The Use of Land and Indian Resistance
Discussion | Summary
Early American engagement with Native Americans was driven by a relentless desire for land acquisition to benefit business interests and the profit motive. From fur trading in the 16th century to present-day conflicts like the Dakota Access pipeline protests, the U.S. government consistently prioritized economic interests over Native rights. Resistance efforts, like those of the Cherokee and Shawnee, were ultimately unsuccessful against the powerful tide of expansionism and capitalism.
Land Acquisition: Driven by business interests, the U.S. government pursued aggressive land acquisition policies.
Historical Context: From fur trading to modern pipeline protests, Native lands have been targeted for economic gain.
Resistance Efforts: Cherokee and Shawnee resistance highlighted the struggle to protect traditional homelands.
Economic Motives: Every encounter with Native Americans was predicated on economic interests.
Revitalization Challenges: Efforts to revitalize Native communities have been hampered by new business interests like casinos and energy industries.
These points underscore the ongoing conflict between economic expansion and Native American rights throughout American history.
Discussion | Full Text |
Fall 2016
A common theme that emerges from historical accounts of early American engagement with Indians in the United States is the insatiable appetite for land acquisition exhibited by the U.S. government in its championing of business interests and the profit motive. From fur trading activities that devastated traditional ways of life in Canada and the Northern U.S. as early as the 16th century to present day conflicts such as the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline protests over intrusion onto Sioux sovereign lands, government officials have acted in the interest of the rich and powerful while trampling over Native people. As J. Diane Pearson notes in her essay “Lewis Cass and the Politics of Disease: The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832”, the Act was designed to “enable Indian removal, to permit relocation of Native Americans to reservations, to consolidate and compact reservation communities, to expedite westward expansion of the United States, and to protect Indian nations viewed as friendly or economically important to the United States.”[1] When the facts are presented, essentially every encounter with Indians since contact with European explorers has been predicated on the notion that white people have superseding economic interests in Indian lands.
Evidenced by the Cherokee resistance to encroachments in the Southeastern U.S., no amount of adaptation or change has been adequate, in that it significantly slowed or stopped efforts by white settlers to gain more land, resources, and wealth. The same can be said of the Shawnee at the end of the American revolution, for whom “the outcome…would prove nothing less than cataclysmic. All through the war they fought valiantly on the British side in defense of their homelands, without losing a battle, only to discover --following the British surrender -- that their one-time allies had ceded all lands west of the Appalachians to the new American republic.”[2] War leader Tecumseh would then emerge with his brother Tenskwatawa as a fierce resistance leader of Northeastern Indians, ultimately failing to secure by means of force the traditional homelands that his people held so sacred to their lifeways. Since these devastating conflicts, revitalization efforts have met with unequal levels of success, often hampered by new or emerging business interests, such as the casino or energy industries, as capitalism runs rampant in its endless quest for profits at the expense of people.
References
Pearson, J. Diane. "Lewis Cass and the Politics of Disease: The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832." Wicazo Sa Review 18, no. 2 (2003): 9-35. Accessed October 12, 2016. doi:10.1353/wic.2003.0017.
We Shall Remain: Part II - Tecumseh's Vision. Directed by Ric Burns and Chris Eyre. Performed by Benjamin Bratt, Dwier Brown, and Alex Meraz.
American Experience We Shall Remain. October 5, 2012. Accessed October 12, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eKft8CB6AM.
[1] Pearson, J. Diane. "Lewis Cass and the Politics of Disease: The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832,” p. 9.
[2] We Shall Remain: Part II - Tecumseh's Vision. Directed by Ric Burns and Chris Eyre.