There were at least seven nations living in Missouri at the time of European contact, but other nations traveled through Missouri during the “Indian Removal.” Those included Cherokees, Delawares, Kickapoos, Sacs and Foxes, and Shawnees.
At the time Missouri became a state in 1821, only the Osages, Sacs and Foxes had ceded claims to the land on which it sits. It would take 13 years and treaty negations with 13 different Native nations before the U.S. would hold title to all of the land in the state in 1837.
On February 9, 1839, Governor Lilburn Boggs signed a law making it illegal for Native people to be in Missouri without the written permission of a U.S. Indian Agent. The law was stricken from the books at the beginning of the 20th century. Indigenous people did not disappear. While some were forcibly removed to Kansas, Nebraska and the Indian Territory (Oklahoma), many stayed in Missouri. Today, there are 27,000 Indigenous people in the state.
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