The Kaskaskia Indians were one of about a dozen blood-related tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation. The had long lived in the Great Lakes region and their first contact with Europeans was reported to be near Green Bay Wisconsin in 1667 at a Jesuit mission statement. The Kaskaskia Indians along with the entire Illinois Confederation saw significant decline in the 18th century as they made war against the most formidable native nations including the Iroquois, Sioux, Fox, Chickasaw, Cherokee and the Osage Nation. Combat losses along with European diseases almost wiped out the Kaskaskia and other Illinois tribes. With their population devastated, the Kaskaskia Indians signed a treaty with the United States at Vincennes in 1803. The Kaskaskia ceded their lands for two reservations where they would receive a yearly annuity, a priest and church, and the protection of the United States Government.
Unlike the Louisiana purchase, president Thomas Jefferson's had no reservations over the acquisition of this territory. The treaty was signed and was currently in the Senate for ratificaion. Jefferson promised to lay it before Congress "before Congress as soon as the Senate shall have advised its ratification." In Jefferson's words, the land was "among the most fertile within our limits". It was transferred to the United States by the friendly tribe of Kaskaskia Indians who had been "reduced by the wars and wants of savage life". To Jefferson this as a win-win situation. The United States would gain an important acquisition, and the Kaskaskia tribe would be saved by turning from their "savage life" to an agricultural way. It was all part of Jefferson's Indian "Civilization program". In his third annual address to Congress, Jefferson wrote these words"
"Another important acquisition of territory has also been made since the last session of Congress. The friendly tribe of Kaskaskia Indians, with which we have never had a difference, reduced by the wars and wants of savage life to a few individuals unable to defend themselves against the neighboring tribes, has transferred its country to the United States, reserving only for its members what is sufficient to maintain them in an agricultural way. The considerations stipulated are that we shall extend to them our patronage and protection and give them certain annual aids in money, in implements of agriculture, and other articles of their choice. This country, among the most fertile within our limits, extending along the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois to and up to the Ohio, though not so necessary as a barrier since the acquisition of the other bank, may yet be well worthy of being laid open to immediate settlement, as its inhabitants may descend with rapidity in support of the lower country should future circumstances expose that to foreign enterprise. As the stipulations in this treaty involve matters with the competence of both Houses only, it will be laid before Congress as soon as the Senate shall have advised its ratification."As part of this program, the United States government would provide trading houses among them to furnish their necessities in exchange for commodities, and eventually their land. Thomas Jefferson explained this in a letter to William Henry Harrison writing that to promote the sale of their lands, "we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and influential individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off by a cession of lands." Jefferson continued his state of the union address by sharing a few more details about his "civilization program".
"With many of the other Indian tribes improvements in agriculture and household manufacture are advancing, and with all our peace and friendship are established on grounds much firmer than heretofore. The measure adopted of establishing trading houses among them and of furnishing them necessaries in exchange for their commodities at such moderate prices as leave no gain, but cover us from loss, has the most conciliatory and useful effect on them, and is that which will best secure their peace and good will."Today, the town of Kaskaskia, Illinois sits on a site where the Kaskaskia tribe once had a village. In 1818, the town had 7267, people but is now essentially a ghost town with only 20 people registered in it as of 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaskaskia
http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/lewis_clark_il/htmls/il_1803/cultural_illinois.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaskaskia,_Illinois
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/indian_removal/jefferson_to_harrison.cfm
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