What was century of dishonor

It makes little difference, however, where one opens the record of the history of the Indians; every page and every year has its dark stain. The story of one tribe is the story of all, varied only by differences of time and place; but neither time nor place makes any difference in the main facts. Colorado is as greedy and unjust in as was Georgia in , and Ohio in ; and the United States Government breaks promises now as deftly as then, and with an added ingenuity from long practice.

There are hundreds of pages of unimpeachable testimony on the side of the Indian; but it goes for nothing, is set down as sentimentalism or partisanship, tossed aside and forgotten.

President after president has appointed commission after commission to inquire into and report upon Indian affairs, and to make suggestions as to the best methods of managing them. The reports are filled with eloquent statements of wrongs done to the Indians, of perfidies on the part of the Government; they counsel, as earnestly as words can, a trial of the simple and unperplexing expedients of telling truth, keeping promises, making fair bargains, dealing justly in all ways and all things.

To assume that it would be easy, or by any one sudden stroke of legislative policy possible, to undo the mischief and hurt of the long past, set the Indian policy of the country right for the future, and make the Indians at once safe and happy, is the blunder of a hasty and uninformed judgment.

James R. Garfield, his son James R. He held that position from to , overseeing the many different agencies including the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The book, as it sits in the Garfield Memorial Library is one of many examples of the complex, painful, and revealing episodes in the forming of American history.

Nunis, Doyce B. Southern California Quarterly 47, no. Accessed June 7, You Might Also Like. She showed how the government did not honor any of its agreements.

She outlines the relations that existed between the Native Americans and local white settlers before the attacks. Fiske calls on the US government to stop cheating the Natives and honor the agreements that were made with them. Fiske sent a copy of her book to all the members of Congress. Many critics attacked her book, but it was generally well received. It had a significant impact at the time and was considered by many to be the major contributing factor to the passage of Dawes Act which allotted land to Native Americans.

Century of Dishonor Published.