(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Indians 201: The Pueblos and the United States, 1846-1875 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-13 In 1846, the United States Army under the leadership of General Stephen Watts Kearny occupied Pueblo territory in a virtually bloodless conquest. This brought the Pueblos under American rule. The Americans had purposefully created a stereotype of American Indians as nomadic hunters (even though very few tribes came close to fitting that stereotype) in order to justify taking land from the Indians. However, it was obvious to even the most casual observer that the Pueblos did not fit this stereotype. In her book Santa Ana: The People, the Pueblo, and the History of Tamaya, Laura Bayer writes: “They had preserved their own ancient governments, traditions, and religions after three hundred years of contact with European civilization, and they clearly indicated their intention to continue to do so.” This led to debates about whether or not the Pueblos should actually be considered as Indian tribes. It would take thirty years until the Supreme Court would issue a ruling on this question. Under Mexican law, Pueblo Indians had been citizens, but under American law they lost their citizenship rights. . In his chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 9: Southwest, Marc Simmons reports: “Wholly foreign was the idea underlying Spanish and Mexican administration of the Indians—that the native people when ready should be incorporated as full citizens and allowed unrestricted participation in provincial life. A second problem faced by the new American rulers was religion. As a Christian nation, the United States had policies which emphasized the importance of converting American Indians to Christianity, preferably Protestant Christianity. The Pueblos, when under Spanish rule, had nominally become Catholics. While American policies actively discouraged Indian pagan practices, the Americans at this time did not care much for Catholicism either. The American government, therefore, found itself supporting Protestant missionaries to the Catholic Pueblos. Under Spanish and Mexico rule, the Pueblos had adopted Catholicism and had combined this with their own religious practices without any loss of the basic fabric of their life. With the Americans, however, they were faced with proselytizing Christians who sought to destroy Pueblo culture. In 1847, the New Mexico territorial legislature passed an act entitled “Indians” which recognized the Pueblos as political and corporate bodies. According to the act, the Pueblos were living in towns and villages on lands granted to them by the Spanish and Mexican governments. In his book Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History, Jemez writer Joe Sando reports: “Thus was the fantasy perpetuated, whereby the Pueblo people were not recognized as original owners and occupants of their vast southwestern region.” According to the Americans, Pueblo occupancy of their land rested on grants of land by foreign governments rather than on the fact that they had lived on these lands for many centuries. Pueblo resistance to American rule was not always passive. In 1847, Taos Pueblo revolted. Charles Bent, a Santa Fe trader and acting governor, and several municipal officials in Taos were killed. American retribution was swift: Colonel Sterling Price led 353 soldiers from Santa Fe to Taos. Using a howitzer, the American troops blasted through the pueblo’s thick walls. In his book Masked Gods: Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism, Frank Waters writes: “Storming parties with ladders and axes, advanced over the pueblo walls; riflemen picked off the defenders as they ran.” In the end, 150 Indians were killed; 14 were taken prisoner and hanged. Among the Americans 15 were killed and 47 wounded. Marc Simmons reports: “As motives for their actions, the Taos rebels made vague appeals to patriotism, but the tragic outburst appears to have been rooted more in local problems and frustrations growing out of land grant and other conflicts of long standing.” In 1849, James S. Calhoun is appointed the first Indian agent for the newly acquired territory. Marc Simmons reports: “His initial task was to convince Washington officials that sharp distinction should be made between the relatively advanced village Indians and the often-hostile nomads.” Marc Simmons also writes: “Calhoun worked diligently for confirmation of Pueblo property rights and urged that Pueblos be extended the voting privilege.” In 1850, James S. Calhoun negotiated a treaty between the United States and the Pueblos of Santa Clara, Tesuque, Nambe, Santo Domingo, Jemez, San Felipe, Cochiti, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, and Zia. The treaty stated that the boundaries of each Pueblo: “…shall never be diminished, but may be enlarged whenever the Government of the United States shall deem it advisable.” In addition, the treaty stated that the Pueblos shall be governed by their own laws and customs. The treaty was never ratified by the United States Senate. However, the treaty was understood by the Pueblos as the standard for governing their relations with the federal government. In 1850, a delegation of Hopi from Arizona visited Agent James S. Calhoun to determine what the policies of the United States were toward them and to complain about Navajo raids. From the Hopi, Calhoun learned that the Hopi pueblos were autonomous. He reported: “From what I could learn from the Cacique, I came to the conclusion, that each of the seven Pueblos, was an independent Republic, having confederated for mutual protection.” In 1850, a convention held in Santa Fe discussed the possibility of statehood for New Mexico and, as a result, a possible state constitution was put up for a public vote. Before the vote the military governor, Col. John Monroe, issued a proclamation allowing the Pueblos to vote. While that state constitution was overwhelmingly accepted, Congress ignored the vote and passed an Organic Act creating the New Mexico Territory. The Organic Act excluded Indians from the legally-counted population. In 1851, twelve New Mexico Pueblos met with the American Indian agent and expressed their desire to maintain their traditional customs and usages. There is no indication of the response by the American government to this desire. In 1852, five leading men from Tesuque—José María Vigil, Carlos Vigil, Juan Antonio Vigil, José Domingo Herrera, and José Abeyta—traveled by horseback, steamboat, and train to Washington, D.C. where they met with President Millard Fillmore. The purpose of the delegation was to argue for the rights promised in a Pueblo treaty signed in 1850. The delegation spent six weeks in Washington and was taken to all the standard destinations, including the Smithsonian Institution. In their meeting with the President, Fillmore indicated that he personally would look into the matter of their treaty. In 1852, a delegation from Santa Ana Pueblo traveled to Santa Fe to meet with the American superintendent to raise the issue of infringements on their land. The superintendent, however, was not present and the Americans simply dismissed their complaints as “trifling” and “no business of any consequence.” The New Mexico territorial legislature passed a law in 1853 prohibiting the sale of liquor to Indians and declared that “Indian” did not include the Pueblo Indians. In 1855, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs asked Congress to repeal the law which defined the Pueblos in New Mexico as corporate entities which could sue and be sued in local courts. He explained that the Pueblos had suffered greatly from this law because most suits were filed by non-Indians with an interest in obtaining Pueblo land. However, Congress did not act on this recommendation. An 1858 Congressional act confirmed the Spanish land grants to several New Mexico Pueblos: Acoma, Jemez, Chochiti, Picuris, San Felipe, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Zia, Isleta, Nambe, Pojuaque, Sandia, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Taos, and Tesuque. According to Jemez historian Joe Sando “Thus is a complex situation made even more complex, since the question of land grants to Indians is superimposed upon Indian aboriginal rights dating from time immemorial, and now the Indians can claim rights both under the land claims and under their original rights as first owners of the land, whose land was taken without treaty, without payment, without permission, and without knowledge of the Indian people themselves.” In 1864, the Pueblo governors were given “Lincoln canes” as symbols of their office and authority. Engraved on the silver head of each cane is the name of the Pueblo, the year, and “A. Lincoln.” The canes originally cost $5.50 each. The United States issued land patents in 1864 for Nambe, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Picuris, Zia, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Pojuaque, San Juan, Santa Clara, Taos, Tesuque, and Santo Domingo Pueblos in New Mexico. In 1867, the territorial chief justice in United States v Ortiz ruled that the Pueblos were not Indians under the definition of the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1834. The Pueblos protested the decision. The Indian agent for the Pueblos, noting that the federal government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, asked the government to protect the Pueblos. The United States officially established an Indian Agency for the Hopi in 1869. However, the agency was located in Fort Wingate rather than near the Hopi pueblos in Arizona. In addition, the agency was officially named the “Moqui Pueblo Agency,” a name which the Hopi felt was insulting. In his book Pages from Hopi History, Harry James writes: “It was not an auspicious beginning of official relations between the government of the United States of America and the independent villages of the three Hopi mesas.” Two years later, the agency was moved from Fort Wingate to Fort Defiance. In 1873, the agency was moved from Fort Defiance to Keams Canyon which is about 13 miles away from the Hopi pueblo of Walpi. In 1869, in the case of United States versus Lucero, Chief Justice Watts characterized Indians as “wild, wandering savages”, but noted that this description did not hold for the Pueblos who, he claimed, have been cultivating the soil for three centuries. Joe Sando feels that the Judge was: “…obviously ignorant of evidence that placed the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico thousands of years before the Spanish conquest, with walled villages, a sedentary life, and a principal occupation of agriculture.” In 1869, a special inspector for the Indian Office recommended that the Pueblos be declared citizens and required to pay taxes on their crops, herds, and orchards. Congress in 1869 passed legislation which formally recognized the Santa Ana Pueblo land grant in New Mexico. In 1871, the Indian agent for the Pueblos reported that holdings by non-Indian squatters on Pueblo lands were of such great value that the United States government could not afford to compensate them if they were forced to move. Instead, he recommended that the Pueblos sell their lands to these squatters. Congress authorized the extension of federal services to New Mexico’s Pueblo Indians in 1872. In 1873 the Bureau of Indian Affairs considered relocating the Hopi from their Arizona pueblos to land along the Little Colorado River or to Oklahoma. The Hopi vowed to resist any relocation as their ancient contract with the Great Spirit Massauw makes removal from the land impossible. After discussions with the Hopi, the Indian Agent recommended that a separate Hopi reservation be established. The United States Supreme Court, in the 1876 United States versus Joseph, declared that the Intercourse Act of 1834 was not applicable to the Pueblos of New Mexico. The Court viewed the Pueblos as having a settled, domestic existence and therefore were not subject to laws which were passed for the protection and civilization of “wild Indians.” Furthermore, the Court asserted that Pueblo land titles were given to them by the Spanish government. As a result, 3,000 non-Indians settled on Pueblo lands. Laura Bayer writes: “By ruling that they were not Indians, the court denied them the protection of the federal government and gave local courts and officials jurisdiction over them. By neglecting to define them as citizens, the ruling also deprived them of the right to vote for the local officials who would have authority over them, the right to hold local office themselves, and the opportunity to enjoy the other rights commonly held by citizens.” In an article in the New Mexico Historical Review, Deborah Rosen writes: “Joseph reflected and expressed a strong national sentiment in favor of advancing American individualism and expanding economic markets. In the nineteenth century, extending legal jurisdiction over a previously excluded group of people and their land was a common method of paving the way for including that land and its products in the larger market economy.” The Supreme Court ruling denied the Pueblos the protection of the federal government and placed them within the jurisdiction of the local courts and officials. The Court did not define the Pueblos as citizens, and thus they did not have the right to vote, nor did they have the right to hold public office. While the Court excluded the Pueblos from participation in political life, it opened the way for their lands to be appropriated for private enterprise by non-Indians. More About the Pueblos Indians 101: Acoma Pueblo and the Spanish, 1539-1599 Indians 101: The Zuni and the Spanish in the 16th Century Indians 201: The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Indians 101: The Hopi and the Spanish Indians 101: The Hopi Reservation in the 19th century Indians 101: Allotment and the Hopi Reservation Indians 101: Hopi Indians as tourist attractions in the early 20th century Indians 101: The Hopi Reservation, 1900-1936 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/13/2163218/-Indians-201-The-Pueblos-and-the-United-States-1846-1875 Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/