# Nelson Act of 1889 *United States federal law concerning the Chippewa Indians in Minnesota* The Nelson Act of 1889 is a United States federal law concerning the Anishinaabe (Chippewa or Ojibwe) people of [[Minnesota]]. It was enacted under the title *An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota* and is cited as 25 Stat. 642 (51st-1st-Ex.Doc.247).[^1] The cited account dates its approval by Congress to January 14, 1889.[^1] According to that account, the law was meant to move every Anishinaabe person in Minnesota onto the White Earth Indian Reservation in the west of the state. The reservations they left were to be taken for sale to non-Native settlers.[^2] The law brought to Minnesota reservations the model of the Dawes Act of 1887. Under that model, communal Indian land was divided among individual households and the remainder was sold.[^2] The same account gives a second aim: dividing land among households as a route to subsistence farming and assimilation.[^2] Minnesota congressman [[Knute Nelson]] pressed for dividing Ojibwe lands in northern Minnesota and selling the "surplus" to non-Natives.[^3] Under the plan, each person was to receive an individual allotment, and the balance was to be offered for sale to non-Natives.[^3] The Red Lake Band of Chippewa agreed to cede 3,000,000 acres. It retained the southern part of its reservation, beside Red Lake.[^3] The cited account places the act within ongoing conflict between white residents and American Indians in the state. It records that many residents wanted the reservations consolidated, Indian landholding reduced, and the surplus opened to non-Native purchase and settlement, particularly after the [[Dakota]] Conflict of 1862.[^4] The statute's title describes its object as the "relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians".[^1] The one land figure recorded in the source cited here is the Red Lake Band's cession of 3,000,000 acres.[^3] ## Affected tribes The cited account lists the following bands as covered by the act:[^5] - Red Lake - Pembina - Winnebagoshish - Leech Lake - Cass Lake - Otter Tail Lake - Mille Lac - Fond du Lac - Bois Forte - Grand Portage - White Oak Point - Sandy Lake - Snake River The list also covers other scattered Indians belonging to those tribes who were not living on any reservation.[^5] ## In the Minnesota record ### What - Federal statute titled *An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota*, cited as 25 Stat. 642.[^1] - The act applied the allotment-and-surplus-sale approach of the Dawes Act of 1887 to Minnesota reservations.[^2] ### When - Approved by Congress on January 14, 1889, as dated in the cited account.[^1] ### Where - The act covered the Chippewa (Ojibwe) reservations of Minnesota.[^5] - It provided for consolidation on the White Earth Indian Reservation in the western part of the state.[^2] ### Why - The cited account gives the law's goals as consolidating Native Americans on a western reservation and promoting allotment, subsistence farming and assimilation.[^2] - The record here does not establish the motives of individual legislators.[^2] ### How much - The Red Lake Band agreed to a cession of 3,000,000 acres.[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Nelson Act of 1889* (revision 1374493168, retrieved 2026-10-26) — statute title, citation 25 Stat. 642 and 51st-1st-Ex.Doc.247, and approval by Congress on January 14, 1889. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Act_of_1889 [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Nelson Act of 1889* (revision 1374493168, retrieved 2026-10-26) — the law's intent to relocate the Anishinaabe to White Earth and sell vacated reservations, its relation to the Dawes Act of 1887, and its goals of consolidation and allotment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Act_of_1889 [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Nelson Act of 1889* (revision 1374493168, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Knute Nelson's role, individual allotments with sale of the remainder, and the Red Lake Band cession of 3,000,000 acres. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Act_of_1889 [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Nelson Act of 1889* (revision 1374493168, retrieved 2026-10-26) — context of white–Indian tensions and residents' aims after the Dakota Conflict of 1862. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Act_of_1889 [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Nelson Act of 1889*, section *Affected tribes* (revision 1374493168, retrieved 2026-10-26) — list of affected bands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Act_of_1889