In the United States, relationships with Indian nations are regulated at the federal level by Congress and are administered through the Department of the Interior. Congress is, of course, composed of elected officials who are supposed to represent the people. In 1874, Indians could not be American citizens and, therefore, could not vote. While Congress regulated Indian affairs, it did not represent Indians, nor did it solicit Indian testimony regarding bills which impacted Indians.
In 1874, the United States government viewed Indians as living in a state of “barbarism.” Government policies were based on the fantasy that American Indians were nomadic hunters and gatherers and ignored the fact that most Indians at the beginning of the European invasion of North America were farmers. Also ignored were accounts of the early French and Spanish explorers who described Indian cities and the monumental architecture which they constructed.
By 1874, the policies of the federal government regarding American Indians were fairly well established. American Indians were seen as barriers to the progress of civilization and policies were developed to place them on reservations. Then as the American hunger for land grew, the reservations were broken up so that “surplus” lands could be given to non-Indians. Historian Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., in his chapter in Legacy: New Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, writes that the United States gave Indians three options:
“…first, they could abandon everything that constituted their Indianness and turn into whites, accepted as whites by the white population; second, if they refused to adopt that option, they would have to move far away from the whites, out of sight and out of mind, giving up their land and resources and becoming in no way a physical or cultural threat to the whites; and, third, if they refused to become white or move away from them, they would have to be exterminated.”
In1874, the Office of Indian Affairs (sometimes referred to as the Indian Office or the Indian Bureau; in the twentieth century it would become the Bureau of Indian Affairs) within the Department of the Interior was managed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. This position was a political appointment and any experience with actual Indians was not required to be appointed to the position. In 1874, Edward Parmelee Smith was serving as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. His work with the American Missionary Association in New York City led to his appointment, as the policy at this time was to assign the administration of Indian reservations to Christian missionary organizations. In his biographical sketch of Smith in The Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 1824-1977, Richard Crawford writes:
“Given his background, he strongly endorsed the government’s policy of seeking nominations for Indian agents from the leading religious denominations.”
Richard Crawford also writes:
“Among the hindrances to Indian progress he considered most serious were the government’s treatment of the tribes as sovereign or independent peoples, cash annuities to Indians stipulated by treaties, tribal ownership of land instead of individual property holdings, an inadequate system of criminal law for Indians and the whites who victimized them, the refusal of hostile Indians to remain on the reservations, and intertribal warfare. Smith supported the growing demand that Indians perform some kind of labor in return for supplies furnished by the government, even to the point of sanctioning the amending or annulling of treaties to effect that change.”
Briefly described below are a few of the events relating to American Indians and the American government 150 years ago, in 1874.
The War Against the Buffalo
On the Great Plains, the desire to exterminate the Indians also included the extermination of the buffalo, which the military saw as the Indians’ commissary. By the end of the century, the buffalo herds had dwindled from millions to just a few hundred. The government viewed the extermination of Indians and buffalo as a way of making the Great Plains safe for the railroads, cattle raising, and farming. General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) led the war against the buffalo. In his book Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman, Robert O’Connell writes:
“To say that Sherman encouraged buffalo hunting completely understates the cases; he declared war on them, orchestrating the killing of roughly five million beasts between 1867 and 1874.”
By 1874, the war against the buffalo had reached the point that the extinction of the species was in sight.
In 1874, Congress voted overwhelmingly to stop the slaughter of the buffalo on the plains, but the bill was pocket vetoed by President Grant. In his 1929 book The Hunting of the Buffalo, historian E. Douglas Branch reports the incident this way:
“Ulysses S. Grant received it and put the document into a pigeonhole for its India ink to become a rich brown before it was seen again. Or perhaps he touched the bill to his lamp, and lighted a cigar with it.”
Labor Required
In 1874 Congress passed a law which required Indian males between the ages of 18 and 45 to perform labor if they were to draw rations from the government. The law stemmed from Congressional concerns about the cost of the Indian Service.
Timber Rights
During the nineteenth century, the government policy was to move Indians onto reservations where they would be out of the way of American progress. Natural resources on the reservations such as minerals, timber, and water, however, were to be developed by non-Indians. It was not uncommon for the superintendents of the reservations to sell off resources such as timber with little, if any, consideration of Indian rights to these resources. In 1874, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Indians had only the right of occupancy on reservations and that the government owned the timber on the reservations.
Civil Rights
In 1874, American Indians were not U.S. citizens, nor could they become U.S. citizens. Therefore, the Secretary of the Interior ruled that the 14th Amendment did not give any land rights – such as homesteading – to civilized Indians (Christian Indians who spoke English) since they had not been citizens when the Amendment had been passed. The Secretary ruled that only an act of Congress could give the benefits of the land laws to Indians.
Rights Ignored
In Oregon non-Indian settlers were invading and squatting on traditional Nez Perce lands in the Wallowa Valley. Concerned about this situation, President Grant had established a reservation for the Nez Perce in the Wallowa Valley by Executive Order in 1873. The following year, the Office of Indian Affairs notified the American settlers in the area that it had no intention of enforcing President Grant’s 1873 Executive Order which prohibited American settlement in the Wallowa Valley. The Office of Indian Affairs did not, however, inform the Nez Perce that the Executive Order was not going to be enforced. This set the stage for conflict in the area.
Concerned about the volatility of the area, the non-treaty Nez Perce bands held a council at Camas Prairie near present-day Grangeville, Idaho. Those in attendance included Joseph, Ollokot, White Bird, Looking Glass, Red Owl, and Toohoolhoolzote. Toohoolhoolzote was regarded by the Americans as a hostile Dreamer medicine man. Three important Nez Perce warriors – Rainbow, Five Wounds, and Grizzly Bear Ferocious -- were also asked to speak to the issue of going to war against the Americans. The council decided against war.
More 19th century American Indian histories
Indians 101: American Indian religions 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indian wars, conflicts, and battles 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: Sioux Indians and Black Hills gold 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indian Reservations 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indians in Oklahoma 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indians and Christianity 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indians and the federal government 150 years ago, 1873
Indians 101: American Indians and the Army 150 years ago, 1873
