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