Bill Text: IL HR0504 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Expresses support for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation's efforts to regain possession of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation that was illegally sold by the federal government in 1849.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-2)

Status: (Passed) 2022-03-16 - Added Co-Sponsor Rep. Rita Mayfield [HR0504 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HR0504-Introduced.html

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HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is a
federally-recognized Indian tribe that originally occupied
homelands in southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and
northwestern Indiana; and
WHEREAS, Members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
were signatories to the 1829 Treaty of Prairie du Chien, which
reserved two sections of land near Paw Paw Grove, Illinois for
Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band; and
WHEREAS, Shortly thereafter, the Potawatomi people of
northern Illinois were removed from their homelands in
connection with the U.S. Indian Removal Policy of the 1830s;
and
WHEREAS, The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation relinquished
nearly all of their initial 28 million-acre homeland in the
Great Lakes area when the Treaty of Chicago was signed only
three years later; and
WHEREAS, The 1833 Treaty of Chicago did not cede the
Shab-eh-nay Reservation to the U.S., but instead it reaffirmed
the reservation established for Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band
in the 1829 Treaty of Prairie du Chien; and

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WHEREAS, Because the land reserved for Chief Shab-eh-nay
and his band in Illinois was expressly reserved by the U.S.
Senate when it ratified the Treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1829,
the land belonged to Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band despite
the removal of most of his tribe to lands in Kansas; and
WHEREAS, In 1849, while Chief Shab-eh-nay was away
visiting relatives in Kansas, the U.S. General Land Office
illegally sold the land and passed the title to non-natives;
and
WHEREAS, Since then, individuals, the State of Illinois,
the DeKalb county government, and corporate entities assumed
ownership of lands within the Shab-eh-nay Reservation and
continue to occupy Shab-eh-nay's lands to the present day; and
WHEREAS, The current non-Indian occupants within the
Shab-eh-nay Reservation should not be held liable for
occupying the land; and
WHEREAS, The federal government has admitted that it
violated federal law when it sold the Shab-eh-nay Reservation
in 1849; and
WHEREAS, Only congress can affirm the Prairie Band

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Potawatomi Nation's authority within the reservation, resolve
any damages owed to them, and clear the land title of the
state, county, and local residents; and
WHEREAS, The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation seeks a
complete resolution of all issues relating to the Shab-eh-nay
Reservation through congressional recognition of its land
ownership and the taking of land by the federal government;
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we support the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation's efforts to
regain possession of Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band's land
that was illegally sold by the federal government in 1849; and
be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage the federal government to
enact legislation to address the ownership of the Shab-eh-nay
Reservation reserved for Chief Shab-eh-nay and his descendants
under the Treaty of Chicago in 1833.