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Land Tenure and Use in Native American Culture

Native Americans believe they are closely certain period of time, usually a week.
linked with the land and everything that At the end of the week, the Indian would
grows on the land or lives on the land. be paid in alcohol, would be arrested
Because of this belief, the idea of again on Monday, and the cycle would
"owning" land did not exist among the start over.Another strategy used by the
Native Americans. They lived off the Europeans to acquire land was by
land, but did not consider that they purchasing it from the Native Americans.
owned it. This is not to say that they Whether through devious actions or
shared the land with other tribes, ignorance of Indian ways, the Europeans
because they did establish territorial would get a few tribal members to sell
rights to certain parts of America among the land, which caused conflict within
the many tribes. Intrusion into another the tribe. For example, Tecumseh, a
tribe's territory was considered an Shawnee, protested the sell of his tribal
invasion and was often met with lands in the following way:The white
warfare.Before contact with Europeans, people have no right to take the land
most of the Native Americans lived in from the Indians, because they had it
hunter/gatherer communities composed of first; it is theirs. They may sell, but
small populations of people. A few tribes all must join. Any sale not made by all
had settled into farming communities is not valid. The late sale is bad. It
before the coming of Europeans, but these was made by a part only. Part do not know
were rare. The Native Americans set up how to sell. It requires all to make a
their community with an equal division of bargain for all (Hurtado, 171).Another
labor between men and women. Women land issue that caused conflict within
controlled the use of the land and men the Native American peoples was the
controlled the distribution of goods from policy of removing Indians from their
the land. Goods were considered community traditional homelands onto reservations.
property with the whole tribe sharing in A good example of this is the removal of
equal parts.Before contact with the Cherokee Indians from Georgia into
Europeans, land tenure and use favored present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee
women. Inheritance passed through the newspaperman Elias Boudinot, although
maternal side and women controlled the initially opposing removal, came "to
use of the land. The Iroquois women also believe that removal was necessary to
controlled the community's store of save the Cherokee nation" (Hurtado 207).
goods, in addition to farming in female After the Cherokees had been removed to
cooperatives. The Northwest Tlingit women Oklahoma, opponents of the removal
handled any money in the tribe, as men "killed Boudinot and other Indians who
were thought to be foolish in their had signed the removal treaty" (Hurtado
spending habits. The Tlingit women also 207).After all the Native Americans had
controlled any fur transactions. In been removed unto reservations, the
nomadic tribes, such as the Plains federal government passed the Dawes Act
Indians, women owned and distributed all of 1887. This law divided the reservation
the domestic goods, while men controlled lands into sections for private
all items relating to hunting and ownership, thus destroying the concept of
warfare.When the Europeans arrived in sharing lands communally. Because of the
America, they were shocked by the Native Dawes Act, the Indians lost two of every
Americans' matriarchal and matrilineal three acres held before 1887. The purpose
system. The European conquerors began to of this law was to halt the Indians'
chain the Native Americans to the land nomadic lifestyle by turning them into
through farming. As with the Twa tribe, farmers.Since Native American peoples had
many Native American tribes were no concept of land ownership, the
subjected to the Spanish system of European invaders considered the land to
encomienda, which remained in effect in be up for grabs. The Europeans used a
New Mexico between 1600 and 1680. This variety of ways to gain control of the
Spanish system "provided for the land. They used deception on Montezuma.
involuntary seizure of a percentage of They ignored Indian political practices
each Pueblo farmer's crop every year to by having a few Indians sell the lands.
support Spanish missionary, military, and And when all else failed, the federal
civil institutions" (Folsom 14).The government passed laws to relocate the
Native Americans in California territory Indians and resorted to warfare if they
were also induced into forced labor. The resisted.BibliographyFolsom, Franklin.
Spanish, and later the Mexicans, Indian Uprising on the Rio Grande.
occupying this territory established University of Mexico Press, 1996.Hurtado,
legislation that authorized the arrest of Albert, Peter Iverson, and Thomas
any Indian for drunkenness, or even just Paterson, editors. Major Problems in
loitering, upon the complaint of any American Indian History: Documents and
citizen. Once the Indian was arrested, he Essays. Houghton Mifflin Company
or she must pay a fine or be sold to the Collegiate Division, 2000.
highest bidder as a labor hand for a




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