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A review by joshuahedlund
A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes by Helen Hunt Jackson
4.0
Before reading this book, I had a vague sense of the injustices done to the Native Americans, and an even vaguer notion that Helen Hunt Jackson had been an early advocate for them. This book is not a generalized tale of "how we killed the Indians and stole their land," making philosophical cases against manifest destiny or emotional humanitarian arguments about their welfare, the likes of which could be countered or dismissed by those of more nationalistic fervor. Rather, the book quite simply holds our own government to its own standards, quoting extensively from official reports, describing numerous treaties that our government made with various tribes and how our government repeatedly failed to uphold them, with all the tragic and outrageous consequences that resulted.
Published in 1881, much of Jackson's writing would be considered politically incorrect today, such as calling the people "Indians" or the implicit superiority behind discussions of improving these primitive barbarians into the wonders of civilization. Yet interestingly, Jackson describes many tribes as earnestly desiring to give up "the hunt" for modern life - though perhaps with some resigned recognition of the reality that their buffalo grounds were rapidly disappearing. We read multiple examples of tribes building houses, farms, schools, mills, publishing newspapers, even establishing elections and legislatures - making it all the more tragic when they were forced time and time again to uproot and start over somewhere else.
Things started out with so much potential. Jackson quotes from early presidents and secretaries and official documents recognizing the default right of the native tribes to the land and the necessity of the early Americans to purchase additional land from them under fair and voluntary conditions and treat them as human equals. But that was when the vast plains of America seemed endless. As white settlers inexorably pushed westward, land was technically bought and treaties were technically signed, but the promised money frequently didn't arrive, the promised protections of property (i.e. from theft by whites) were forgotten, the promised establishment of Indian land allotments never given. One chapter and tribe at a time, Jackson describes the litany of broken promises, along with other indignities, mistreatments, and absurdities. With a pointed pen, she shows the contradictions of justifying the cheap acquisition of land that was "valueless" to Indians but "absolutely necessary" for white farmers even as the government was simultaneously "making every effort train into farmers" and "civilize" the Indians! But the oppression came from every level of American society; the Winnebagoes in Minnesota and the Cherokee in Georgia were forced to move by prejudiced locals. Some of these removals were really forced death marches through thunderstorms and floods, with lost supplies and nothing ready upon their exhausted arrival upon lower quality soil, and little incentive to rebuild with the specter of another move coming down the line.
One thing the book made me curious about, with its many descriptions of Indians settling down into agriculture and industry, was the legal status of their property rights of the time. The book assumes some 19th-century awareness that I do not have of the use of real estate terms like "severalty" and "patent" and "allotment." While the chapters paint broader strokes, the appendices provide some more individual details, many focused on California, that suggests that whatever the apparent legal status of private rights to land, white private claims could pretty much replace and supersede them, and the unequal value placed on Indian lives, by both individual settlers and the enforcers of laws at local and national levels, was pretty apparent. The appendices also include some interesting editorial correspondence between Jackson and some opponents, adding some nuance to her polemical work with perspectives that, while not justifying the activities described therein, do shed some light on the contemporary disagreements about what led up to them and the challenges of figuring out what to do about it afterward.
Perhaps most tragically, from a theological perspective, is that many of these tribes had converted to Christianity through the work of missionaries, often displaying a more faithful example of their Savior through their patient suffering than their persecutors who claimed the same God, ironically using the Old Testament conquests of "heathens" to justify their actions. (While Jackson acknowledges some Indian atrocities, she insists on demonstrating that the white man could be just as barbaric.)
Though these realities are quite bleak, there are some glimmers of light, especially later in the history via the the results of the activism that Jackson herself was a part of. While the courts, including the Supreme, denied some petitions, Jackson describes the court victory of the Ponca tribe's Standing Bear against a particular injustice, along with his moving speech that he would lay his tomahawk down because in the judicial system he had "found a better way". The government also acknowledged the injustices done to the Winnebagoes, and even though it relocated them yet again it did so to a better location with more support (though Jackson closes with the anxieties and plans of further potential relocations).
While full of important history, it should be noted that the book is quite long, with extensive quotes from other source materials that simultaneously make it powerful and tedious. There's some abstract (and to modern eyes, somewhat odd) philosophy at the beginning to slog through, and other minute details that have lost context in the passage of time (which reminds me, you'll find it helpful to know or remember that "Indian Territory" refers to a large chunk of present-day Oklahoma where the government was "consolidating" numerous tribes in the 1800's). It's also unclear how reliable the author's descriptions or interpretations may be of some of the historical events with little more than eyewitness evidence, although her focus on official government reports limits the downside considerably. All in all, though, it's a valuable and educational effort to acknowledge how the government and people of the United States failed to see and treat the Native Americans as human beings of the same value as themselves, and how the tireless efforts of people like Jackson worked to change that. It's just a shame that such progress came too late for too many.
Published in 1881, much of Jackson's writing would be considered politically incorrect today, such as calling the people "Indians" or the implicit superiority behind discussions of improving these primitive barbarians into the wonders of civilization. Yet interestingly, Jackson describes many tribes as earnestly desiring to give up "the hunt" for modern life - though perhaps with some resigned recognition of the reality that their buffalo grounds were rapidly disappearing. We read multiple examples of tribes building houses, farms, schools, mills, publishing newspapers, even establishing elections and legislatures - making it all the more tragic when they were forced time and time again to uproot and start over somewhere else.
Things started out with so much potential. Jackson quotes from early presidents and secretaries and official documents recognizing the default right of the native tribes to the land and the necessity of the early Americans to purchase additional land from them under fair and voluntary conditions and treat them as human equals. But that was when the vast plains of America seemed endless. As white settlers inexorably pushed westward, land was technically bought and treaties were technically signed, but the promised money frequently didn't arrive, the promised protections of property (i.e. from theft by whites) were forgotten, the promised establishment of Indian land allotments never given. One chapter and tribe at a time, Jackson describes the litany of broken promises, along with other indignities, mistreatments, and absurdities. With a pointed pen, she shows the contradictions of justifying the cheap acquisition of land that was "valueless" to Indians but "absolutely necessary" for white farmers even as the government was simultaneously "making every effort train into farmers" and "civilize" the Indians! But the oppression came from every level of American society; the Winnebagoes in Minnesota and the Cherokee in Georgia were forced to move by prejudiced locals. Some of these removals were really forced death marches through thunderstorms and floods, with lost supplies and nothing ready upon their exhausted arrival upon lower quality soil, and little incentive to rebuild with the specter of another move coming down the line.
One thing the book made me curious about, with its many descriptions of Indians settling down into agriculture and industry, was the legal status of their property rights of the time. The book assumes some 19th-century awareness that I do not have of the use of real estate terms like "severalty" and "patent" and "allotment." While the chapters paint broader strokes, the appendices provide some more individual details, many focused on California, that suggests that whatever the apparent legal status of private rights to land, white private claims could pretty much replace and supersede them, and the unequal value placed on Indian lives, by both individual settlers and the enforcers of laws at local and national levels, was pretty apparent. The appendices also include some interesting editorial correspondence between Jackson and some opponents, adding some nuance to her polemical work with perspectives that, while not justifying the activities described therein, do shed some light on the contemporary disagreements about what led up to them and the challenges of figuring out what to do about it afterward.
Perhaps most tragically, from a theological perspective, is that many of these tribes had converted to Christianity through the work of missionaries, often displaying a more faithful example of their Savior through their patient suffering than their persecutors who claimed the same God, ironically using the Old Testament conquests of "heathens" to justify their actions. (While Jackson acknowledges some Indian atrocities, she insists on demonstrating that the white man could be just as barbaric.)
Though these realities are quite bleak, there are some glimmers of light, especially later in the history via the the results of the activism that Jackson herself was a part of. While the courts, including the Supreme, denied some petitions, Jackson describes the court victory of the Ponca tribe's Standing Bear against a particular injustice, along with his moving speech that he would lay his tomahawk down because in the judicial system he had "found a better way". The government also acknowledged the injustices done to the Winnebagoes, and even though it relocated them yet again it did so to a better location with more support (though Jackson closes with the anxieties and plans of further potential relocations).
While full of important history, it should be noted that the book is quite long, with extensive quotes from other source materials that simultaneously make it powerful and tedious. There's some abstract (and to modern eyes, somewhat odd) philosophy at the beginning to slog through, and other minute details that have lost context in the passage of time (which reminds me, you'll find it helpful to know or remember that "Indian Territory" refers to a large chunk of present-day Oklahoma where the government was "consolidating" numerous tribes in the 1800's). It's also unclear how reliable the author's descriptions or interpretations may be of some of the historical events with little more than eyewitness evidence, although her focus on official government reports limits the downside considerably. All in all, though, it's a valuable and educational effort to acknowledge how the government and people of the United States failed to see and treat the Native Americans as human beings of the same value as themselves, and how the tireless efforts of people like Jackson worked to change that. It's just a shame that such progress came too late for too many.