Monday, October 23, 2017

Chloe Leal - How the 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty Changed the Plains Indian Tribes Forever - Smithsonian

How the 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty Changed the Plains Indian Tribes Forever - Smithsonian
https://apple.news/ACypawt2cTMqhOzfj_Mqkxw

Just two years after the Civil War ended, numerous Americans headed west to begin life anew. This resulted in many instances of brief but stated violence between Americans and Native Americans, as Americans were essentially squatting in the middle of Native American land. But in 1867, a meeting was placed between the two parties. Americans saw it important to "civilize" (verb) Native Americans and end the wars, and Native Americans (likely) were willing to seek whatever advantages or things being offered by the U.S. government. The American commissioners had good intentions, but the end goal of containing the Native American population to make way for railroads and canals was clear. The signed peace treaty proposed multi-million-acre reservations to tribes and nations and also offered to build houses and such, which the Natives promptly refused, but the treaty was signed nevertheless. What was truly devastating was not just the displacement of native tribes, but how quickly the treaty was picked at for hopeful disintegration by the same people who proposed it and how those people were backed by the government. Treaty payments were withheld and efforts to revoke Native Americans of hunting rights was being worked towards within a year of the treaty's birth. In the Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 1903 case the Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the right to break or rewrite treaties with the native tribes. This stripped the treaties of any power.

This article was written by Lorraine Boissoneault, who is a staff writer for Smithsonian covering history and archaeology. I think that the purpose of producing this article is shedding some light on a fairly obscure instance in which a huge injustice was done and likely  perceived to have been done at the time for the "prosperity of Americans" when it was actually quite the opposite for the actual Americans. You know, like, in the name: Americans. And where they've always dwelled: America. Next question.


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