CHAPTEE IV 



THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 



The land of Michigan originally belonged to the 

 Indian inhabitants. Territorial sovereignty came to 

 the United States by its treaty with Great Britain 

 in 1783. Actual possession of the southern penin- 

 sula resulted from Jay's Treaty, becoming effective 

 in 1796; while it remained for the Governor Lewis 

 Cass in 1820 to assert American sovereignty north 

 of the Straits of Mackinac. Title to much of the 

 land, however, was first bestowed on the United 

 States through a series of treaties with the Indians. 



Notable among these treaties is that of Detroit in 

 1807, ceding a tract in the southeastern area of Michi- 

 gan ; the Saginaw Treaty of 1819, ceding, a large 

 region in the east-central portion tributary mainly 

 to Saginaw Bay; the cession by the Pottawatomies 

 in 1821, of lands in the southwest between the St. 

 Joseph and Grand rivers; while the large territory 

 north of this river, embracing the northwestern and 

 northern parts of the Lower Peninsula and much 

 of the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula, not 

 already granted, as far west as the Chocolay Eiver 

 near Marquette, was ceded by the Ottawas and Chip- 

 pewas in 1836. The region west of this line was 



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