BULL. 30] 



GOVERNMENTAL POLICY 



501 



III, 224, 250-252, 298, 333, 447). In 1644 

 the county courts of Massachusetts were 

 invested with jurisdiction over the Indi- 

 ans in tlieir respective districts (Rec. 

 Mass., II, 134). Through the efforts of 

 John Eliot and Thomas Mayhew many 

 Indians in Massachusetts were brought 

 under rehgious influence and gathered 

 into towns on lands set apart for them by 

 the General Court in accordance with the 

 act of 1633 (Thomas and Homans, Laws 

 of Colonial and State Govts., 9, 1812). In 

 1655 the Indians were placed nominally 

 under law and required to pay taxes. 



Though the brief rule of the Dutch in 

 New York was marked chiefly by an irreg- 

 ular and vacillating policy in their deal- 

 ings with their Algonquian neighbors, 

 they established a trading post at Albany 

 in 1615 and entered into treaties with the 

 Iroquois that were never V)roken. In 1664 

 New Netherlands passed under English 

 control, and the ill-advised English policy 

 relative to the Indians of the northern 

 districts prevailed until 1765, when, 

 through the efforts of Sir William John- 

 son, a more satisfactory and practical 

 method of dealing with the Indians, es- 

 pecially as to their territorial rights, was 

 adopted. 



Preeminent among the difficulties in 

 the way of carrying out a just, humane, 

 and consistent policy has been and is 

 still the antagonism, born of the igno- 

 rance of both races of each other's mode 

 of thought, social ideals and structure, and 

 customs, together with persistent conten- 

 tion about land, one race defending its 

 birthright, the other race ignoring native 

 claims and regarding the territory as 

 vacant. As a result a dual condition has 

 existed — on the one side, a theoretic Gov- 

 ernment plan, ideal and worthy; on the 

 other, modifications of this plan in com- 

 pliance with local ignorance and greed. 

 The laws and regulations of the U. S. 

 Government applying to the Indian 

 tribes, with few exceptions, have been 

 framed to conserve their rights. The 

 wars, which have cost much blood and 

 treasure, the enforced removals, the dis- 

 honest practices and degrading influences 

 that stain the page of history have all 

 come about in violation of these laws and 

 of solemn compacts of the Government 

 with native tribes. In spite of adverse 

 circumstances the theoretic purpose of 

 the Government policy has slowly made 

 headway. On July 13, 1787, an ordinance 

 was passed by the Continental Congress 

 for the government of the territory of the 

 United States n. w. of the Ohio r., in 

 which article 3 provides: "The utmost 

 good faith shall always be observed to- 

 ward the Indians; their land and prop- 

 erty shall never be taken from them 

 without their consent; and in their prop- 



erty, rights, and liberty they shall never 

 be invaded or disturl)ed, unless in just 

 and lawful wars authorized by Congress; 

 but laws founded in justice and humanity 

 shall from time to time be made, for pre- 

 venting wrongs being done to them, and 

 for preserving peace and friendship with 

 them" (U. S. Stat., i, 52, 1854). This 

 ordinance was conflrmed by the act of 

 Aug. 7, 1789 (ibid., 50). Acts organizing 

 the following states and territories con- 

 tain an article reaffirming the above 

 ordinance: Alabama, Colorado, Dakota, 

 Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, 

 Minnesota, jMississippi, Montana, Ne- 

 braska, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin, and 

 Wyoming. 



The Kepublic of Texas in its need 

 made solemn treaties which were after- 

 ward repudiated; consequently no tribe 

 within its limits could claim tribal lands. 

 When Texas was admitted into the Union 

 it retained its laws and the control of its 

 public lands. The Indian tribes appealed 

 to the U. S. Government for protection, 

 and for their relief they were removed to 

 reservations set apart for them in what 

 was then a part of the Indian Ter., and 

 there the remnant of them are now, hold- 

 ing their lands in severalty, subject to the 

 laws and regulations of Oklahoma. 



Jn 1792 the Russians established a 

 school at Kodiak, and in 1805 one at 

 Sitka, the Government and the church 

 cooperating in behalf of education for 

 the mixed-bloods and natives. When the 

 transfer of Alaska to the United States 

 took place in 1867 the teachers were 

 recalled to Russia and the schools were 

 closed. Within a month the American 

 residents voted to establish schools, but 

 little was accomplished. After 10 years 

 of persistent effort Dr John Eaton, Com- 

 missioner of Education, assis'ted by Dr 

 Sheldon Jackson, secured the first Presi- 

 dential appeal to Congress for civil gov- 

 ernment and schools for the "self-sup- 

 porting natives of the territory." Four 

 years later Congress passed the needed 

 law in which the natives' "right of occu- 

 pancy" was recognized, the sale of liquor 

 prohibited, and education ordered to be 

 provided for the children of school age 

 " without reference to race." In the fol- 

 lowing year public schools were opened 

 and some of the mission schools were 

 turned over to the Government. The 

 sufferings of the Eskimo consetiuent 

 upon the decline of the whaling industry 

 and the killing of the fur animals prompt- 

 ed the introduction of reindeer from Si- 

 beria in 1892. In the following year the 

 Government made its first appropriation 

 for the purchase of reindeer. Herds have 

 been placed in charge of some of the 

 schools, and Laplanders were imported 

 to instruct the natives in the care and 



