"The Treaty Council That Failed": Time, Eventfulness, and the Afterlives of Settler Colonial Failure.

This article examines the failed 1855 Chehalis River Treaty council, part of the "Stevens Treaties" that sought to transfer Indigenous lands in present-day Washington State to the U.S. federal government. Unlike other treaties negotiated by Governor Isaac Stevens, the Chehalis treaty was never signed or ratified, reflecting Indigenous resistance to settler colonial demands and revealing the fragility and contested nature of U.S. colonial power in the region. The failure highlights the complex interplay of Indigenous political sovereignty, regional histories shaped by the fur trade and global commerce, and settler colonial aspirations, while also illustrating how such failures have had lasting material and political consequences for Indigenous communities, including challenges to sovereignty and federal recognition. The article argues that studying this failure enriches understanding of settler colonialism as a dynamic structure that manages both success and resistance over time.