TEAM NATIVE AMERICAN

American Identity, Economy, Politics

Jonathan Maltais, Daniel Perry & Burke Thomas

Wentworth Institute of Technology

NATIVE AMERICANSNATIVE AMERICAN IDENTITY

JONATHAN MALTAIS

WILL TO FIGHT THROUGH OPPOSITION AND ADVERSITY

• The Sullivan Expedition of 1779 , designed to break the Iroquois confederation, did not have the desired effect. The Iroquois activity became even more determined. (Boundless)

• The British made peace with the Americans in the Treaty of Paris (1783), through which they ceded vast American Indian territories to the United States without informing or consulting with the American Indians. The Northwest Indian War was led by American Indian tribes trying to repulse American colonists (Boundless)

Destruction of Indian Villages (WSKG.org)

LAND OWNERSHIP OR THE LACK THERE OF

• A Massasoit Indian once said ” "What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to him?” (archive.adl.org) The Natives thought that land was not property. No specific person owned it. Ownership was a new ideal introduced by the colonists. Land was a major reason for a lot of the grief between the Natives and the Settlers. The Indians would loose much of the land that they used, not so much considered owned. This was a major part of there identity and way of life.

SUBSISTENCE FROM THE THE LAND A MOSTLY AGRICULTURAL PEOPLE

• Some of the first offerings of good faith between the settlers and the natives was offers from the land. Food that the Indians had grown.

• “Several American Indians were crucial in helping the Pilgrims survive in the new land—teaching them how to farm and fertilize the soil. For the first few years of colonial life, the fur trade (buying furs from American Indians and selling to Europeans) was the dominant source of income beyond subsistence farming. “ (Boundless)

• The Natives benefited for some time from the trade with settlers. They showed them farming and hunting for furs and in return they received metals and things they did not know how to make yet.

The First Thanksgiving, painting by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris

TRADE INTRODUCED WITH THE NEW SETTLERS ALONG WITH TRADE AMONG

TRIBES• Trade was not always an huge part of the identity among the American Indians.

Although there was some among the many different tribes trade became more abundant when the settlers started to come into the picture. From furs to crops the tribes would trade for new metals and commodities they had never seen before from the new comers. “Seeking to enter the fur trade, the Dutch cultivated close relations with the Five Nations of the Iroquois…The Dutch, through their trade of manufactured goods with the Iroquois and Algonquins, presumed they had exclusive rights to farming, hunting, and fishing in the region.” (boundless) This was close to the beginning of what could have been a long and profitable relationship for both sides. It did not end that way.

WAR

• Natives assisted one side or another in almost all conflicts leading up to and past the American Revolution.

• “The French and Indian war (1754-1763)…was fought primarily between the colonies of Great Britain and New France, with both sides supported by forces from Europe as well as American Indian allies.” (Boundless)

• American Indians were also involved in the Revolution. Both the British and the Americans tried to make allies of them to help in there cause. A battle during the Seven Years War

PEACE

• The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a treaty signed in October 1784 between the United States and its Native Americans…The treaty served as a peace treaty between the Iroquois and the Americans” (Boundless)

• This was only the first in many treaties to be signed. This led to a lengthy stretch of peace and hope for Native Americans but in the long run many of these treaties did not stand.

• Peace was a huge part of American Indian philosophy. Although most of the time peace could not be maintained even with treaties establishing land, that would eventually be taken, for the Natives.

NATIVISM

• “Nativism was an anti-immigration movement that favored those descended from the inhabitants of the original thirteen colonies.” (Boundless)

• The name comes from “Native American” but did not benefit them at all. In fact the only thing about this movement that had to do with Native Americans was the name its self.

• The American identity was created that Settlers of the original 13 colonies were the true “Native Americans”

• It became the start of extreme racism and also start of different political parties like the ”Know Nothings” Campaign flag advising “Native Americans”

to beware of foreign influence.

• The American identity was largely influenced by the Native American identity at the time. Through help from the real Native Americans, a free world was possible. Without help when the settlers first arrived and an without assistance in the many armed conflicts American would not be what it is today. Although through everything the Natives ended up drawing the short straw. Nearly being eradicated from every part on the east coast eventually they were sent away. But there Identity lived on in the American ways. Without some of the Natives beliefs in helping people things would have ended much differently with many of the colonies probably failing soon after starting. If the true “natives” upheld the ideals of “nativism”, for which it was named, things could also have ended much differently.

CONCLUSION OF THE INLFUENCEON THE AMERICAN IDENTITY

WORK CITED

• Boundless. “American Indians and the Revolution.” US History to 1877 Boundless, 14 Nov. 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-9e5d3c56-f48a-487c-835b-cea71fc7aa09/the-british-colonial-experience-553/troubled-neighbors-27/american-indians-and-the-revolution-158-8552/

• Boundless. “Plymouth.” US History to 1877 Boundless, 02 Jan. 2017. Retrievedfrom: https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-9e5d3c56-f48a-487c-835b-cea71fc7aa09/exploration-and-settlement-of-the-americas-552/settling-new-england-20/plymouth-128-2470/

• Boundless. “Maryland.” US History to 1877 Boundless, 20 Sep. 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-9e5d3c56-f48a-487c-835b-cea71fc7aa09/exploration-and-settlement-of-the-americas-552/settling-the-chesapeake-19/maryland-125-2473/

• Boundless. “Nativism.” Boundless U.S. History Boundless, 19 Sep. 2016. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/religion-romanticism-and-cultural-reform-1820-1860-14/immigration-118/nativism-626-8562/

Boundless. “The French and Indian War.” US History to 1877 Boundless, 27 Sep. 2016. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-9e5d3c56-f48a-487c-835b-cea71fc7aa09/the-british-colonial-experience-553/the-colonial-wars-28/the-french-and-indian-war-161-9654

• Boundless. “The Treaty of Fort Stanwix.” The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History Of The American People Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/users/140930/textbooks/the-unfinished-nation-a-concise-history-of-the-american-people-07bb588b-4513-4fb8-9f12-9bb5c6d808eb/founding-a-nation-1783-1789-6/the-confederation-s-problems-72/the-treaty-of-fort-stanwix-396-4682/

• Johnson, S (2014) Preserving a piece of revolutionary war history in new york. Iages retrieved from: http://wskg.org/uncategorized/preserving-a-piece-of-revolutionary-war-history-in-new-york/

• The Unheard Voices (2005) Native American quotes about land ownership. Retrieved from: http://archive.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/na_quotes.html

The Native American Economy of the 19th Century

By: Daniel Perry

INDIAN TRADE

The term Indian Trade describes the people involved in the trade. The popular items varied by area and time frame. In most of Canada the term is just like the fur trade. Europeans thought making beaver hats with furs was by far the most valuable product of the trade. The high demand for other items resulted in trade. Europeans wanted deerskin, buffalo skins and the meat from them. They also wanted pemmican on the Great Plains. In result, the Native American demand influenced the trade goods brought by Europeans.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Trade)

Fur trading was one of the main economic activities in Northern

America from the late 16th century to the mid-19th century. At the time,

demand for fur was surging in Europe. It has been calculated that over 20

million beaver hats were exported from England alone from 1700 to

1770. Both trading partners, Native Americans and Europeans, provided

the other a comparative advantage in the fur trade industry.

The fur trade provided a stable source of income for many Native

Americans until the mid-19th century, when changing fashion trends in

Europe and a decline in the beaver population in North America brought

about a collapse in demand for fur.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Trade)

FUR TRADES

Economic fluency between Native Americans and European colonists started

around the 16th century and lasted until the late 19th century. Here’s the deal, the

relationships between Europeans and Indians that they shared was often a disaster with

fighting. Many tribes did make peaceful trade relations with the new colonists during

the beginning of European settlement. During the 17th all the way through the 19th

century, the English and French pretty much only traded for animal pelts and fur with

the Indians. Trading between the Spanish and Indians was come and go and lasted only

roughly 20 years. The wars and the dwindling of Native American populations, along

with the westward expansion of the United States led to the end of this kind of

economic relations between Indians and European Americans.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Trade)

The trading between Spanish settlers and Native Americans was

rare and occurred in parts out west. The Spanish mainly intended to push

Christian belief on to Indians and mainly use them as slaves. The

important effect of trading with the Spanish was the intro of the horse to

the Ute in New Mexico.

This definitely changed the lifestyles and customs of many Native

Americans. Many Indians switched from a hunter- gatherer economy to a

nomadic or vagabond lifestyle after they began using horses for

transportation. They had the world at their fingertips for hunting bison

and trading with other tribes now.

Other business ventures continued, especially in the alcohol business trade around many reservations, and for Native arts and crafts.

MODERN-DAY NATIVES

Many Native Americans today create a different kind of demand with their casinos on their territory/land. These have been designed to entertain, provide conference resorts, cater to a wide variety of customers, and earning uncountable revenues for tribes to use for economic development, as well as welfare and education of their people.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Trade)

NATIVE AMERICAN POLITICSBY: BURKE THOMAS

INDIAN REMOVAL ACT

Native Americans had little say in the government of the U.S. With the removal act established by president Jackson in 1830 was set to remove the Natives from there home lands and move them to the west. Some tribes went peacefully but many did not. Although it only gave the right to negotiate for their withdrawal from areas to the east of the Mississippi river and that relocation was supposed to be voluntary, all of the pressure was there to make this all but inevitable. All the tribal leaders agreed after Jackson’s landslide election victory in 1832. (historynet.com)

The Indian Removal Act/ Trail of Tears

THE CHEROKEES VS. GEORGIA

• “In 1828, the state of Georgia passed a series of laws stripping local Cherokee Indians of their rights… In defense, the Cherokee cited treaties that they had negotiated, as an independent "nation," with the United States, guaranteeing the Cherokee nation both the land and independence.” (McBride) This case was eventually lost due to president Jacksons doing with the Indian Removal Act. There were a few cases that made it to the Supreme Court. The case argued the fact that the Cherokee nation was a separate political entity all together.

JOHNSON VS. M’INTOSH• Johnson v. M’Intosh resulted from one such controversy

over title. The plaintiff in the case traced his title to a direct cession that the local leaders of the Illinois and Piankeshaw tribes had made to a private citizen. The defendant contended that his title, traced through a later Indian cession to the federal government, was the one that was valid. (Johnson v. M’Intosh)

• The Decision. The Supreme Court held that Johnson’s title was not valid. That decision rested on the Court’s definition of Indian land rights as limited by the doctrine of Indian sovereignty. According to this idea, tribes did not have the ability to cede “absolute title”(apparently with the exception of the federal government in treaties).  (Johnson v. M’Intosh)

• This was a huge victory for American Indians who up to this point had many many struggles over land and property.

Several Delegations at the White HouseSioux, Pawnee, Pottawatomis, Sac & Fox

January 1, 1858

ELK V. WILKINS

• "They [the Indian tribes] may without doubt, like the subjects of any foreign government, be naturalized by the authority of Congress and become citizens of a state and of the United States, and if an  individual should leave his nation or tribe, and take up his  abode among the white population, he would be entitled to all the rights and privileges which would belong to an emigrant from any other foreign people.” (Elk v. Wilkins) This case had to deal a lot with civil rights of American Indians and whether or not being born in a tribe in the U.S made them citizens of the United States. It was ruled in favor of the Native Americans.

FORT LARAMIE TREATY

• “As a result, in 1851 the federal government brought many of the Plains tribes together at Fort Laramie, including many Lakota and Dakota bands, and sought to establish peace among the tribes so settlers could continue to move across the area and not fear for their safety…” (ndstudies.org)

• This gave Native Americans back land rights and eased tensions between Americans and the tribes.

• Even with the new treaty tensions were high between Americans but also between tribes. Sioux Treaty Lands and Surrounding Area (ndstudies.org)

WOUNDED KNEE

• “The conflict at Wounded Knee was originally referred to as a battle, but in reality it was a tragic and avoidable massacre. Surrounded by heavily armed troops, it’s unlikely that Big Foot’s band would have intentionally started a fight.”(history.com) Following the defeat at little big horn it is believed that the 7th cav came in to slaughter mostly woman and children. This was a huge step back in relations with with the plains Indians and the United States. This Massacre ended the “Ghost Dance” movement. Which was a religion almost that fought against the bad treatment of Native Americans.

MODERN POLITICS:ELY S PARKER

• “Ely S. Parker was a Seneca Indian born in 1828 on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation in western New York…”(galenahistory.org)

• He served on General Grants personal staff during the civil war.

• Later due to years of service and hard work Parker became the first Native American born to hold the title of “Commissioner of Indian Affairs.”

Ely Parker

CONCLUSION TO AMERICAN INDIANS IN POLITICSAfter many years of grief American Indians finally made there way into politics. From the massacres to the court cases Native Americans had it rough from the get go. Not being a “Native” in white America causes all kinds of problems when it comes to social stature. The real natives were able to fight for there rights through better means than war including in the supreme courts. All that was not enough to prevent some wars and massacres though as can be seen with Wounded Knee and the Indian Removal Act. The Indians still struggle for rights today and it is an ever going battle. But thanks to good people including one of the originals Ely S Parker the tribes today are still fighting.

WORK CITED

• Elk v. Wilkins. (1884) 112 U.S. 94 Retrieved from: http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/government/us_constitution/news.php?q=1263412965

• Historynet.com. Indian removal act. Facts, information and articles about Indian removal act, from american history. Retrieved from: http://www.historynet.com/indian-removal-act

• History.com (2017) Wounded knee: conflict breaks out. Retrieved from: http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee

• Johnson v. M’Intosh. American Eras. Retrieved from: Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/johnson-v-mintosh#A

• McBride, Alex (2006) The first hundred years. Landmark case. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_cherokee.html

• Ndstudies.org (2017) The 1851 fort laramie treaty. Retrieved from: http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/standingrock/1851treaty.htm

• Watson, Daryl (2012) A biography of ely s parker. Retrieved from: http://www.galenahistory.org/researching/bio-sketches-of-famous-galenians/biography-of-ely-s-parker/