CONTESTED AUTHORITY: INDIGENOUS BORDERLANDS of the WESTERN GREAT LAKES by Jacob Jurss a DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan Stat
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CONTESTED AUTHORITY: INDIGENOUS BORDERLANDS OF THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES By Jacob Jurss A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of History- Doctor of Philosophy 2017 ABSTRACT CONTESTED AUTHORITY: INDIGENOUS BORDERLANDS OF THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES By Jacob Jurss “Contested Authority,” uses the 1825 Prairie du Chien treaty council as a case study to examine the dynamics of power and authority of an Indigenous borderland located in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century wild rice lakes and maple sugar forests of the western Great Lakes. This research centers on the interactions and overlapping territorial claims of Dakota and Ojibwe communities that complicated efforts by United States officials to solidify their own claims to the region. The Americans argued that leaders of Great Lakes tribes should delineate their boundaries believing that such boundaries would secure peace between the tribes. American authority in the region was still a weak presence, but American efforts led by Michigan Territorial Governor, Lewis Cass, intended to strengthen the federal government’s position in the lands west of Lake Michigan. The ongoing conflict between the Ojibwe and Dakota greatly concerned the Americans as the tribe’s sporadic warfare dampened the enthusiasm for settlement and endangered American settlers. Cass’ efforts to enforce American ideas of private property conflicted with Ojibwe and Dakota community understandings of environmental resources and property. This research presents the multi-dimensional relationships that made up authority in Ojibwe and Dakota society, explores the efforts of Cass and American agents to disrupt these traditional power structures, and highlights how Indigenous leadership structures persisted despite these American attempts to dismantle them. Copyright by JACOB JURSS 2017 To Leah, my family, my teachers, and the peoples of the Great Lakes iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Persistence is perhaps the most important quality needed when striving to complete a doctoral program. I have been fortunate to have an extensive support system during the last five years made up of individuals who have helped me persist. Thank you to Susan Sleeper-Smith, my advisor, whose training pushed me to extend my thinking and expand my capabilities as a scholar. Her clear insights, gentle criticisms, and editor’s pen made this a far stronger dissertation. Thank you Susan for your continuous support and guidance. Thank you also to my dissertation committee members: Mindy Morgan who taught my first graduate class and mentored me throughout my studies; Peter Beattie who pushed me to broadly consider the concept of borderlands in Central America and South America; Thomas Summerhill who in addition to providing valuable feedback on my research was a wonderful teaching mentor. Thanks also to Sayuri Shimizu who gave me the confidence to draft my first article and has always been a source of encouragement. The history department at Michigan State University provided a demanding but supportive environment. My thanks to the professors who led graduate seminars and extended their offices hours to me, Liam Brockey, Lisa Fine, Walter Hawthorne, Ethan Segal, Jane Vieth, and Helen Zoe Veit. Special thanks to graduate director Michael Stamm who read drafts of my writing, helped secure funding necessary for research trips and conferences, and attended several practice presentations. Thank you to Pero Dagbovie who served as graduate director during my first three years as a graduate student and provided much needed guidance on how to navigate the profession, and encouraged my development as a young scholar. A special note of thanks to the history department staff, Deb Greer, Jeanne Norris, and particularly graduate secretary Elyse Hansen. Without you the department would cease to function. Thank you for guiding me through mounds of paperwork. v Thank you to the Michigan State University American Indian and Indigenous Studies program who always welcomed me and provided a broader perspective to my project as well as the opportunity to participate in events outside of my research. Thank you to members of the faculty including Matthew L.M. Fletcher, Kate Fort, Wenona Singel, Estrella Torrez, Kyle Whyte, and director Dylan AT Miner. Thanks also to the members of the MSU Indigenous Graduate Student Collective: Mike Cavanaugh, Adam Haviland, Kelli Henry, Victor Del Hierro, Shelbi Nahfilet Meissner, Meenakshi Narayan, Santos F. Ramos, Marie Schaefer, Jaquetta Shade, and Nikki Silva. From participating in discussions with senior scholars in the Frybread Faculty Forum, to spring sugar bush, to making snowsnakes, my graduate life was enriched because of all of you. Miigwech! During my graduate studies I had the good fortune to meet dozens of scholars at conferences and events whose perspective and encouragement enriched my education. Institutional partnerships have enriched my experience and exposed to me many different currents of thought. Through the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation I was able to take a course at the University of Michigan and benefited from engaging with graduate students from outside of my own institution. Thank you to Michael Witgen for leading the course and for his comments on my early ideas. My appreciation and thanks also go to several scholars from outside of my Michigan State bubble. Raymond Fogelson, C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa, Benjamin Johnson, Robert Morrissey, Jean O’Brien, and Bruce White have graciously welcomed and encouraged me throughout my early career. You have warmly welcomed me at conferences, made introductions for me, and have pointed out sections of my scholarship that could be expanded. A very warm thank you to Cary Miller whose own research provided much of the grounding for my own. Thank you Cary for the meals, vi discussion, and generous comments on several sections of this research. Thanks also to David Bontrager Horst Lehman, Andrew Dietzel, Jameson Sweet, Susan D. Wade, and Margaret Huettl, all fellow early career scholars whose work I admire. It has been wonderful to get to know each of you and your work. The Newberry Library in Chicago, IL became a second academic home for me. The programming at the library has been instrumental in my own professional develop and houses an extensive collection that has contributed greatly to this project. Through the Newberry Consortium in American Indian Studies I was able to participate in several seminars and research trips and benefited from working with graduate students and professors from a variety of academic institutions. My thanks to Alyssa Mt. Pleasant and Jennifer Denetdale for facilitating the 2013 NCAIS Spring Workshop in Research Methods, and Erin Debenport and Scott Stevens for facilitating the 2013 NCAIS Summer Institute where my initial research of this project began. Thanks also to the other graduate student attendees whose questions and conversations helped shape my thinking. Through the American Indian Studies Seminar Series I had the opportunity to present a chapter of my scholarship and received specific feedback on my research. It was one of the best experiences of my graduate career and I am so thankful for the supportive environment. I am very appreciative to the staff of the Newberry Library who continued to open their doors me. Special thanks to Patricia Marroquín Norby, Patrick A. Morris, and Seonaid Valiant for their help while I was at the Newberry Library. Libraries are one of the greatest inventions in the world. They are democratizing institutions that provide everyone access to the knowledge of the world. Even in the increasingly digital world, historians continue to rely on the physical collections of libraries and archives. This project received financial support from libraries, archives, and Michigan State University vii that allowed me to travel to several archival institutions. My thanks to the Newberry Library and their NCAIS Graduate Student Fellowship, the Bentley Historical Library and the Stevens Researcher Travel Fellowship, and to Michigan States University College of Social Sciences Summer Research Scholarship Program Fellowship Award. This funding allowed me to travel and research at the Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, MI; William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor MI; Michigan State University Library Microfilm Collection, East Lansing, MI; Newberry Library Chicago, IL; Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI; Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; and the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Libraries have served as major turning points in my growth as a scholar. From the West Bend Memorial Library where I began my early reading to the Rondo Community Outreach Library in St. Paul, MN where I applied for graduate school, to the Minneapolis Central Library where my wedding reception was held, libraries have been a cornerstone in my life and this research project. They have provided access to materials and a quiet place to write and think. My thanks to the libraries where much of this dissertation was written including: Michigan State University Library, Library of Michigan, Capital Area District Library Lansing, MI; Detroit Lakes Public Library Detroit Lakes, MN; White Earth Tribal and Community College Library Mahnomen, MN; Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Library Washington, D.C.; Cleveland Park Interim Library Washington, D.C.; South Dakota State Library Pierre, SD; and Rawlins