The Native American Struggle - Term Paper Example

Running Head: NATIVE AMERICAN STRUGGLE The Native American Struggle The Native American Struggle The colonization of America and the plight of Native Americans in this country has been a hotbed of controversy in modern times. Many say that you cannot put current social beliefs and mores onto the past and that looking back at the treatment of Native Americans with a present sensibility is not useful. There are universal truths and codes of conduct that should supercede the centuries and looking back on the way that Native Americans were dispossessed not only of their lands but of their culture and more often of their lives in the name of the “new” American Way. This study will focus on one nation, the Iroquois, as a prime example. The Iroquois people, who called themselves Haudenosaunee envisioned their Nation as being one giant family. In truth they created a governing body that was a family of nations. The name, Haudenosaunee, which is used to refer to this Iroquois nation, means literally, "People of the Longhouse." They built long houses that were large structures creating a long hall and became the meeting place for local and distant chieftains and other dignitaries to speak, make laws, give announcements, etc. Some of these structures were hundreds of feet long for meeting of all the nations, while single villages’ were less than fifty feet in length. However, the width and height of longhouses varied only slightly. Haudenosaunee longhouses were usually between twenty and thirty feet wide and the apex of their roofs were generally between eighteen to twenty feet high. The true center of longhouse family relationships revolved around the fireside family. (Johnson, 2003, p. 12) In fact their many centuries old culture may have actually been the first congress of democracy in the America’s long before the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution. The Iroquois Nation was bound together by what is probably the worlds first constitution, known as the Gayanashagowa (Great Law of Peace). They are also touted as being the first true participatory democracy on the planet. (Benner, 2005, p. 32) They formed a United Nations among themselves. While our very recent constitution states that “all men are created equal,” in practice if certain people have something you need and do not want to give it up, then suddenly they are no longer people, savages and not men, but animals. While there had always been many disputes over the Native American, the Iroquois would find that in 1785 New York and its then Governor, George Clinton, along with a company called The New York Genesee Land Company, would begin a process that would systematically remove them from their lands. First, The New York Genesee Land Company, an independent group of businessman, negotiated a 999-year-lease on the majority of Iroquois lands in New York State for the initial price of $20,000, and an ongoing annual rental fee of $2,000. The State charter had originally assumed full control over the governance of Native American territory which had been reserved to the Iroquois in 1768 by the establishment of a property line, west of which white men were forbidden to settle. The sale of any of the lands of the Six nations was reserved to judgment and purview of the State alone. This 999-year lease was a sideways attack on grabbing up the land and after presenting the leases for ratification by the state the obvious ploy was detected and Governor Clinton declared all the company’s transactions with the Iroquois null and void. One would think that this was the act of a protecting and concerned government agent. However, the stage was being set for the beginnings of land treaties with New York State and the Six Nations that would, not so slowly, divide there lands in shorter measures year after year until only a fraction remained for the Iroquois to live on. (Perkins & Glyndon, 1962) Beginning in 1784 a tenuous peace had been established between the United States and the Native American allies of the British Invaders. All was seem to have been forgiven and New York was also free to begin negotiations to buy the Indian lands. The Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Tuscaroras all signed agreements in various treaties between 1785 and1795 to sell portions of their lands to the State. The early treaties provided for large reservations, and hunting and salt rights, but as the years passed and the need for more land became apparent, the Indians were induced to part with more and more territory. Those they had thought were their friend led the Iroquois astray. These were some white men that had lived with them and learned their culture and language, shared their table and sometimes more. It was with the help of there men, whether purposefully of naively, that the Iroquois lands were ripped from them. (Perkins & Glyndon, 1962) George Washington, who is of course the idealized representation as one of our greatest founding fathers, was no parent figure to the Iroquois or any Native American in this country at that time. From the Iroquois point of view he was only the father of their genocide. Although the term would not be coined until centuries later, it is certainly applicable in this case. Extirpation was the current language employed by the government when relocating of decimating the Iroquois. In the genteel lexicon of the non-mythical Washington, the destruction of roughly sixty Iroquoian towns and the burning of their farm fields in 1779 was euphemized as “chastisement” …he ordered Sullivan [Sullivan-Clinton Campaign] to “cut off their settlements, destroy next years crops, and do them every other mischief, which time and circumstance will merit.” (Mann, 2005, p. 3) The mass destruction of the New York and Pennsylvania Iroquois in 1779 certainly qualified as genocide by today’s standards. President George Washington in his letter on September 6th, 1779, “to extirpate those Hell-Hounds from off the face of the earth.” (Mann, 2005, p. 37). He singed it simply as an “American Soldier” and he certainly had plenty of company in this sentiment towards the Iroquois at that time. The treatment of Native Americans by the early settlers and the later colonist of America has been a lesson in sorrow and despair. Looking back one can hardly imagine the treatment of anyone to be as horrific and devastating as it was. The Iroquois are an example of the many ways that cultures can clash. Their initial willingness to share this vast continent with the European settlers was certainly a tactical error on their part. But that willingness, whether present or not, would hardly have stopped the onslaught of the white European colonist as they discovered freedom from their own tyrannies in England. Does freedom for one race automatically demand tyranny over another? In this instance it certainly would appear to be the case. Historians often point to the theory of unintended consequences when discussing the past and the history of the Indian is no exception. The question is whether the destruction of the Indian was the intended consequence all along. Instead it would appear in retrospect to have been a slow, deliberate systematic destruction of the Iroquois with the only intention to take their lands from them. (George-Kanentiio, 2008; Perkins & Glyndon, 1962) Now, as supposedly enlightened twenty-first century citizens of the world we are above such petty motivators such as greed or racism. Or are we? Current events would seem to indicate otherwise and the continued problems with racism in this country are only one example. However, in light of the current election possibilities, perhaps the times are really changing after all. For the Iroquois their numbers have improved greatly since the 1890 census previously cited.: According to the Canadian and U.S. census there are 74,518 Iroquois in North America, the majority of whom live north of the border. In New York State there are 16,754 Iroquois living on, or registered with, six reservations: Akwesasne, Oneida, Onondaga, Tonawanda, Tuscarora, Cattaraugus and Allegany. Every Iroquois nation except the Cayugas have at least a small foothold in their original territories. (George-Kanentiio, 2008) However, as you can see, Canada has become their more bountiful protector. Perhaps it is more difficult for the Iroquois now to make peace with the United States than it is for us to make amends to them. References Benner, Dana. (2006) “Battle on the Niagara Frontier” Military History, 23 No. 9 32-37. George-Kanentiio, Doug. (2008) Six Nation, Oldest Living Democracy on Earth., Accessed on 13 October 2009) form http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/ Johnson, Troy. (2003): “The Iroquois Family of Nations.” Native American Family Life 4 12-21 Mann, Barbara Alice. (2005). George Washingtons War on Native America. Westport, CT: Praeger. Perkins, Dexter, and Glyndon G. Van Deusen. (1962). The United States of America: A History. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan. Read More