 8 March and 11 April 1859. Between the signing of the treaty and the ratification, fighting continued throughout the region. Lands were being occupied by European-Americans since settlement in what became Washington Territory began in earnest from about 1845.
Signatories to the Treaty of Point Elliott included Chief Seattle (si'áb Si'ahl) and Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens. Representatives from the Duwamish, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, Snohomish, Lummi, Skagit, Swinomish, (in order of signing) and other tribes also signed.
The treaty established the Suquamish Port Madison, Tulalip, Swin-a-mish (Swinomish), and Lummi reservations. The Native American signers included Suquamish and Dwamish (Duwamish) Chief Seattle, Snoqualmoo (Snoqualmie) and Sno-ho-mish Chief Patkanim as Pat-ka-nam, Lummi Chief Chow-its-hoot, and Skagit Chief Goliah. The Duwamish signatories to the Point Elliott Treaty of January 22, 1855 were si'áb Si'ahl as Chief Seattle, and Duwamish si'áb Ts'huahntl, si'áb Now-a-chais, and si'áb Ha--doo-an. The treaty guaranteed both fishing rights and reservations. Reservations were not designated for the Duwamish, Skagit, Snohomish, and Snoqualmie peoples.
Context
The Nonintercourse Act of 1834 specifically prohibited White American intrusion into Indian territories. The Oregon Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 opened Oregon Territory to European-American settlement; Washington Territory had a similar law. The law sunset 1 December 1855; settlers had to file their land claims by that date, so White leaders had incentive to get treaties signed with Native Americans as speedily as possible to enable development by whites.
Under the laws encouraging settlement, each male settler could homestead and receive free for himself and 640 acres with his wife (women could not individually hold property). Settlers arriving before 1850 could receive , or 1 Regular Section, one square mile. Claims were made by unilateral occupation, implicitly backed by militia if not military. Native Americans were disconcerted by the encroachment of the settlers on their territory, and sometimes reacted by making raids or forming uprisings against them.
By and large, Native leaders were willing to sell their land (although they had utterly different conceptions of land use and no cultural comprehension of European-American property rights concepts). They rejected proposals for their relocation from Puget Sound country.
The courts have said that the power of Congress in Indian affairs is plenary (full and complete)—great but under present law not absolute. The federal government and tribes are co-equal sovereign entities; the tribal governments predated the existence of the United States. One of the basic principles underlying Indian nations is that they "retain all the inherent powers of any sovereign nation", retaining all original sovereign rights and powers "which have not been given up or taken away by due process" of law. Courts have ruled that the "intent of Congress to limit the sovereign powers of Indian governments by legislation must be clearly expressed in the law in order to be effective" (in legal terminology, per Saito, Georgia State University College of Law). [Emphasis added.]
The U.S. Constitution, Article 6, states: This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in persuance 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. [Emphasis added.]