Jeremy Skaw
April 7, 2008
Abstract
With the Removal Order still looming overhead, Chippewa Indians officials knew that something had to be done and fast. Governor Ramsey persuaded Indian commissioner Lea, who just issued a temporary suspension of the Removal Order, into agreement with the efforts to “concentrate the Chippewa west of the Mississippi River.” They went on to mention the only people who will receive annuity payments are those “…who remove to, and remain in, their proper country.”
This somewhat aggravated and confused the Chippewa because they cannot find supporting reasoning on why they should be removed from Wisconsin. Chief Buffalo of La Pointe claimed to be “totally in the dark” concerning the reasons for this order. They created a petition complaining about how they were tricked on going to Sandy Lake and how they have been wronged by Agent Watrous. Without a response to the petition, Chief Buffalo, interpreter Benjamin Armstrong and several other chiefs traveled to Washington with the petition in hand. They traveled through many white communities who were in full support of keeping the Indians in northern Wisconsin.
After delegation, and a couple puffs from a peace pipe, President Fillmore agreed into the elimination of the Removal Order and to pay back current and future annuities at La Pointe. By the end of the year, President Fillmore required the establishment of Indian reservations in the state of Texas and California, as well as the Territory of Oregon.
Without clearly marked boundaries of these newly erected reservations, Indians had a difficult time protecting many resources that were found on or near the undefined boundaries. But in 1870, a committee named the Old Settlers Club, comprised of three Wisconsin native scholars, basically stated that Indians are people too and they should be treated the same as everybody else. This ultimately led Congress to pass an “anti-trespass” legislation on Indian reservations and later on, the Senate investigated the logging practices occurring on reservations.
The Dawes Severalty Act was passed in 1887, attempting to transform Chippewa people to becoming civilized by converting communal tribal land into individually owned lands. Also, this type of allotment may have allowed Indians to become a part of larger white communities
By the early parts of the 20th century, tourism grew on an exponential scale in northern Wisconsin. These city people, mainly from Chicago, enjoyed many things that weren’t available for them to do in the city, especially hunting and fishing. This created a competition with the Indians because wild game and fish were their principle source of food.
Date created: June, 2002
Last modified: April, 2008
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George R. Spangler