Wisconsin is a state rich with culture, with each and every culture celebrated. One of the most important cultures within Wisconsin is the Native American culture. This state was even named using the Ojibwe language. “Wishkongsing” is the Ojibwe name for the Wisconsin River and also where the name of our great state came from. There are several tribes present in Wisconsin besides the Ojibwe: the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, and Potawatomi tribes.
The Menominee, or “wild rice people,” are the original inhabitants of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. There remain about 7000 Menominee people today, of which very few still speak Algonquian, the native language (Native Languages of the Americas). The polysynthetic language is mostly continued on by the tribal elders. The Menominee people are a part of only two tribes who claim to be originally from the Wisconsin area, the other being the Winnebago people. The Fox and Sauk, Dakota, Illinois, and Cheyenne migrated from elsewhere, and the Menominee Indians, never a large tribe, couldn't do much to stop it (Milwaukee Public Museum). The Menominee people, who already suffered from the migration of other tribes, also faced pressures from the Iroquois tribes. The Iroqouis sought to monopolize the rich fur-plenty lands of northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan. In 1667, the French began to trade for furs with the Menominee. This encouraged the Menominee to abandon their large permanent villages and instead live in bands that spent spring and summer in semi-permanent villages of several hundred people.
Shortly after the results of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, full sovereignty of the Midwest was given to the United States. What followed after was a series of treaties and land grants for the Me...
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.... However, this strategy backfired, and the United States became even more determined to buy up the remaining Potawatomi lands (Milwaukee Public Museum). The Potawatomi eventually had to sell all their lands to the government and were forced to move from Wisconsin. Most of the Potawatomi moved to a reservation in Kansas while others moved to Forrest County in Northern Wisconsin. Only the Kansas Potawatomi were paid their annuities. The federal government rectified this practice in 1913 when it paid the Wisconsin Potawatomi $447,339. The tribe used $150,000 of this money to purchase their reservation in Forest County. Unlike the Menominee and Ojibwe, the Forest County reservation was not created by treaty, nor did the Potawatomi reserve any hunting, fishing, or gathering rights on the lands they sold to the United States via their treaties (Milwakee Public Museum).
Many tribes resisted this policy. Wars were fought as a result. The Sac and Fox Indians in Wisconsin and Illinois reoccupied their lands after having been forced to move west of the Mississippi. They were defeated. The Seminole Indians refused to sign a treaty to give up their lands. They, too, fought and lost a bitter war to remain on their land.
Eibling, Harold H., et al., eds. History of Our United States. 2nd edition. River Forest, Ill: Laidlaw Brothers, 1968.
The late 1800’s was a watershed moment for the United States, during which time the Industrial Revolution and the desire for expansion brought about through Manifest Destiny, began to run parallel. Following the end of the Spanish-American war, the United States found itself with a wealth of new territory ceded to it from the dying Spanish empire. The issue of what to do with these new lands became a source of debate all the way up to the U.S. Congress. Men like Albert J. Beveridge, a Senator from Indiana, advocated the annexation, but not necessarily the incorporation of these new l...
The Mohegan Indians are located in the southeastern part of Connecticut near the Thames River Valley in Uncasville, with a current population of approximately 1,000 members. All of the members are of Native American decent and were once associated with the Pequot tribe. "Scientific evidence shows the Native American presence in the area for 10,000 years, but the oral history begins with the beginning, when the Great Spirit created the earth" (http://moheganindians.weebly.com/). The first group of Mohegan’s was part of the Delaware tribe which was called the Wolf Clan, that settled in upstate New York. The Native languages of the Mohegan Indians are English and they also have their own Mohegan dialect, which is called "Algonquin dialect". In this Native language the name Mohegan means "People of the wolf", which fits the tribe perfectly as they were once a heterogeneous group in which the men went to war to protect their tribes and would also go hunting to put food on their families tables while the women stayed home to take care of the children and were horticulturist as they worked in the fields farming each day. Each individual played a major part in keeping the tribe together as a one functional unit.
Throughout the comparatively recent history of the United States, there have been many obstacles that the relatively young nation has had to overcome. Even before the nation had obtained its independence from Britain, there were conflicts with the Natives of the new land. Then wars were fought for other countries benefit, on their own soil. Then, of course, there was the Revolutionary War, fought in the late 1770’s, in which British colonists rose up against their British fathers in order to gain economic, religious and political freedom. After the acquirement of their independence as a nation, there were still many conflicts that the fledgling country had to worry about. The continent of North America was still controlled by other European superpowers, not to mention the multitudes of Native Indians that populated the lands west of the Appalachians. In order to combat other world powers as well as increase their own wealth, trade, and influence, the Americans adopted an attitude of ‘Manifest Destiny’, in which westward expansion was priority and their right. This however, led to more troubles and conflicts with the Natives of the land. The Indians west of the Appalachian m...
European settlers began to push the Indian tribes off of their land. In 1803 when President Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiana from France, it added 827,987 square miles to the United States. The territory that would soon become Iowa was part of the Indiana Territory, which was governed by William Henry Harrison. The Treaty of 1804 lead to the Blackhawk War because Harrison convinced the Native Americans to sign the treaty which meant they would give up to 51 million acres of land. The Native Americans were very angered by this because the treaty was signed by those who had no authority to do so. In turn this started the Blackhawk War. The Native Americans became distrustful and suspicious of the government, therefore causing them to harass and attack. The Native Americans then began to be pushed out of their land. In 1856, the Mesquaki tribe was authorized by the Iowa legislature, to purchase over 3,000 acres of land. Today, the Mesquaki tribe still remains on their settlement in Tama County, Iowa. By 1851 all Iowa land was in the hand of the federal government.
Before Thomas Jefferson ever entered the presidency, he believed in the “Empire of Liberty.” He wrote in a letter to a friend that “Our confederacy must be viewed as the nest from which all America, North or South, is to be peopled.” His motives for the intense eye on American expansion were greatness for his country, as well as for himself. He was disgusted with the idea of North America being divided into nation-states like Europe. His goal was for the ideals of the American Revolution to spread over the whole continent. He passed and helped pass some of the legislation that helped early America expand. He co-authored the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which allowed for states to be made from the territory east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio River. Jefferson’s desire for exploring the lands west of the Mississippi had been around for fifty years. Jefferson’s father was a member of the Loyal Land Company. After American Independence, there were four plans to explore the west; Jefferson was behind three of those plans. The Louisiana Purchase divided the political country, before and after the actual purchase. I intend to show these sides by examining documents from Jefferson, his colleagues, and the opposition to the Purchase, as well as international deterrents to the Purchase.
As the West of the Appalachian Mountains became known as the “Indian Land” proclaimed by the King of England in 1763, as properly known as the Proclamation Line of 1763, the U. S. government believed it to be part of their land after their gain of independence from Britain. The reason for this happening was due to the fact that the Indians lost to the French in the French and Indian war which was also known as the brutal Seven Years’ War from 1754-1763. As a result, The U.S. took advantage of the situation and insisted on acquiring the land of the Indians in the West through three different policies (Chris ...
Alice, N. (2006). Daily Life of Native Americans from Post-Columbian through Nineteenth-Century America. (p. 41). Greenwood Publishing Group. Westport Connecticut. Retrieved Oct. 28, 2013 http://books.google.com/books?id=Ghv-E7OuBlMC&dq=how+iroquois+daily+lives+were+carried+out&source=gbs_navlinks_s
The Cheyenne Tribe of native american indians are one of the most well known tribes in the plains. Originally in the 1600’s the Cheyenne Tribe lived in stationary villages in the east part of the country. They would rely on farming to make money and to feed their family. The Cheyennes occupied what is now Minnesota. In the 1700’s the Cheyennes migrated to North Dakota and settled on a river. The river provides a source of fresh water and many animals would go there so hunting would be easier.In 1780 a group of indians called the “Ojibwas” forced them out and they crossed the Missouri River and followed the buffalo herd on horseback. In the early 1800’s they migrated to the high plains. Later they divided into the North Cheyenne and the South
The movement westward during the late 1800’s created new tensions among already strained relations with current Native American inhabitants. Their lands, which were guaranteed to them via treaty with the United States, were now beginning to be intruded upon by the massive influx of people migrating from the east. This intrusion was not taken too kindly, as Native American lands had already been significantly reduced due to previous westward conquest. Growing resentment for the federal government’s Reservation movement could be felt among the native population. One Kiowa chief’s thoughts on this matter summarize the general feeling of the native populace. “All the land south of the Arkansas belongs to the Kiowas and Comanches, and I don’t want to give away any of it” (Edwards, 203). His words, “I don’t want to give away any of it”, seemed to a mantra among the Native Americans, and this thought would resound among them as the mounting tensions reached breaking point.
Prior to the 1830’s, the United States government did not make it’s aspirations of attaining Indian lands, but rather Indians were given rights to be treated as nations, and protected their rights according to the Constitution. According to the letter to President George Washington from Henry Knox, “The Indians being the prior occupants, possess the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest in case of a just war” (Doc B). To add on, the United States believed that “intrusions upon the lands of the friendly Indian tribes, is not only a violation of law, but in direct opposition to the policy for the government towards its savage neighbor” (Doc G) was considerate of the Indians’ territories. Therefore, this indicates that the government of the United States did not want to take any risk and was rather cautious against having the desire to obtain the Natives’ land.
Natives were forcefully removed from their land in the 1800’s by America. In the 1820’s and 30’s Georgia issued a campaign to remove the Cherokees from their land. The Cherokee Indians were one of the largest tribes in America at the time. Originally the Cherokee’s were settled near the great lakes, but overtime they moved to the eastern portion of North America. After being threatened by American expansion, Cherokee leaders re-organized their government and adopted a constitution written by a convention, led by Chief John Ross (Cherokee Removal). In 1828 gold was discovered in their land. This made the Cherokee’s land even more desirable. During the spring and winter of 1838- 1839, 20,000 Cherokees were removed and began their journey to Oklahoma. Even if natives wished to assimilate into America, by law they were neither citizens nor could they hold property in the state they were in. Principal Chief, John Ross and Major Ridge were leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern band of Cherokee Indians lost many due to smallpox. It was a year later that a Treaty was signed for cession of Cherokee land in Texas. A small number of Cherokee Indians assimilated into Florida, in o...
People have been living in America for countless years, even before Europeans had discovered and populated it. These people, named Native Americans or American Indians, have a unique and singular culture and lifestyle unlike any other. Native Americans were divided into several groups or tribes. Each one tribe developed an own language, housing, clothing, and other cultural aspects. As we take a look into their society’s customs we can learn additional information about the lives of these indigenous people of the United States.
Kugel, Rebecca, and Lucy Eldersveld Murphy. Native women's history in eastern North America before 1900: a guide to research and writing. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.