American Indian policy and treaty enforcement in the nineteenth century

¶ … American Indians struggled against the oppression of the White Man for nearly another seventy years but Chief Black Hawk's 1832 surrender speech epitomizes the frustration felt by the various tribes that once dominated the American landscape. From text of this speech, Kent State history professor, Phillip Weeks, drew the title for his book, Farewell, My Nation (Weeks, 2000). To his fellow Sac and Fox tribesmen, Chief Black Hawk stated, in part, "The white men do not scalp the head; but they do worse - they poison the heart....Farewell, my nation!"

Black Hawk's speech occurs fairly early in the process but it characterizes how the White Man broke the spirit of the American Indians as they continuously displaced the Indians from the land that they had occupied for thousands of years. In his book, Weeks chronicles how the United States government progressively enforced its policy of expansion while completely disregarding the concerns and pleas of the American Indians. In the context of his book, Weeks relates how the various Native American tribes attempted to accommodate the intrusions of the White Man while still attempting to maintain their previous ways of life. Against this theme, Weeks explains how the U.S. Government's policies regarding the "Indian Question" developed over the course of time. These policies, which are described by Weeks as separation, concentration, and Americanization, resulted in the eventual near total oppression of the Native American culture and Weeks sympathetically details the process.

The displacement of the Indians occurred naturally and without Government involvement in the early days of America. The Indians, accustomed to the freedom of movement that they had enjoyed for centuries, moved on their own as the American Colonies and, later, the young American nation continued to expand. Border skirmishes occurred from time to time but organized warfare was extremely rare. This situation worsened, however, in the 1830's as the U.S. Government developed its first real policy regarding the "Indian Question." This first policy, described by Weeks as the separation policy, was formulated to displace Indians from the Appalachian and the area known as the Northwest Territory where the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan are now located. The Government's separation policy was divided into two schools of thought. On the one side was the group known as the gradualists who adopted the position that the Indians living in these areas should be assimilated into the dominant white culture through the work of the missionaries, an organized program of re-education, and teaching the Indians how to farm. On the opposite side of the issue were the removalists who argued that the Indians were savage, beyond being civilized, and deserving of little or no consideration of any kind. This group felt that any effort to allow the Indians to continue living on land that was destined for the White Man was a waste of effort. The removalists viewed the effort of removing the Indians from the area east of the Mississippi as vital for the growth of cotton in the South, farming in the North, and for the establishment of roads, canals, and new cities in both locations. The removalist attitude was demonstrated through the statement of President Andrew Jackson who promised: "Your father has provided a country large enough for all of you. There your white brother will not trouble you; they will have no claim to the land, and you can live upon it, you and all of your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever (Weeks: p. 53)." Unfortunately, the removalists prevailed in their arguments and the Indians in the aforementioned area were summarily removed, usually in a violent method, to the areas west of the Mississippi River where the White Man had not yet begun to settle. The only consideration afforded the Indians so removed was to be paid approximately thirty cents an acre for being forcefully removed from their homeland. Little or no consideration was afforded the cost in human life to those Indians removed. For the removalists it did not matter as long as the interests of the White Man were being satisfied.

As the United States entered the era preceding the Civil War the separation theory began to lose momentum. The Lewis and Clark expedition had created new interest in the area beyond the Mississippi River and the Manifest Destiny movement began to gather momentum. Americans began to push into the areas where the Indians had been placed as a result of the separation policy and, as a result, a new policy had to be developed. Weeks commenting on the era wrote that, "The relentless westward push of humanity and enterprise…rolled across the remaining Indian land like a tidal wave, with Americans clamoring for more and more of the republic's heartland (Weeks: p. 123)." Merely placing the Indians in an area that was uninhabited by the White Man no longer worked. A new policy had to be developed. The new policy became to be known as the Concentration approach. From this policy the idea of placing Indians on specially designated properties known as Indian Territories developed. Through the application of this policy the Indians were no longer free to roam the lands that had previously been put aside for them but, instead, the Government began a program of systematically rounding up the Indians and placing them in special, limited areas. Usually these were areas that had been proven undesirable for the White Man to live. Continuing the same sort of argument offered by the removalists, the good land had to reserved for the White Man in order that it could be used for agriculture, commerce, and the development of the modern capitalist economy. New land was necessary for this process and the areas that the Indians had previously been removed to were required to insure that this occurred. Land speculation became a new industry in America and the land west of the Mississippi became a prime target.