Native Americans and Reparations

  One of the most heartbreaking tragedies in the history of the United States has been the American treatment of the Native American population.  This included taking land from the natives via force, deaths that were the result of European diseases such as smallpox and cholera, and massacres.  The latter was not unique to one region or present day U.S. State.  WIth that said, one of the lesser known examples of it is the Sand Creek Massacre, which took place in what is now Colorado.

The road to the Sand Creek Massacre started with the signing of the Treaty of Fort Laramie, which took place in 1851.  In this document, the United States government acknowledged the control of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes over the lands they controlled, which were mainly in what is now the American Midwest.  This would include the land on which the Massacre would later take place.  Within a decade of the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty, gold would be discovered in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado.  This would force the Americans into Cheyenne and Arapaho land, and the only answer the tribes had was to make another treaty with the United States to give up control of that land, which took place at Fort Wise in 1861. According to Jacob Dunn, these tribes would respond by trying to ally with each other in an effort to kick out the whites.  This effort would be extremely successful on the part of the Native Americans, as shown by William Dunn’s research into casualty figures in 1864, and it would launch the US military presence in the region toward an attack on the Natives.  That would take place on November 29, 1864. American soldiers under the command of Colonel John Chivington would attack the Cheyenne and Arapaho, massacring as many as 600 Native Americans.

While the Sand Creek massacre is one of the ugliest chapters in American history, it needs to be re-examined to a certain extent because of the rise to the forefront of American political discourse of the idea of reparations, mainly to Black Americans because of slavery.  While both sides of this conversation have valid ideas, neither takes into account what Native Americans have been through.


References

1."Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, Etc., 1851." Archived August 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine 11 Stats. 749, Sept. 17, 1851. In Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties – Vol. II: Treaties. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904, pp. 594–596. Through Oklahoma State University Library, Electronic Publishing Center.

2."Treaty with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, 1861" (Treaty of Fort Wise). Archived October 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine 12 Stat. 1163, Feb. 15, 1861. Ratified Aug. 6, 1861; proclaimed Dec. 5, 1861. In Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties – Vol. II: Treaties. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904, pp. 807–811. Through Oklahoma State University Library, Electronic Publishing Center.

3. Brown, Dee (1970). Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Open Road Media. p. 86.

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