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Gathering the Potawatomi Nation
Revitalization and Identity
By Christopher Wetzel UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS
Copyright © 2015 University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8061-4692-8
CHAPTER 1
From the Treaty of Chicago to the Trail of Death
Land and treaty making are powerful elements in indigenous histories and identities. Unlike the vast majority of Americans, who regard land as a private, saleable commodity, Native Americans see land as a gift from the Creator as well as a means to envision relationships and ground identities (Alfred 2007; Landsman 1988; M. Meyer 1994; Nash 2014; Pearce and Louis 2008; Robertson 2001). Land expropriation, long a defining feature of federal Indian policy, impacts the articulation of indigenous identities because laws and regulations have disrupted social structures and displaced communities. Native peoples' perceptions of land also shape forms of contention and the claims made by activists. This chapter is organized around the premise that understanding recent developments for the Potawatomi Nation requires first turning to history. Specifically, it analyzes dynamic stories about the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, the final major land cession agreement negotiated by the Potawatomi in their eastern homelands and the event that accelerated the nation's fragmentation. The treaty, clearly an important historic point for the Potawatomi, provides a unique lens through which to read dynamic expressions of the Potawatomi Nation.
Analyzing how narratives of the Treaty of Chicago change over time—rather than attempting to determine an objectively "true" history—helps us better understand Potawatomi conceptions of the nation. Scholars of collective memory are less concerned with divining the accuracy of historical accounts than with tracing "how [fact] was established, its reception at various moments, how and why it is refashioned, and how the changing forces of succeeding moments help to modify and sometimes transform interpretations" (Zolberg 1998: 568). Stories afford a particularly important framework to understand Native nations. Stories are complex didactic offerings, conveying critical messages and connecting communities across place and time (Doerfler, Sinclair, and Stark 2013; T. King 2005). Connecting stories, language, and identity formation, Basil H. Johnson (2013: 7) notes, "The stories that make up our tribal literature are no different than the words in our language. Both have many meanings and applications, as well as bearing tribal perceptions, values, and outlooks." Offering lessons about critical dimensions of what it means to be a person in a place with certain responsibilities, stories address topics from creation to fire making to the passing of seasons. Treaties should also be seen through the lens of stories, which serve not as potential fables but rather as critical vehicles that transmit national "perceptions, values, and outlooks." Anishnaabeg stories about treaties, as well as stories told through treaties, emphasize the possibilities for transformed relationships with other nations, raising issues about trust and protection, renewal and respect (Stark 2010, 2012, 2013).
This chapter first outlines the Potawatomi Indians' history prior to removal, then describes the process and experience of negotiating the 1833 Treaty of Chicago. I then consider enduring consequences of the treaty by looking at how historical narratives of the Treaty of Chicago have been central to two recent Potawatomi national encounters. Although they addressed the same historic event, interpretations of the treaty and its meaning during debates before the Indian Claims Commission and again during the recent period of national renewal are quite distinct, reflecting the dynamism of narratives of the nation.
Foundations of the Nation
According to oral histories many centuries ago the Anishinaabeg (the original people) lived along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, until leaders received instructions to follow the megis shell to a new homeland. Traveling west along the Saint Lawrence River, the Anishinaabeg settled in the northern Great Lakes area near the Straits of Mackinaw. The Anishinaabeg eventually split into three groups, each with its own distinct responsibilities. The oldest brother, the Ojibwa, was the Keeper of the Faith and settled throughout southern Ontario, as well as parts of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The middle brother, the Odawa, was the Keeper of the Trade and resided north of the Grand River in southern Michigan. And the youngest brother, the Potawatomi, was the Keeper of the Fire. Even after separating the three remained connected through shared clans, language, and religious beliefs, as well as political alignment to provide mutual aid and defense (Bellfy 2011; Edmunds 1978; Mitchell n.d.; Ramirez-Shkwegnaabi 2003; Stark 2012).
Potawatomi experiences prior to forced removal were shaped by interactions with other Native American tribes, missionaries, and Europeans. Intertribal conflicts forced the relocation of Potawatomi villages. Potawatomi lands were historically located south of the Ojibwa and Odawa, west of the Iroquois Confederacy, and east of the Sioux (see map 1). After experiencing defeats in a series of seventeenth-century military battles, virtually all of the Potawatomi settled on the Door Peninsula near Green Bay (Edmunds 1978). Their territory eventually expanded south from Green Bay, through northern Illinois and Indiana, to the Grand River in lower Michigan. The shaded area in map 2 indicates the approximate location of Potawatomi lands at the start of the 1830s.
The Potawatomi had complicated interactions with Christian missionaries, whose philosophies and practitioners influenced the Nation. Though some Potawatomi villages affiliated with Methodist or Episcopalian missionaries, many were associated with Catholics. Historical documents date the earliest contacts between the Potawatomi and the "black robes" to the seventeenth century. Although initially fearful of these outsiders, a number of Potawatomi eventually embraced Catholicism. Some elders I interviewed attribute this acceptance to the overlap of Catholic theology and rites with traditional Potawatomi spirituality (or at least the greater willingness of Catholic priests to engage in religious syncretism), while others note the extensive history of intermarriage between Potawatomi and French Catholic families. Regardless of the genesis of this connection, the ties between nation and church had enduring consequences. Chief Simon Pokagon and his followers avoided removal and remained in southwestern Michigan at least in part because of their willingness to embrace Catholicism. To continue his ministry, Jesuit Father Benjamin Petit accompanied Potawatomi families forced west along the Trail of Death in 1838.
Potawatomi experiences prior to removal were also affected by interactions with European settlers. Like many Great Lakes tribes, the Potawatomi participated in the fur trade. Experience constructing birch-bark canoes and tremendous open-water navigation skills enabled the Potawatomi to control a significant share of the fur trade. Initially, the Potawatomi traded with the French because of the latter's ready access to markets and ability to supply villages with trade goods. These mercantile relationships frequently turned personal as French men married Potawatomi women. However, as French economic and political power faded in North America, the Potawatomi shifted the focus of their trade relationships to the British. Trade was not simply an economic exchange for the British; rather, they hoped ties with Native nations would prove militarily and politically expedient. Fearing the further expansion of American settlers and desiring new British trade goods, the Potawatomi fought alongside the British during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
Interactions with other Native nations, Christian missionaries, and European traders and settlers shaped Potawatomi economic, political, and social life prior to removal. During this time villages were politically autonomous. Because of the value placed on harmony within the community, when negotiation failed to resolve intra-tribal differences, "Potawatomi clans and communities often divided, with a dissident faction moving away to establish a new community elsewhere" (Clifton 1975: 6; see also Edmunds 1978; Landes 1970). A sense of constituting a nation, bound together by social and cultural ties, existed during this time but would be tested as circumstances changed.
Negotiating the Treaty of Chicago
As America gained political strength and consolidated its control over an increasingly large territory during the 1830s, Indian-white power relations were transformed (Cornell 1988; Corntassel and Witmer 2008; Deloria and Lytle 1998). Through cases like Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) the Supreme Court effectively ended the government-to-government relations between the United States and Native groups that had defined America's colonial period. Many eastern Native American tribes were forcibly displaced or relocated from their homelands as a consequence of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act resulted from President Andrew Jackson's campaign promise to promote westward expansion and facilitate white settlement. Jackson believed Indians had only possessory right to the lands on which they lived and were subject to American sovereignty (Almaguer 1994; Satz 1975). Although Jackson initially advocated voluntary removal of all tribes to new lands west of the Mississippi River, his southern and western supporters in Congress took action when tribes failed to move of their own volition. After a prolonged and contentious debate "in which the eastern senators and representatives deplored the policy as a violation of American honor" removal became law in May 1830 (Deloria and Lytle 1983: 6). The Removal Act guaranteed tribes "aid and assistance" to facilitate emigration, supplementary payments to individual Indians for improvements made to the lands that were sold to the government and, once relocated, protection against disturbances by other tribes or whites (Kappler 1902). Importantly, the law also stipulated that tribes could not be forced to cede their lands, thus obligating the American government and tribes to negotiate treaties outlining the terms and conditions of removal.
Of the twenty-three land-cession treaties that the Potawatomi Nation negotiated with the American government between 1832 and 1867, the 1833 Treaty of Chicago was particularly significant. Through this treaty the Potawatomi relinquished more than five million acres of land west of Lake Michigan and several small reservations in southern Michigan. The Potawatomi also agreed to "remove to the country thus assigned to them as soon as conveniently can be done" (Kappler 1902: 402). In exchange for removing from their eastern lands, the Potawatomi were guaranteed new lands west of the Mississippi River, with relocation expenses paid for by the U.S. government; annuities to provide for education, construction, and trade goods; and compensatory payments to a number of individual chiefs. Moreover, the treaty increased the pace of the Potawatomi Nation's fragmentation, which had begun in the 1700s.
Michigan Territorial Governor George B. Porter, Indian Agent Thomas J. V. Owen, and Illinois politician William Weatherford were appointed to negotiate the treaty on behalf of the U.S. government. The commissioners arrived in Chicago on September 10, 1833, joining in a "colorful spectacle" with thousands of people who gathered to participate in or witness the negotiations, to sell or trade goods, or otherwise to partake of the associated events (Edmunds 1978: 248):
Some six thousand Potawatomi, plus many from other tribes, arrived—bag and baggage, whole families and villages—and set up camp on the north shore of the Chicago River, just outside the limits of the recently incorporated city of Chicago. ... They were quickly surrounded and besieged by an army of counterfeiters, whiskey peddlers, land sharpers, restaurateurs, sutlers, Indian agents, greenhorns, horse thieves, journalists, portrait painters, confidence men, and assorted officials of high repute if questionable ethics. (Clifton 1998: 238)
When the commissioners and Potawatomi counselors met for the first time on Saturday, September 14, they started with ceremony. After lighting a fire and smoking a peace pipe, Governor Porter spoke of promise and possibility. "We think the Great Spirit has been kind to his red and white children, that he has allowed them to assemble here. The day is auspicious of good results." He continued, calling for good faith on both sides in the upcoming negotiations. "We are all friends. Our hearts are one and united. We love one another. No evil feelings exist amongst us." Noting that President Andrew Jackson "wants to see all of his red children made happy and removed far beyond the evils which now surround them," Porter and the commissioners requested that the Potawatomi ignore advice of the "bad birds" among them who argued for refusing to deal, confer carefully, and sell their lands to the government.
When discussions resumed on Monday, September 16, Ap-te-ke-zhick (Half Day), a Potawatomi leader from the Fox River area in Wisconsin, addressed the commissioners. In the past, the bands had always heeded the requests of the "Great Father," but this was a different case: "Your red children after much councilling [sic] together as you advised us to do, two days ago, have made up their mind not to treat with the commissioners of our Great Father and not [to] grant the request to sell our lands." The Indians had asked the Great Spirit for advice about how to respond to the government's request to give up their homelands: "Your red children are unfortunate—they are poor, and if we have to sell all our lands and go where you advise us, some great evil thing might happen to us. Here the Great Spirit allows us to live in peace amongst ourselves, with the white man and all. We are happy here."
The commissioners met Ap-te-ke-zhick's speech with skepticism. Porter insisted that the Potawatomi had not adequately considered the government's request and that, in his opinion, it was impossible for the bands to continue living as they had in the past. Further, Porter noted the Potawatomi failed to recognize that the government was only negotiating the treaty to help the Indians. Ap-te-kezhick replied: "We have answered the question of our Great Father. Your eyes have seen our lips utter it and your ears have heard it. We can give no other answer. Your red children will never take their families and move to a new country without first having seen it. ... Should you keep us for five days our words will be the same and remain unbroken. ... We wish to return to our wigwams and say no more on the subject."
Potawatomi leaders wisely and understandably requested an end to the treaty talks until they could view the lands promised by the government and ensure their adequacy. Porter reemphasized that the president was acting for the "welfare of his red children" and asked the Potawatomi to reconsider their decision. A telling exchange between Ap-te-ke-zhick and Porter concluded the day and reflected the impasse that had been reached so quickly in the negotiations:
Ap-te-ke-zhick said: You have written down my speech. You will see what I have said tomorrow and the next day. My words shall be unaltered. I will then say the same.
Gen. Porter said: You will think better of it. For the next few days the parties only held limited talks. After asking Porter for additional time to deliberate, the Potawatomi appointed two "mixed-blood" men, Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson, to serve as their councilors (Edmunds 1978: 248). When negotiations resumed on September 21, Pou-kagon, a Potawatomi leader from southern Michigan, noted the confusion and disagreement among the Potawatomi: "You have, my fathers, asked us to sell our land to our Great Father. We do not know what land you want. We have several tracts of land. We do not know whether you want these small pieces or what lands. We wish to know what it is you want." After several subsequent Potawatomi speakers posed similar questions, Porter reacted tersely to what he viewed as their feigned ignorance. Stating that the commissioners would not be "trifled with" and that President Jackson had "made war" against those who resisted removal and "acted most wickedly," Porter called for greater efforts to reach an agreement.
The archival record is unclear about exactly what transpired between September 22 and September 25. The official treaty negotiation journal is quite literally blank, with no entries recorded for these four critical days. Some suggest fraud led to the decision to cede the land (Edmunds 1978; Gerwing 1964). Others argue that the Potawatomi were "highly pragmatic people, fully capable of learning a variety of new ideas, tactics, and styles," and that their resistance was not about land sales per se but to the "scale, timing, terms and consequences." Regardless whether through fraud or instrumentalism, a group of Potawatomi approved the Treaty of Chicago on September 26, 1833. A side accord was reached the next day with the "Catholic Potawatomi" from southern Michigan that permitted them to remain in Michigan "on account of their religious creed" (Kappler 1902: 413). Although they were required to move north to L'Arbre Croche near Little Traverse Bay and Petoskey, and were not granted specific lands, the "Catholic Potawatomi" were relieved to avoid removal to the west.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Gathering the Potawatomi Nation by Christopher Wetzel. Copyright © 2015 University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS.
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