Luke Lea Quotes
It is indispensably necessary that they be placed in positions [reservations] where they can be controlled and finally compelled by sheer necessity to resort to agricultural labor or starve. Considering, as the untutored Indian does, that labor is a degradation, and that there is nothing worthy of his ambitions but prowess in war, success in the chase, and eloquence in council, it is only under such circumstances that his haughty pride can be subdued, and his wild energies trained to the more ennobling pursuits of civilized life.
Luke Lea, 1783-1851, U. S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1850
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The Indians did not have the wheel when the whites came, but soon there were wagons, stage coaches and railroads.
Justification for policy of settling all Indians west of the Mississippi River.
Published 100 years after it was written. This is the first known written statement of what became a de facto policy regarding the American Indian.
The first Native American to become a General Officer. Appointed by President Grant in 1869
First Indian newspaper in the U.S.
Some Mexicans have always resented the U. S. for “colonizing” Arizona and other territory that once belonged to Mexico. This quotation is very revealing concerning the reality on the ground. The Apache were on the land when the Mexicans moved in to “civilize” the territory. However, the Apache, by violence, drove the Mexicans out. At that point the Mexicans were happy to sell Arizona to the Americans and the Gadsden Purchase brought Arizona to the United States as a territory. The Americans however didn’t buy the land from the Apache, the owners before the Mexicans claimed it. Many Apaches continued the violence against whoever tried to settle in the area. Eventually, the Americans accomplished what the Mexicans did not—militarily subduing the Apache.
Most of her modern admirers tend to repress this quotation which is very embarrassing for most modern conservatives. However, there is a minority of thinkers who maintain that land, unused, is open to anyone who will make use of it to improve civilization. Many conservationists, in contrast, extol unused land for preservation.
Large wagon trains of settlers crossed the content on their way to the Oregon Territory. The Sioux Indians whose land the wagon trains had to pass through often attacked the wagon trains in a vain effort to discourage others from passing through the area. The Sioux believed that the large wagon trains frightened the buffalo away, which was probably not a significant factor in the diminishing of the buffalo herds. The Indians and white hunters both over-hunted the buffalo which became few in numbers. With modern wildlife management Buffalo are not only back but are plentiful and being raised for their lean meat which has become a delicacy.
First Published American Indian Author
In early America large numbers of whites who had been captured by Indians would refuse to leave their new families even when they had the opportunity to do so. J. Hector St. John
