The Indians in American Society

by Prucha, Francis Paul

• ISBN13: 9780520055032
• ISBN10: 0520055039
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1985-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

American Indian affairs are much in the public mind today--hotly contested debates over such issues as Indian fishing rights, land claims, and reservation gambling hold our attention. While the unique legal status of American Indians rests on the historical treaty relationship between Indian tribes and the federal government, until now there has been no comprehensive history of these treaties and their role in American life. Francis Paul Prucha, a leading authority on the history of American Indian affairs, argues that the treaties were a political anomaly from the very beginning. The term "treaty" implies a contract between sovereign independent nations, yet Indians were always in a position of inequality and dependence as negotiators, a fact that complicates their current attempts to regain their rights and tribal sovereignty. Prucha's impeccably researched book, based on a close analysis of every treaty, makes possible a thorough understanding of a legal dilemma whose legacy is so palpably felt today.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface Abbreviations Used in Footnotes Introduction: The Anomaly of Indian Treaties

A Treaty System

The Revolutionary War Years

Treaties of Peace after the Revolution

Treaty-Making Procedures under the Constitution

Confirming the Procedures: Other Treaties in the 1790s

Instruments Of Federal Policy

Testing the Treaty System: 1800 to the War of 1812

A Position of Dominance: The War of 1812 and After

Indian Removal and the Debate about Treaty Making

The Removal Period in the North

Patterns in Treaty Making

Treaties in the Expanding West

The Civil War Decade

Deterioration

The End of Treaty Making

Treaty Substitutes

The Collapse of the Treaty System

Renewal: The Twentieth Century

Treaties in the New Century

Treaties before the Supreme Court

Treaty-Rights Activism

Appendices

Index Picture Credits

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