Continuing my look at the plight of the Native Americans: Following the coattails of the American Revolution was a sense of expansion. During the late 18th century as the eastern colonists of the United States had aspirations to travel westward and the natives were wedged in the middle of said desires. Eastern tribes were involuntary pushed out of their native land to infertile expanses that contained fruitless soils, even if they had a flourishing rapport with whites previously. Difficulties emerged where westward development was on the upsurge and parts in the west were becoming filled with immigrants and the lands those natives lived on ended up being taken from them by the government and given to colonists. Treaties were signed by the natives of the region affirming they accepted the down scaled reservations or allotments, even though their allotments were typically traded to the white colonists by force. Regrettably the aftermath of this demoralizing removal cost the natives their tribal individuality and autonomy. The newly founded government did not forgive (nor forget) the tribes that had sided with the British during the war. In 1783, the recently contrived United States Congress spelled out their animosity towards Indians: "The Indian tribes by joining the British in the Revolution had forfeited their rights to possession of lands within the United States; the new country would be justified in compelling the Indians to retire to Canada or to the unknown areas beyond the Mississippi river." [1] Those who would not conform would be dealt with. Countless Native Americans declined to recognize treaties signed after the Revolutionary War that yielded lands north of the Ohio River populated by them to the United States. After an Indian confederation had slain more than 800 soldiers in two battles (one of the worst losses ever underwent by the United States by natives) President Washington allotted General Anthony Wayne command of new armed forces, which ultimately overwhelmed the confederation and consequently permitted Americans to continue settling the area. Legally speaking, expansion was going to happen, and Congress made sure that it would be lawful. The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the United States, passed July 13, 1787. The main result of the edict was the formation of the Northwest Territory, the first ordered territory of the United States, from lands south of the Great Lakes, west of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River. Though not directly drafted with natives in mind, the ordinance makes note of them. In two sections, the Northwest Ordinance makes indications about the Native Americans contained this expanse: The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.[2] This section became more of a trifling provision than a tangible one, as in a previous section, it adopts that: ...the governor shall make proper divisions thereof... to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extinguished, into counties and townships.[3] Natives were being considered, but they were a separate entity that had no legal representation. But separation was not to last. April 7, 1788, a group of New Englanders established Marietta, the first specifically American settlement in the Old Northwest. Contained within the 248,000 square miles of this massive area, extending between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes, there were already about 6,000 French and British residents, and a few Americans.[4] These fur traders and forerunner farmers in broadly dispersed settlements were hastily absorbed by the multitudes of American pioneers. But the Indian dwellers, conceivably 48,000, presented at first a grim hurdle to the American development. Steadily they were subdued.[5] Regulation was needed with the interactions between settlers and their native counterparts. The Indian Intercourse Act of 1790 recognized that no auctions of Indian lands were to be made concerning any individuals unless the sale was sanctioned by the United States. The United States federal government was then allowed supervision of trade and political affairs that involved Indians and their properties. The main end was to keep armistice on the frontier and circumvent conflict with the Natives. Originally, like most philosophies at the end of the war, there was a conscious effort to protect native people within the law. The land ordinance provided for the sale of lands only after they had been bought from the Indians. William Penn had projected to sanction laws for the defense of the Indians. Pelatiah Webster, one of America's first economists, wrote concerning the significance of promoting a "good and friendly correspondence with the Indian natives, by a careful practice of justice and benevolence towards them."[6] But this is not a perfect set up for natives by any means. The federal government first took a dynamic curiosity in outlining “genuine” as opposed to “fake” Indians. It became imperative to check which chiefs who could legitimize the handover of lands by treaty. It was under such conditions that the federal government began to police the free market of ethnicity and to preserve for itself the right to define who was legitimate in the numerous Indian trade intercourse acts. Indian characteristics at large were considered to disappear soon after the settlement of the land transfer, and there was little point in keeping track of everyday tribal members.[7] This was early attempts at “civilizing the savages” by the United States as a means to snatch up their lands and not look bad out right stealing it from them. Many felt that this was an opportunity to cultivate the tribes and create some form of amalgamation between the two. Colonel E. C. Boudinot, a Colonel in the in the American Civil War said this in 1874 looking back Intercourse Act: The first law of the country to regulate trade and intercourse -with the Indian tribes was enacted in 1790. At that time no Indian tribe approached civilization, and the law was uniform and proper. But since then the Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws, have become civilized. More than a generation has passed away since they exchanged the bow for the plough, and their superstitions and traditions for the Bible and school-book. Yet, while they have emerged from the darkness of barbarism to the light of civilization, no one could discover it from the character of your laws.[8] The initial American policy toward Native Americans was one of exclusion. They were either useful or they were in the way, but above all they were a separate entity. And there seemed to be a certain level of symbiosis. What prompted changes in American Indian policy were their lands. By absorbing the native people and westernizing them, much bloodshed could be avoided, at least in theory. This is not the case, as there was over another century of bloodshed incurred at the slow march west continued by American settlers into the less than forgiving tribal lands of the native peoples. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 was the seminal moment in policy. It was totally removal or assimilation, no in between. The United States acquired only France's claim to the Louisiana Territory, as the land belonged to the Indians that occupied the region. The United States gradually began to procure the acreages through the 19th century by acquisitions from distinct Indian tribes and by wars against them.[9] [1] Wilson [2] Ourdocuments [3] Ourdocuments [4] Bond 3 [5]Bond 3 [6] Stone 337 [7]Castile 744 [8] Boudinot 222 [9] Loewen 121-122
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Ryan LancasterThe internet is a scary place. You don't know who to trust when it comes to information sometimes, especially when it involves history. Well weary traveler, look no further. Professor Lancaster has got you covered. After receiving my masters in American history, I wanted to put that rather expensive piece of paper to use and create a curriculum of my choosing to inform the unwashed masses of their history. Also, I want to be an internet celebrity. Archives
August 2018
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