Full Text of HR0830 103rd General Assembly
HR0830 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | | | HR0830 | | LRB103 40971 MST 74042 r |
|
| 1 | | HOUSE 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 |
| | | HR0830 | - 2 - | LRB103 40971 MST 74042 r |
|
| 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 |
| | | HR0830 | - 3 - | LRB103 40971 MST 74042 r |
|
| 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 10 | | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 11 | | we support the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation's efforts to | 12 | | regain possession of Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band's land | 13 | | that was illegally sold by the federal government in 1849; and | 14 | | be it further | 15 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the federal government to enact | 16 | | legislation to address the ownership of the Shab-eh-nay | 17 | | Reservation reserved for Chief Shab-eh-nay and his descendants | 18 | | under the Treaty of Chicago in 1833. |
|