Sarah Machajewski - The Real Story Behind U.S. Treaties with Native Americans

Published in 2020 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright 2020 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

First Edition

Editor: Jill Keppeler

Book Design: Reann Nye

Photo Credits: Cover Photo 12/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; p. 5 Historical Picture Archive/ Corbis Historical/Getty Images; p. 7 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_First_Thanksgiving_cph.3g04961.jpg; pp. 9, 15 bauhaus1000/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images; p. 10 Joseph D. Lavenburg/National Geographic/Getty Images; pp. 11, 23 Rainer Lesniewski/Shutterstock.com; p. 13 Kean Collection/ Archive Photos/Getty Images; p. 17 Album/Alamy Photos; p. 19 National Archives Catalog; p. 21 Underwood Archives/Archive Photos/Getty Images; p. 25 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiricahua_Apaches_Four_Months_After_Arriving_at_Carlisle.jpg; p. 27 Pictorial Parade/ Archive Photos/Getty Images; p. 28 Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images; p. 29 Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Machajewski, Sarah.

Title: The real story behind U.S. treaties with Native Americans / Sarah Machajewski.

Description: New York : PowerKids Press, 2020. | Series: The real story: debunking history | Includes glossary and index.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781538344705 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781538343470 (library bound) | ISBN 9781538344712 (6 pack)

Subjects: LCSH: Indians of North America--Treaties--Juvenile literature. | Indians of North America--Government relations--Juvenile literature.

Classification: LCC E95.M33 2020 | DDC 346.73013--dc23

Manufactured in the United States of America

CPSIA Compliance Information: Batch #CSPK19. For Further Information contact Rosen Publishing,New York, New York at 1-800-237-9932

IN PURSUIT OF TRUTH

Long ago, before the United States became a country and before Europeans arrived in North America, ancestors of todays Native Americans lived across the continent, from the Pacific Northwest to the southeastern tip of Florida. As the original people to call North America home, Native Americans saw their lives changed forever when white settlers arrived and claimed the land for themselves.

Many of these changes were later documented in treaties that were signed by the United States government and native tribes. Treaties addressed the rights and citizenship of native people, determined land boundaries, and claimed to provide certain protections. But were these treaties honored as intended, or did they become broken promises? By the end of this book, youll be asked to decide for yourself.

USING PREFERRED TERMS

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, American Indian and Alaska Native are the preferred terms for people who belong to a federally recognized tribe in the United States. Native American is used to describe all Native peoples of the United States and its territories, including American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Chamorros, and American Samoans, as well as persons from Canada First Nations and... communities in Mexico and Central and South America who are U.S. residents. However, each person decides which term is right for them.

What is the real truth behind U.S. treaties with Native Americans? Only by studying history with a critical eye can we hope to find out.

UNDERSTANDING THE HISTORY

Because their ancestors were the first to come to and live in North America, Native Americans are considered the original people of the continent. Throughout history, this status has shaped the questions of land ownership, territories, borders, and rights that Native Americans are entitled to, and how white society has responded.

When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they expected to find a whole continent for the taking. However, they found it occupied by many tribes that had organized societies, strong traditions, and established leaders. From these early colonial days, tribal nations were considered sovereign, or independent. Their interactions with the U.S. government have been guided by this status. For a period of about 100 years, these interactions often involved treaty making.

A LAND OF MANY

Its often said that the United States is a land of immigrants because the racial and ethnic groups represented in America have roots elsewhere. Most Americans have family who arrived in America from faraway places. Native Americans, however, can trace their ancestry on this continent back thousands of years before most ethnic groups, before ships carried non-native people to their homelands. Researchers believe the first peoples came to the Americas across a land bridge from Asia.

Many untruths are told about native cultur e and society because much of history was recorded and told by white newcomers. Its important to consult many sources and listen to many voices in order to find the truth.

SUPREME LAW

Treaties are legal agreements that are part of what the U.S. Constitution refers to as the supreme law of the land. Treaties signed between native tribes and the United States are viewed the same as treaties with foreign nations.

Native American treaties are supposed to have a lot of power because they were made under the U.S. Constitution. Its important to note that these treaties dont give rights to native peoples. They acknowledge the rights that native peoples have always had as Americas original peoples. Native people were told that the treaties they signed would protect them, but this wasnt true. The real story of Native American treaties is that the United States has violated most, if not all, of them.

FACT FINDER

Native American nations and the U.S. government signed about 370 treaties from 1778 to 1871. This process is no longer in practice today.

UPHELD OR NOT?

You may think that anyone who signs a treaty would follow it, but this isnt always the case. One way to see if treaties have been followed is to read the language of the treaty and then compare it to a trusted, factual source that describes what actually happened. These may include encyclopedias, well-known institutions,and nonprofit or .org websites. Sources written with a strong opinion cant always be trusted.

Many see the United States failure to pay tribal nations for their land and to provide the support they were promised as the cause of many social and economic problems facing Native Americans today.

TREATY OF CANANDAIGUA, 1794

The Treaty of Canandaigua was an early treaty between native nations and the U.S. government. About 1,600 representatives of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also called the Six Nations, met with U.S. government officials to sign the treaty on November 11, 1794, a little more than 10 years after the end of the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States.