Treaty of Fort Meigs

The Treaty of Fort Meigs, also called the Treaty of the Foot of the Rapids, was signed September 29, 1817 between the chiefs and warriors of the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee, Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa, tribes of Native Americans and the United States of America, represented by Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur. The accord contained twenty-one articles. With this last treaty, the Native American tribes of the Ohio Valley ceded all their remaining land to the United States, which started an auction and sold the land to white settlers. In fact, most of that land was already occupied by settlers, but as it was officially part of the Indian Territory, the federal government limited tribes' ability to enforce the rule of law among the white inhabitants.

The Treaty of Fort Meigs was signed between the United States and various Native American tribes five days after the laying of the cornerstone for the fledgling University of Michigan campus near the corner of Bates St. and Congress St. in Detroit. Among the treaty's provisions was the ceding of 1920 acre of land by the Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi tribes to the "college at Detroit" for either use or sale, and an equal amount to St. Anne's Church in Detroit, where Father Richard was rector. No college had officially been created yet, so the next month Monteith and Richard decreed the creation of the "First College of Michigania" at Detroit.