# Dakota Land Acknowledgement *A land acknowledgement published by the Ramsey County Historical Society, set beside the measures attached to its six commitments.* The **Dakota Land Acknowledgement** is a statement published by the [[Ramsey County Historical Society]] (RCHS). It names [[Alexander Ramsey]], the county's namesake. It quotes the line from his 1862 address in which he said the Sioux Indians of Minnesota "must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders of the State," and it lists six commitments.[^1] The statement carries no adoption date and no budget line. It sets no metric against any of the six commitments. The Society that publishes it retains Ramsey's name.[^1] The project's at-issue record lists the statement as pair AI-Ramsey-027. The pair is ranked 27 within Tier II, *The Name on the Courthouse* (pairs 21–36). Its anchor is the January 2025 presidential action *Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing*.[^2] ## What The acknowledgement is the Society's own account of its relationship to [[Dakota]] land and to the man for whom the county is named. It names Ramsey, quotes his 1862 extermination line, and sets out six commitments.[^1] The documented terms attached to those commitments are the following. The statement gives no date on which the Society adopted it. It assigns no budget line to any commitment. It states no metric by which any of the six could be measured.[^1] The record shows the six commitments as published. It does not establish that any of them has been funded or measured, because the statement attaches neither a budget nor a measure.[^1] The institution issuing the acknowledgement continues to operate under the name of the official whose words it quotes.[^1] ## In the at-issue record - **Pair AI-Ramsey-027 (Ramsey package; rank 27, Tier II).** The pair sets the Society's published acknowledgement beside the terms attached to it. The acknowledgement names Ramsey, quotes the extermination line, and lists six commitments. It has no adoption date, no budget line, and no metric against any of the six. The Society retains the name.[^1] - **Anchor.** The pair is anchored to the White House presidential action of January 2025, *Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing*.[^2] The entry's stated rationale for the anchor is that "a published commitment with no measure is the gesture the order is about." That rationale is the project's characterization, not language from the order.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Ramsey County Historical Society, *Land Acknowledgement* (undated) — names Alexander Ramsey, quotes the 1862 line, lists six commitments; states no adoption date, no budget line, and no metric. https://rchs.com/about/land-acknowledgement-statement/ [^2]: The White House, *Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing* (January 2025) — presidential action cited as the anchor of at-issue pair AI-Ramsey-027. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/