Continual dynamic of conflict

1. Settlers press west
2. Unsettles native life in various ways
3. Conflict over who owns land: demands for individual ownership.
4. Central governments forced to choose sides.
5. Usually Natives lose; when they don't, process continues until more conflict.

Massassoit

Metacomet

Nathaniel
Bacon
1647-1677

Burning
Jamestown

.

Five civilized tribes

(For the record)

• Cherokee
• Chickasaw
• Choctaw
• Creek
• Seminole

A land surveyor

!

Legible territory

• Privileges government knowledge over local knowledge
• Enables purchasing and property
• Makes it easier to move and navigate new places.

The air

Texas

artist: Gerco de Ruijter

The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them

-Northwest Ordinance (1787)

William
Tecumseh
Sherman

Appeal to the Great Spirit, 1909
(MFA)

Staten Island Monument to the American Indian

Charles Curtis