File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1998/marxism-international.9801, message 132


Subject: M-I: A Sordid History
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 19:12:16 -0500 (EST)
From: hoov <hoov-AT-freenet.tlh.fl.us>


one need not mythologize/romanticize Native Americans in order to
acknowledge and understand that the US government's policies toward
these peoples have been sordid (to say the least)...

1) when the Confederation Congress passed the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, 
it stated:

" ...the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians;
their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their
consent; and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never
be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by
Congress."

2) the political status of Native Americans was left unclear in the 1787
Constitution...the 'commerce clause' of Art. I, Sec. 8 includes
congressional power to regulate commerce with "the Indian Tribes"...
in 1789, Congress designated Native American tribes as foreign nations
for purposes of signing land and boundary treaties with them...

3) westward expansion led to the 1830 Indian Removal Act which authorized
removal of tribes east of the Mississippi River and relocation on
reservation west of the river...the Great Plains was considered a
desert at the time, unfit for habitation by whites but suitable for
Native Americans...initially, removal was voluntary, but eventually
became mandatory for most and was supervised by the US calvary...from
that time, Native Americans who refused to be "moved" to whatever
lands were designated for them were moved forcibly (and, as we
know, thousands died)

4) US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall described Native American
tribes as "dependent domestic nations" in two cases in the early 1830s..
they were within US border but outside its political process...Native
Americans 'special sovereignty' stops at the door of Congress...its
power over Native America commerce grew into 'plenary power' meaning
Congress can do anything its wants with Native American land...

5) in addition to plenary power, the federal government developed the
'trust doctrine' which said that because Native American tribes were
'weak and dependent', the federal government must look out for their
welfare...this principle is cited in racist and ethnocentric terms in 
court decisions, many of which justify federal actions that Native
American tribes oppose...for example:

"As a superior and civilized nation, [the US has] the power and the
duty to exercise a fostering care and protection over all dependent
Indian communities"...the US is encouraged to behave as a "Christian
people in their treatment of an ignorant and dependent race"...

6) in 1871, Congress declared that there would be no more treaties
negotiated with Native American tribes (it is well known that most 
treaties had been broken, both by the US government and by individuals
who wanted their lands for settlement and exploitation)...by then,
all tribes were on reservations...

7) with passage of the 1887 General Allotment Act (better known as the
Dawes Act), Congress' goal was 'assimilation' of Native Americans into
US society...each family was allotted acreage within the reservation
to farm, and the rest was sold to whites...reservation acreage was
reduced from 140 million to 47 million acres in the process...Native
American tribes that refused to cooperate with this plan lost their
reservations altogether...

8) prompted by Christian churches, officials attempted to 'civilize'
Native Americans following passge of the Dawes Act (whether they
wanted to be or not)...Bureau of Indian Affairs agents, who
supervised the reservationsm tried to eliminate Native American
ways and replace them with white dress and hairstyles, the English
religion, and Christianity...government boarding schools separated
Native American children from their families to instill these
practices...

9) in 1903, the US Supreme Court ruled that Congress can violate treaties
with Native Americans...in the case, three Native Americans tribes
had a treaty with the US guaranteeing that their reservations
couldn't be sold or broken up without written consent of three-fourths
of the adult males...Congress passed a law doing just that and the
court ruled that Congress' plenary power includes the right to
disregard the treaties when the national interest 'requires' it...

10) Congress extended citizenship to all Native Americans born in the 
US in 1924...formal cermonies included the shooting of a last arrow and 
the taking hold of a plow...despite their status, Arizona denied Native
Americans the right to vote until 1948 and Utah effectively barred
them from the polls until 1956...

11) Congress adopted a policy of 'tribal restoration' in 1934...the
negative consquences of coerced 'assimilation' had destroyed Native
American ways...with traditional means of subsistence gone, most were
impoverished...the federal government encouraged Native Americans on
reservations to establish local self-government (not all tribes agreed
with this, including the Navajos)...

more later, Michael

 
-- 





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