The
United States government has had long-established mechanisms in place
empowering those in authority to have control over the actions and resources of
the general population. Public laws become enforced legislation through the
actions of opposing parties of a two-party system, divergent priorities, and
confrontational approaches. Oftentimes, laws are not based on sound logic and
what is in the best interest of the people. “All for the public good” were the
politicians’ claims in their effort to hide their and their supporters’
self-serving agendas.
When
Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States, he was supported by
the wealthiest men in the south. The land in which the Cherokee, Choctaw, and
other tribes resided was targeted by wealthy entrepreneurs who wanted to expand
their cotton plantations.[i]
Jackson despised the Indian people and
did not defend Indian rights. He openly rejected federal treaty obligations.
Jackson reinstated the Indian Removal Act, which was passed by Congress in
1830. This act gave the President the privilege of selecting the tribes to be
removed west of the Mississippi River and provided the financing for their
removal. Seeds of greed and hatred fueled these acts of genocide and
discrimination and the joint collaboration of the wealthy business men falsely
justified the takeover of the Indian people’s land.
Treaties were mechanisms put into
place as a formalized way of securing land holdings for Euro-Americans where
Indian people used to reside. The first treaty was established in 1778 and the
last was enacted in 1871. Over 400 treaties were established between Indian
tribes and the United States government. Congress assigned commissioners to assure
these treaty documents were secured with the tribes. The Indian people were
considered to be the conquered ones. These meetings were not based on equality;
the meetings exemplified expansionism. For example, the Treaty of Paris in 1783
took possession of Indian Territory from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.[ii]
Not all of the 550 federally recognized tribes established treaties with the
federal government.[iii]
In 1836, in
support of President Jackson’s efforts, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft resolved
disputes over land with the Ojibwe and Odawa. The 1836 Treaty of Washington was
a part of the Indian Removal faction, a movement which wiped out the ownership
of a vast amount of Indian territories in Michigan for the Native Americans. The
1830s is considered a horrible time period concerning the history of the United
States including the “Trail of Tears,” a heart-wrenching, atrocious destruction
of human lives. The Indian Removal Act authorized the President to negotiate
treaties in order to purchase tribal lands in exchange for lands further west, lands
not considered part of United States territory.
Schoolcraft was instrumental in
organizing gatherings of Chippewa and Odawa leaders to discuss the impending
treaty negotiations. He prepared these individuals for what he presumed was for
the good of the general population as well as the Native Americans. The Odawa
begin the negotiation process by bringing to the table in Washington a deal
involving small Lake Michigan Islands, and some of the land in the northern
part of Michigan that belonged to the Chippewa people. Lewis Cass was serving
as Secretary of War during that time and was not interested in what the Odawa
people were proposing. He wanted the United States to gain control of much more
land than was being offered. Plus, the Odawa people could not legitimately
claim the Chippewa land holdings. The
treaty was completed with the help of Schoolcraft. It included provisions such
as the Native Americans being able to live on specific sections of the allotted
land settlements for determined amount of time.
Michigan history has also been
influenced greatly by the political actions of Schoolcraft, from the naming of
communities to his involvement with the Native Americans. Schoolcraft named
many of Michigan’s counties and locations when he was residing in the Michigan
territory. He named Leelanau County after his wife’s pen name “Leelinau” and
went on to name Alcoma, Algoma, Allegan, Alpena, Arenac, Iosco, Kalkaska,
Oscoda and Tuscola. He used faux Indian names and combined words and syllables
from Native American languages with words and syllables from Latin and Arabic.
Many locations were named after him such as Schoolcraft County in Michigan,
Schoolcraft River and Schoolcraft Lake in Minnesota, and Schoolcraft Township
in Houghton County, Michigan.
Schoolcraft
led a life filled with ambition and curiosity and he
obtained additional notoriety through his writing career. He was driven
to tell the country about his findings through his published works. He studied
with great interest topics such as Native Americans, mineralogy, education, and
the Ozark area. Through extensive travels he discovered the source of the
Mississippi, examined the lives of Native Americans, and 2,000 miles of Lake
Huron and Lake Superior shoreline. After he was commissioned by Congress, Schoolcraft
worked for years on the history of Indian tribes of the United States. His
compilation of Indian studies was published in six volumes from 1851-1857.
Schoolcraft strived to convert the
Indian people into what he considered to be a more respectable people, people
who farmed instead of hunted to provide sustenance for their villages. The
Odawa demonstrated resistance to the treaty requirements and did not want to
give up their land holdings. Schoolcraft portrayed himself as having the best
interests of the Indian people in Michigan in mind when he pursued the 1836 Treaty
of Washington. His justification behind this treaty was stated in his personal
memoirs:
Liberal
provisions were made for their education and instruction in agriculture and the
arts. Their outstanding debts to the merchants were provided for, and such aid
given them in the initial labor of subsisting themselves, as were required by a
gradual change from the life of hunters to that of husbandmen. About twelve and half cents per acre was
given for the entire area, which includes some secondary lands and portions of
muskegs and waste ground about the
lakes—which it is, however, thought ought, in justice to the Indians, to be
included in the cession. The whole area could not be certainly told, but was
estimated at about sixteen millions of acres…
As soon
as these several treaties were acted on by the Senate, I left the city on my
return. It was one of the last days of May when I left Washington. A new era had now dawned in the upper lake
country, and joy and gladness sat in every face I met. The Indians rejoiced, because they had
accomplished their end and provided for their wants. The class of merchants and
inland traders rejoiced, because they would now be paid the amount of their
credits to the Indians. The class of metifs and half-breeds were glad, because
they had been remembered by the chiefs, who set apart a fund for their benefit.
The citizens generally participated in these feelings, because the effect of
the treaties would be to elicit new means and sources of prosperity. [iv]
Although Schoolcraft married a
woman of Ojibwe (Chippewa) descent, he had a hand in taking away a lot of their
land holdings as a result of the treaty. The treaty
was wrapped up and signed on March 28, 1836 in Washington D.C. by Henry
Schoolcraft, Indian Commissioner for the United States and several
representatives of the Native American nations. Approximately 16 million acres,
or around three-eighths of the entire state of Michigan was ceded to U.S.
government by the Chippewa and Odawa tribes.[v]
Schoolcraft sought monetary
awards for half-breeds and full-blooded Indian people and the payment of debts
to business owners owed by the Indian people. Monetary
settlements were provided to the Indian people and mixed-bloods were entitled
to more compensation. Schoolcraft’s mixed blood relatives receive were awarded
compensation. Some of the traders were rewarded part or most of their claims. The
treaty proved to be a lucrative exchange for many of the people involved in its
implementation except for the full-blooded Native American people.
[i] Nies,J.
(1996). Native American History: A
Chronology of a Culture’s Vast Achievements and Their Links to World Events. New
York: Ballantine Books, 242 – 243.
Chapter VIII: A
Craft of a Different Color
[ii]
Ellis,J. (2007). American Creation. New
York: Vintage Books, 131 – 132.
[iii]
Utter,J. (1993). American Indians:
Answers to Today’s Questions. Nebraska: University of Oklahoma,86.
[iv]
Schoolcraft, H. (1851). Personal Memoirs
of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American
Frontiers. Kentucky: Filiquarium
Publishing, LLC, 381.
[v] Bremer,
R. (1987). Indian Agent and Wilderness
Scholar: The Life of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Michigan: Clarke Historical
Library, 168.
