| Native Americans believe they are closely | | | | bidder as a labor hand for a certain period |
| linked with the land and everything that | | | | of time, usually a week. At the end of the |
| grows on the land or lives on the land. | | | | week, the Indian would be paid in alcohol, |
| Because of this belief, the idea of "owning" | | | | would be arrested again on Monday, and the |
| land did not exist among the Native | | | | cycle would start over.Another strategy used |
| Americans. They lived off the land, but did | | | | by the Europeans to acquire land was by |
| not consider that they owned it. This is not | | | | purchasing it from the Native Americans. |
| to say that they shared the land with other | | | | Whether through devious actions or ignorance |
| tribes, because they did establish | | | | of Indian ways, the Europeans would get a few |
| territorial rights to certain parts of | | | | tribal members to sell the land, which caused |
| America among the many tribes. Intrusion into | | | | conflict within the tribe. For example, |
| another tribe's territory was considered an | | | | Tecumseh, a Shawnee, protested the sell of |
| invasion and was often met with | | | | his tribal lands in the following way:The |
| warfare.Before contact with Europeans, most | | | | white people have no right to take the land |
| of the Native Americans lived in hunter | | | | from the Indians, because they had it first; |
| gatherer communities composed of small | | | | it is theirs. They may sell, but all must |
| populations of people. A few tribes had | | | | join. Any sale not made by all is not valid. |
| settled into farming communities before the | | | | The late sale is bad. It was made by a part |
| coming of Europeans, but these were rare. The | | | | only. Part do not know how to sell. It |
| Native Americans set up their community with | | | | requires all to make a bargain for all |
| an equal division of labor between men and | | | | (Hurtado, 171).Another land issue that caused |
| women. Women controlled the use of the land | | | | conflict within the Native American peoples |
| and men controlled the distribution of goods | | | | was the policy of removing Indians from their |
| from the land. Goods were considered | | | | traditional homelands onto reservations. A |
| community property with the whole tribe | | | | good example of this is the removal of the |
| sharing in equal parts.Before contact with | | | | Cherokee Indians from Georgia into |
| Europeans, land tenure and use favored women. | | | | present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee |
| Inheritance passed through the maternal side | | | | newspaperman Elias Boudinot, although |
| and women controlled the use of the land. The | | | | initially opposing removal, came "to believe |
| Iroquois women also controlled the | | | | that removal was necessary to save the |
| community's store of goods, in addition to | | | | Cherokee nation" (Hurtado 207). After the |
| farming in female cooperatives. The Northwest | | | | Cherokees had been removed to Oklahoma, |
| Tlingit women handled any money in the tribe, | | | | opponents of the removal "killed Boudinot and |
| as men were thought to be foolish in their | | | | other Indians who had signed the removal |
| spending habits. The Tlingit women also | | | | treaty" (Hurtado 207).After all the Native |
| controlled any fur transactions. In nomadic | | | | Americans had been removed unto reservations, |
| tribes, such as the Plains Indians, women | | | | the federal government passed the Dawes Act |
| owned and distributed all the domestic goods, | | | | of 1887. This law divided the reservation |
| while men controlled all items relating to | | | | lands into sections for private ownership, |
| hunting and warfare.When the Europeans | | | | thus destroying the concept of sharing lands |
| arrived in America, they were shocked by the | | | | communally. Because of the Dawes Act, the |
| Native Americans' matriarchal and matrilineal | | | | Indians lost two of every three acres held |
| system. The European conquerors began to | | | | before 1887. The purpose of this law was to |
| chain the Native Americans to the land | | | | halt the Indians' nomadic lifestyle by |
| through farming. As with the Twa tribe, many | | | | turning them into farmers.Since Native |
| Native American tribes were subjected to the | | | | American peoples had no concept of land |
| Spanish system of encomienda, which remained | | | | ownership, the European invaders considered |
| in effect in New Mexico between 1600 and | | | | the land to be up for grabs. The Europeans |
| 1680. This Spanish system "provided for the | | | | used a variety of ways to gain control of the |
| involuntary seizure of a percentage of each | | | | land. They used deception on Montezuma. They |
| Pueblo farmer's crop every year to support | | | | ignored Indian political practices by having |
| Spanish missionary, military, and civil | | | | a few Indians sell the lands. And when all |
| institutions" (Folsom 14).The Native | | | | else failed, the federal government passed |
| Americans in California territory were also | | | | laws to relocate the Indians and resorted to |
| induced into forced labor. The Spanish, and | | | | warfare if they resisted.BibliographyFolsom, |
| later the Mexicans, occupying this territory | | | | Franklin. Indian Uprising on the Rio Grande. |
| established legislation that authorized the | | | | University of Mexico Press, 1996.Hurtado, |
| arrest of any Indian for drunkenness, or even | | | | Albert, Peter Iverson, and Thomas Paterson, |
| just loitering, upon the complaint of any | | | | editors. Major Problems in American Indian |
| citizen. Once the Indian was arrested, he or | | | | History: Documents and Essays. Houghton |
| she must pay a fine or be sold to the highest | | | | Mifflin Company Collegiate Division, 2000. |