Full Text of SR0896 102nd General Assembly
SR0896 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is a | 3 | | federally-recognized Indian tribe
that originally occupied | 4 | | homelands in southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and | 5 | | northwestern
Indiana; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation | 7 | | were signatories to the 1829 Treaty of Prairie du Chien, which | 8 | | reserved
two sections of land near Paw Paw Grove, Illinois for | 9 | | Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay and his
band; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Shortly thereafter, the Potawatomi people of | 11 | | northern Illinois were removed from
their homelands in | 12 | | connection with the U.S. Indian Removal Policy of the 1830s; | 13 | | and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation relinquished | 15 | | nearly all of their initial 28 million-acre homeland in the
| 16 | | Great Lakes area when the Treaty of Chicago was signed only | 17 | | three years later; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, The 1833 Treaty of Chicago did not cede the | 19 | | Shab-eh-nay Reservation to the U.S.,
but instead it reaffirmed | 20 | | the reservation established for Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band | 21 | | in the
1829 Treaty of Prairie du Chien; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Because the land reserved for Chief Shab-eh-nay | 2 | | and his band in Illinois was
expressly reserved by the U.S. | 3 | | Senate when it ratified the Treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1829,
| 4 | | the land belonged to Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band despite | 5 | | the removal of most of his tribe to
lands in Kansas; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, In 1849, while Chief Shab-eh-nay was away | 7 | | visiting relatives in Kansas, the
U.S. General Land Office | 8 | | illegally sold the land and passed the title to non-natives; | 9 | | and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Since then, individuals, the State of Illinois, | 11 | | the DeKalb county government, and
corporate entities assumed | 12 | | ownership of lands within the Shab-eh-nay Reservation and | 13 | | continue to occupy
Shab-eh-nay's lands to the present day; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, The current non-Indian occupants within the | 15 | | Shab-eh-nay Reservation should not be held liable
for | 16 | | occupying the land; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, The federal government has admitted that it | 18 | | violated federal law when it sold the
Shab-eh-nay Reservation | 19 | | in 1849; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Only Congress can affirm the Prairie Band |
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| 1 | | Potawatomi Nation's authority within the reservation, resolve | 2 | | any
damages owed to them, and clear the land title of the | 3 | | state, county, and local residents; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation seeks a | 5 | | complete resolution of all issues relating to the Shab-eh-nay | 6 | | Reservation
through congressional recognition of its land | 7 | | ownership and the taking of land by the federal
government; | 8 | | therefore, be it
| 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL | 10 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we support the Prairie | 11 | | Band Potawatomi Nation's efforts to regain possession of Chief | 12 | | Shab-eh-nay and his band's land that was illegally sold by the | 13 | | federal government in 1849; and be it further
| 14 | | RESOLVED, That we encourage the federal government to | 15 | | enact legislation to address the
ownership of the Shab-eh-nay | 16 | | Reservation reserved for Chief Shab-eh-nay and his descendants | 17 | | under the
Treaty of Chicago in 1833.
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