SHABBONA – The Illinois House has drafted a bill proposing the support of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s efforts to regain possession of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation that was illegally sold by the federal government in 1849. The nation is seeking to reclaim 1,280 acres of land near Shabbona State Park in the southern part of DeKalb County. Under the Federal Non-Intercourse Act, the U.S. Congress is the only governing body with the authority to designate land titles for native nations. Members of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation were signatories to the 1829 Treaty of Prairie du Chien, which reserved two sections of land near Paw Paw Grove, Illinois for Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay and his band. In 1849, while Chief Shab-eh-nay was away visiting relatives in Kansas, the U.S. General Land Office illegally sold the land. The bill, if passed, would encourage the federal government to enact legislation to address the ownership of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation reserved for Chief Shab-eh-nay and his descendants under the Treaty of Chicago in 1833.
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