Reference no: EM133607061

Question: From the moment Europeans arrived in North America, they slowly but surely bought, swindled or conquered land that had been inhabited by Native Americans for centuries. When the United States was officially established as an independent country in 1776, they continued this policy, and by 1890, our nation had forcibly placed nearly all Native Americans on relatively inhospitable reservations.

The speeches below were actually made by Native American leaders in response to these events (several of the earlier speeches were translated and written down by European-Americans who had heard the Native American speakers). Read these speeches and post comments. Some possible questions to consider as you read and post include:

· Each speech was made by an individual or group that was in a very unique situation. Despite this, do the speeches have anything in common that suggests that the United States followed a specific policy regarding Native Americans? If so, what was the apparent policy, and what might have motivated the policy?

· Why were Native Americans so opposed to selling their land?

· In your opinion, do the related readings in the text book (hint: see The Fate of Western Indians on page 830 of your text book) present a thorough discussion of Native American history in a way that highlights both the U.S. and Native American perspectives?

· Did the Native Americans have legitimate reasons to be upset?

· What do the speeches reveal about the rights of Native Americans and their attitude toward the land in both historic and modern times?

· Does the speech from 2003 surprise you? Is history repeating itself?

Your post might address one or two of the aforementioned questions, or you might want to post something complete different but relevant to the topic. You might also want to wait and see what your classmates post, and then post a comment in direct or indirect response to some of these postings. There is no right or wrong way to complete the discussions provided you demonstrate that you have given your posting some thought!

Red Jacket (1805 and 1811)

Red Jacket was a leader of the Seneca Nation of western New York. He was regarded as a great public speaker and argued frequently on the behalf of his people and their traditions. The first paragraph is an excerpt from a speech he gave to white missionaries in 1805. The second paragraph is an excerpt from a speech he gave in 1811 to whites attempting to purchase his land.

There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island... But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water and landed upon this island. Their numbers were small. They found us friends and not enemies.... At length their numbers greatly increased. They wanted more land; they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened, and our minds became uneasy... You have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets.

You want us to travel with you and look for new lands. If we should sell our lands and move off into a distant country towards the setting sun, we should be looked upon in the country to which we go as foreigners and strangers. We should soon be surrounded by the white people, who will there also kill our game, and come upon our lands and try to get them from us... We are determined not to sell our lands, but to continue on them. We like them. They are fruitful, and produce us corn in abundance for the support of our women and children, and grass and herbs for our cattle.

Tecumseh (1810)

Tecumseh was a Shawnee Chief that believed that the only way Native Americans could resist the United States was for all tribes to unite as one. Futhermore, he argued that an individual tribe did not have the authority to sell land to the United States, since the land belonged to all Native Americans.

Once... there was no white man on this continent; that it then all belonged to red men, children of the same parents, placed on it by the Great Spirit that made them, to keep it, to traverse it, to enjoy its productions, and to fill it with the same race, once a happy race, since made miserable by the white people who are never contented but always encroaching. The way, and the only way, to check and to stop this evil, is for all the red men to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be yet; for it never was divided, but belongs to all for the use of each. For no part has a right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers--those who want all, and will not do with less.

The white people have no right to take the land from the Indians, because they had it first; it is theirs... It belongs to the first who sits down on his blanket or skins which he has thrown upon the ground; and till he leaves it no other has a right.

The way, the only way to stop this evil, is for the red people to unite in claiming a common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be now -- for it was never divided, but belongs to all.

Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?

How can we have confidence in the white people? We have good and just reasons to.... accuse the Americans of injustice, especially when such great acts of injustice have been committed by them upon our race, of which they seem to have no manner of regard, or even to reflect.

Osceola (1834)

Osceola was a leader of Seminole Indians resisting white settlement in his home of Florida in the 1830s. Osceola argued that a treaty signed in 1832 which required the Seminoles to move from Florida to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) was obtained dishonestly. The United States Army arrested Osceola in 1837, and he died in prison the following year.

My brothers! The white people got some of our chiefs to sign a paper to give our lands to them, but our chiefs did not do as we told them to; they done wrong; we must do right. The agent tells us we must go away from the lands which we live on - our homes, and the graves of our Fathers, and go over the big river among the bad Indians. When the agent tells me to go from my home, I hate him, because I love my home, and will not go from it.... The white man says I shall go, and he will send people to make me go.... I say we must not leave our homes and lands.

Chief Seattle (1854)

Between 1853 and 1857, the United States forced Native Americans to sell and abandon 147 million acres of land. This land included those of Chief Seattle, the leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes in what is now the state of Washington. Seattle concluded that it was better to accept the demands of the United States than to fight.

The son of the white chief says his father sends us greetings of friendship and good will. This is kind, for we know he has little need of our friendship in return, because his people are many. They are like the grass that covers the vast prairies, while my people are few, and resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain.

"The great, and I presume also good, white chief sends us word that he wants to buy our lands but is willing to allow us to reserve enough to live on comfortably. This indeed appears generous, for the red man no longer has rights that he need respect, and the offer may be wise, also, for we are no longer in need of a great country.

"There was a time when our people covered the whole land, as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor. But that time has long since passed away with the greatness of tribes now almost forgotten. I will not mourn over our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers for hastening it, for we, too, may have been somewhat to blame.

"But let us hope that hostilities between the red man and his paleface brothers may never return. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

The ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their final resting place is hallowed ground, while you wander away from the tombs of your fathers seemingly without regret..... The red man has ever fled the approach of the white man, as the changing mists on the mountainside flee before the blazing morning sun.

However, your proposition seems a just one, and I think my folks will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them, and we will dwell apart and in peace, for the words of the great white chief seem to be the voice of nature speaking to my people.... A few more moons, a few more winters, and not one of all the mighty hosts that once filled this broad land or that now roam in fragmentary bands through these vast solitudes will remain to weep over the tombs of a people once as powerful and as hopeful as your own.

We will ponder your proposition, and when we have decided we will tell you. But should we accept it, I here and now make this the first condition: That we will not be denied the privilege, without molestation, of visiting at will the graves of our ancestors and friends. Every part of this country is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, ever plain and grove has been hallowed by some fond memory or some sad experience of my tribe,

Even the rocks that seem to lie dumb as they swelter in the sun along the silent seashore in solemn grandeur thrill with memories of past events connected with the fate of my people, and the very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.

Joseph the Elder (1871)

Chief of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce of Oregon, Joseph was initially welcoming to white settlers, but he became increasingly concerned by the number of whites encroaching onto the lands of his people. He was one of several chiefs who signed a treaty with the United States government in 1855 that would give the Nez Perce 7.7 million acres of land. When gold was found on this same land, the United States government revoked that treaty and forced the Nez Perce to sign a new treaty that left them with only a fraction of what had originally been promised. Joseph shared the following words with his son, also named Joseph, shortly before his death in 1871.

"My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my spirit is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. When I am gone, think of your country. You are the chief of these people. They look to you to guide them. Always remember that your father never sold his country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home. A few years more and white men will be all around you. They have their eyes on this land. My son, never forget my dying words. This country holds your father's body. Never sell the bones of your father and your mother."

Joseph the Younger (1871)

Joseph the Younger, more commonly known as "Chief Joseph", succeeded his father as chief of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce. In the hope of avoiding a forced removal to a reservation in 1877, Joseph attempted to lead his people to freedom in Canada. After traveling 1,600 miles, he and his people were captured by the U.S. army less than 40 miles from the Canadian border. Joseph made this speech several years prior to his famous retreat.

"Perhaps you think the Creator sent you here to dispose of us as you see fit. If I thought you were sent by the Creator, I might be induced to think you had a right to dispose of me. Do not misunderstand me, but understand fully with reference to my affection for the land. I never said the land was mine to do with as I choose. The one who has a right to dispose of it is the one who has created it. I claim a right to live on my land and accord you the privilege to return to yours."

Kee Watchman (2003)

The following speech was delivered to the International Indian Treaty Council's Commission on Human Rights in regard to reports that the Dineh Native Americans were being forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands by the United States Government. The Dineh reside on lands very rich in coal. Both Bill Clinton and John McCain have played a role in political events of the 1990s that preceded Mr. Watchman's speech.

My name is Kee Watchman, a traditional Dineh (Navajo) from Big Mountain Arizona, in the United States. We are still holding on very strongly to our sacred land, our sacred water, and the herbs we use for our medicine.

We have only a small piece of our Land left with us today. This Land has a lot of very important things that are still here with us as part of our traditional way of life. This includes ceremonial herbs, the different colored stones used for ceremonial sand painting, the sacred springs used in different ceremonials and also our shrines, offering places, burial sites, petroglyphs, and the ruins of the places used by our ancestors over a thousand years ago.

Mr. Chairman, if we, the traditional Dineh, are removed from our holy ancestral homeland, we cannot practice our religion and our way of life will end. Today the energy company Peabody Western Coal Company as well as the United States government and Bureau of Indian Affairs are looking to extend three decades of strip-mining to include this area, Cactus Valley/Red Willow Springs Sovereign Community, and Big Mountain, Arizona, to be strip-mined in the next 2-10 years.

We already have a big problem with our ground water. Peabody Western Coal Company has been pumping out our aquifer for over 30 years to slurry the coal over 287 miles away to Nevada (Mohave Generating Station) and Page, AZ (Navajo Generating Station) where it make the electricity to light up the big cities far from our land.

In our religion we have our songs and prayers about the rain and the water and the Mother Earth, to use in the ceremonials. We feel like our prayers and our songs have all been wasted by the strip mining and the coal slurry. Now we don't have the water anymore that we need to survive, and still they are taking more and more. They say that more than 3 million gallons of water is pumped from our homelands every day for this slurry to carry the coal they are taking. Our sacred springs are drying up now, and our sheep can't find water to drink and our corn needs the water to grow. The water is the life blood of our Mother Earth, and our Peoples and the plants and animals all need it to survive.

Our Grandfathers and Grandmothers are still holding a bundle to pray for the water to return, and to bring back a good rain and a good snow for the Land, for the people who remain on the Land, for their grandchildren and the animals.

The International Indian Treaty Council participated at the recent 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, where the big transnational corporations were told by all of civil society that water is not a commodity. Water is Life. To Indigenous cultures and to many other cultures of the world, water is sacred. UNESCO, a convenor on the theme on water and cultural diversity at this Forum, recognized the important contribution of Indigenous Peoples to the world's cultural diversity, and recommended to the governments and companies there that Indigenous rights must be given their due attention.

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of this Human Rights Commission, we are asking for your help to protect this very last piece of our Land and our sacred water under the international Human Rights, Religious Freedom and Right to Development laws which are supposed to be for all Peoples to protect our survival. We are asking for this International Body to do more research and to take strong action on our concerns.