THE GROVvTH OF CENTRALIZAfJ?ION IN COLONIAL INDIAN AFFAIRS by John W. Yuenger, A.B. A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University in Partial Fulfillment of the Re­ quirements for the Degree of' Master of Art. ~ilwaukee, Wisconsin May, 1950 11 PEEr'ACE The centralization of IndIan aftairs, culminatIng 1n the exercise of undivIded authority, was a tedious prooess that had 1ts beginning wIth the first meeting between the IndIan and the whIte man. At tltr.ea, in the broad outlines of American colonial history, there appears no connecting link to torge a dIstinct ohaIn of growth. Rather, the several isolated incident. and experiments aooumulated, haphazard fashIon, under the dominanoe ot a multItude ot authorit1es and were only eventually reoognized and evalu­ ated. Conaequent1y, there are inoluded in thIs study various oocurrence. and situations that, on the immediate surface, wl11 seem to bear no dIstinct reterence to centrallzatlon. It 1a hoped that In the course of the paper these apparently Irrelevant material. wll1 be assooiated sufficIently to render their inolusion valld. One of the greater hazarda In the present study 18 the natl~al tendency to be carrIed into relatIve tields ot con­ centration and, tor thIs reason, a concerted effort has been made to avoid the useless recitatIon of such mIlItary affairs, Ind.1an wars, treaties, and sIde issue., that. have no advantage toward the realIzation ot the object at hand,_ Finally. there has been 8. two-fold guIding purpose 1n 111 the oonstruotion of thIs work: a study in the gradual evo­ lutIon of centralization in Indian affaIrs; and the relation of materials, whenever possIble, that will point to later governmental aotivity In the operatIon of thIs field. This latter faoet being an attempt to oOinoidently traoe the genesiS of the Constitutional era's basic method of Indian oontrol, the Indian Agency System. 1v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page Preface • • • • • •• •••••• • • 11 I. The First Frontier • • • • ••• • • • I II. The Growth in Organized Indian Affaira • • 13 III. The Balance of Power • • •• •• •• 39 IV. Centralization Realized • • • ••• • 71 Bibliography. • •••• • •• 94 CHAPTER ± THE FIRST FRONTIER In primeval North Alr1erioa the virgin forests boasted a proud master. Independent, hardy, a naturally gregarious individual, the Amerioan Indian roamed over lands he never stopped to value, to find wild quarry he never dreamt would vanish. Living in rude primitiveness, swinging his roughly hewn warolub or his hand-ehisled spear, he took only what he needed. The riohly pelted animals were his food, olothing and bowstring. He relished what he oonsidered the kingly fare of fish, maize, beans, pumpkins, wild rioe, or what he gathered from the ohase. The ooming of the tl Grea t V.hi te Spiri t" was, ironioally, a wonderful sign to the uninhibited savage. He, who by ritual considered himself among the ohosen people of the gods, was being honored by a visit from the deities. In aocordanoe with his simple beliefs the redman teasted and oelebrated the ooming. In a short time he found his neighbor shrift of any competenoe In raising maize, or hunting game, and he w1l1ingly fell to teaohing him. L1ttle did he realize that these over­ tures were in reality funeral oeremonies for his entire oiv­ ilization. It did,ntt take the whlte man long to realize that there were many advantages to this friendship with the trusting Indian. He could secure game for food; he could instruot in 1 2 the wiles of the wilderness; and· he could intercede with less understanding redfolk who rather disliked this encroach- rnent upon their world. But far more important, the newcomer cast an appraising eye upon a new empire. An empire of beaver and deer, of mink, muskrat, martin, fox and wolf; a new world of sunny lands, well watered soil and freedom from the inconveniences of established sooiety. There were tremendous effects realized from these ini- tlal meetings. The Indian was oonfronted with a far superior civIlization. Here were metal kettles to replace the clay, steel knives and hatchets to replaoe those of stone and flint. Here were soft, pliable fabrios to replace the oumbersome and often orudely wrought fur and leather garments, the abra­ sive hides or the rushmats. Soon these strong and endurable applianoes destroyed the IT;anufacture of stone and bone uten- sils. Old men lost their oooupations and young boys ceased to be pupils. 1 It would be hard to underestimate this COnse- 1. V~. E. GriffiS, !!!!: William Johnson (New York, 1926),40. quent loss of skill and power. It slowly transformed inde­ pendent people into weak and begg1ng dependents. Not only, however, was the white man's coming felt heavily in the Indians industrial habits. In his wake the the adventuresome immigrant spread several other items of civilized society that hastened the redman's denouement. 3 Chlet among these were the gun, ~iquor and several oommuni­ oable diseases. Although the latter is usually given as the cause tor the deoimation of onoe large and powertul tribes {as for example, smAllpox among the seaboard Indians),2 the 2. Herbert L. Osgood, The American Colonies in the Seven- teenth Century (New York, 1904), 521. ----- first two wreaked the greatest havoo. Previous to the introduotion of gunpowder the Indians, equipped with flint weapons and deoked in bark armor, fought in the open tield with oomparative personal exposure. Their battles were masses of men led by their saohems, or ohlefs, and their military taotio differed but slightly from their European oounterpart betore the introduotion of firearms.3 3. GriffiS, -Sir William Johnson, 40. With the advent of powder and ball the bark or hide shields were disoarded; "bows and arrows were soon lett to ohildren,,,4 battle order ohanged and open mass affrays were 4. -Ibid. ended. The musket at first appeared to be a wonderful gi~t to the savage. He could now hunt more easily and with little diffioulty aoquire more furs to be turned over to the white 4 man for more manufactured goods.' he could increase his hold over other tribes not yet introduced to this wonderful 1neoh- anie. Yet, t~is boon instead of ma~in3 t~e redrran ~OTe free, rrore effective, or more lasting, made hi~ even wore dependent upon the whlte newoomer. Crafty as he was in forest ways he could not fashion firearms, nor mold pellets, nor xr.anufacture powder. He could not perform even the simplest repalr work on the weapon he owned, so that he constantly wss dependent upon the w'1ite smith for minor, though important, blacksmith dutles.5 In time, no ma.tter "h.ow wrought up he becaxr.e, or how 5. Koward Peckham, ?,ontlac and the Indian Uprising (Prince­ ton, 1947), 10. much he desired to seyer connections with this persistent in­ vader, he could not evade his growing dependence upon h1m. But th1s dependence was not particularly a one-sided arrangement. Al though the W11i te man could see the broad and rich expanses, though he could visualize the great wealth potential of the pelt-r1ch inter1or, he was 1ncapable of mak1ng the most of his posit1on without the a1d, or at least the taoit approval of the red ally. It was only natural that a common result should be work1ng alliances. Perhaps there 1s one example of such agreement between the two new neighbors that by its very obvious 1mportance 5 would serve as a best introductory example. It is perhaps one of history's oddities that one of the greatest Indhm­ white allianoes was in great stead brought about by the lack of foresight on the part of one official. In 1609, when Chtll'nplain pursued overtures of friendshIp with the Algonquin, those northern In(~lans were in the throes of mortal confliot with the Iroquois nations. In appeasing the requests of the Algonquin chiefs to "make the loud smoket! against the Iro­ quois, Ghattlp1ain sealed. the fate of }:o'rench Golonial Amerioa.6 6. V'1111am Henry Sohnson, l"rench Pa th£lnders .!n North Ameri£! (Boston, 1919), 130. \\hen the powerful Iroquois first felt the sting that followed the puff of Champlain's arquebus, oonsternation and confusion were followed by the strong desire to possess such awesome wea.pons. Accordingly they set about oultivatiniS the Dutch friendship at New Amsterdam. '!'heir resultant allianoe wtth t'1c Netherlanders, later transferred to the Snglish, allied five of the ~ost powerfu1 tribes in Al'l'lerica and, through indirection, granted control of the most power-laden "Hl1ey in the new world. 7 7. C~Brlea H. koIlwain, 1n his introduction to Peter Wraxa11's An Abridgerr·ent £!. Indian Affairs (Cambridge, 1915), xxxix, denies the validity of the COlT'J'1l.on olaim mentioned and ' posits the aotion of the Iroquois to ally w1th the English to have stemmed from commerc1al 1nterests. The Iroquois Confederacy, boasting control of the N'ohawk- 6 Hudson valleys, lived picturesquely in their "Great Long House." This title was derived from their own tribal huts whioh were elongated bark atfa1.ra open at both ends. As in their tribal houses, so in their Confederation were several "families" belonging to the Great Long House which stretohed from the Hudson to the Niagara. Fiercest and most respected of the Five Nations were the Mohawks, who lived 1n the mouth of the Mohawk valley. The Oneidas, living next westward, inhabited the region from Little Falls to One1da Lake. The Onandagas, who "kept the counoil fires" or the center of the Confederation, lived between the Susquehanna and the eastern end of Lake Ontario. The Cayugas roamed the area between the lake named after them and the Genesse.