Adjusting American Indian treaties: A guide to supplemental article and supplementary treaty citations from opinions of the federal, state, and territorial court systems

Supplemental articles and supplementary treaties were used as tools to modify American Indian treaties. In general, supplemental articles were adjustments to the parameters of a treaty, frequently made as quickly as the same – or the next – day of negotiations, whereas the task of a supplementary treaty was to affect the conditions created in a previous treaty(s).As the law of the land, these materials have been referenced in the opinions of the federal, state, and territorial court systems. This article identifies those 80 documents – a combination of 39 initial treaties and their 41 supplements – cited in the opinions of 101 cases between 1831 and 2000 that bind together these instruments, their modifications, and their application within these various venues.