The Great Treaty held at Prairie du Chien was created by James Otto Lewis in 1825. In 1825, Governor Lewis Cass of the Michigan Territory was commissioned to negotiate peace treaties among the Indians of the Great Lakes region. Between 1825 and 1827, Cass employed James Otto Lewis who made portraits and sketches during negotiations to come along with him and document this  ((“Lewis, View of the Great Treaty Held at Prairie Du Chien, September 1825 | Humanities Texas.” 2020. Home | Humanities Texas. Humanities Texas. 2020. https://www.humanitiestexas.org/archives/digital-repository/lewis-view-great-treaty-held-prairie-du-chien-september-1825 ))At this treaty there was about 5000 Indian Warriors made up of the Chippeways, Sioux, Sacs and Foxes, Winnebagoes, Pottowattomied, Menomonies, Ioways and Ottowas tribes.

James Otto Lewis was a pioneer and a soldier. In his early life he took part in the defense of Schuykill against the British in the War of 1812. He later engaged in the Black Hawk War. He was a driend of General Cass and accompanied him and other Indian commissioners as draughtsman for the Indian Department to the Treaty Grounds at Prairie du Chien in 1825, Fond dy Lac, Green Bay, Mississinewa, and Fort Wayne in 1827. He attempted to portray their character and attitude as well as their costumes with strict fidelity, feeling it to be a great duty to “rescue from oblivion some relics of a race so interesting”. ((Kate E. Levi. “James Otto Lewis.” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 4, no. 3 (1921): 357-58. Accessed May 2, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4630317))

With Andrew Jackson increasing in popularity, discrimination against Indians started becoming normalized. During this time Jackson had negotiated treaties which divested the southern tribes of their eastern lands in exchange for lands in the west, with this treaty being one of them. The tribes agreed to the treaties because they wanted to appease the government in the hopes of retaining some of their land. They also were hoping to protect themselves from white harassment ((“Indian Removal.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html.  ))At the time this was not detrimental to the Indians. They continued to live freely as a community. But they were unaware of how this would affect their future.

Prairie du Chien was located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers. It was originally created as an outpost of the French fur trade. It then grew into an important fur-trade center that served a diverse Indigenous population ((Hogue, Michel. 2017. “Great Lakes Creoles: A French-Indian Community on the Northern Borderlands, Prairie Du Chien, 1750-1860.” Journal of the Early Republic 37 (2): 379–82. doi:10.1353/jer.2017.0034 )) It slowly become one of the most diverse communities of Indigenous people so when America wanted to expand and saw the large sum of land they had, they became a target.

The Great Treaty took place during this time: when there were very strong biases towards Indians. While looking at the painting, you can see that the Indians are keeping to themselves and doing everyday activities. This was odd at this time because most artwork depicting Indians demonstrated hostile behavior ((“Lewis, View of the Great Treaty Held at Prairie Du Chien, September 1825 | Humanities Texas.” 2020. Home | Humanities Texas. Humanities Texas. 2020. https://www.humanitiestexas.org/archives/digital-repository/lewis-view-great-treaty-held-prairie-du-chien-september-1825.))  It is obvious that Lewis felt sympathy for the Indians in the way he draws them.  When you look closely you can see mothers carry their children and holding their hands. This is meant to depict the Indians needing to take their families and leave to move to the reservations west of the Mississippi.

In the middle of the picture, you can see a large group of Indians seated in a circle around two American soldiers standing at a podium in the middle. There is also an army of soldiers to the right of the soldiers to make sure none of the Indians revolted against the soldiers. None of the Indians are being hostile though, because of how they are drawn siting comfortably around the soldiers and listening intently. It is also important to note the significant number of American flags that are represented in this picture. Not only is there one in the center of the circle, but there are 3 on the buildings in the background. I assume these are meant to assert dominance on the Indians to make them feel threatened by the Americans. Also, if you look closely at the soldiers, you can see a few of them have their weapons drawn, ready to shoot if necessary, but none of the Indians apart from one have weapons on them. The one Indian who does have a weapon in their head does not have it drawn or pointed at anyone, he is just having a conversation with another Indian. It is important to pay attention to all the details in an artwork like this in order to learn more about the time period.