(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Indians 101: The U.S. government replaces the Navajo Council in 1923 [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: 2023-04-18 In administering reservations during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the United States followed a practice known as “making chiefs.” In this practice, the United States simply designated certain people as “chiefs” irrespective of whether they were considered leaders by the people they were supposed to represent. While the United States gave lip service to the idea of democracy as a preferred form of government, the reality was that the United States preferred to establish dictatorships whose leaders would not question the ever-changing whims of American Indian policies. One example of American government dictating tribal government can be seen in the formation of the Navajo Grand Council in 1923. The Navajo Sometime in the late 1300’s and early 1400’s groups of hunting and gathering Athabascans began arriving in the Southwest from the far north in Canada. These were the ancestors of the Navajo and Apache peoples. When the Spanish entered New Mexico, they recorded that the Tewa referred to one of the neighboring tribes as Navahú in reference to large areas of cultivated lands. This is in reference to the Navajo practice of dry farming in arroyos, and canyons. The Tewa also referred to these newcomers as Apachü which means strangers and enemies. The Spanish would later refer to these people as Apache de Navajó meaning the Apaches with the great planted fields. The basis of traditional Navajo government was kinship. People of experience and wisdom (known as nataani) led the family, band, and clan groups. According to Klara Kelley and Harris Francis, in their book Navajo Sacred Places: “Each group chose, by consensus, a headman who was often wealthy, and probably strategically placed in the kinship network. He settled disputes, mobilized the group for defense, and spoke for the group with outsiders.” In their book A History of the Navajos: The Reservation Years, anthropologists Garrick Bailey and Roberta Glenn Bailey describe the power of the nataani: “They held no real authority; their power rested only on their persuasive ability.” There was no single unified, central government or council: there were dozens of local groups. Government was by consensus with individual needs and feelings considered in the process of building consensus. Anthropologist Gary Witherspoon, in his book Language and Art in the Navajo Universe, reports: “In intra-group relations no individual, regardless of position or status, has the right to impose his will on the group. Likewise, the group does not have the right to impose its will on the individual.” In 1848, the United States acquired the right to govern the Navajo with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1868, the United States formally established the Navajo Reservation. The Actions of 1923 In 1923, the federal government unilaterally replaced the traditional Navajo council of elders with a Grand Council composed of government-selected individuals. While the new council was to be composed of delegates elected by each of the six jurisdictions on the reservation, delegates could be appointed if there was no election. The Indian Office (which would later become the Bureau of Indian Affairs) was also empowered to remove or replace any of the delegates. All the Grand Council members were Navajos who had been educated off the reservation. The Council could meet only in the presence of the Commissioner to the Navajo Tribe. Former Navajo chairman Peter MacDonald, in his book The Last Warrior: Peter MacDonald and the Navajo Nation, notes: “For the first time in the history of the Navajo Nation, the idea of a single leader was created. A twelve-member tribal council was established whose representa­tives were to replace the traditional extended family leaders.” The new Grand Council, the only Navajo government recognized by the U.S. government, quickly signed leasing permits with a group of mining companies. Anthropologist David Aberle, in his book The Peyote Religion Among the Navaho, notes: “The Government’s intention is clear: it was not to create a self-governing tribe, but to create an instrument which could be called at its behest to negotiate on behalf of the tribe in matters of property.” Garrick Bailey and Roberta Glen Bailey describe it this way: “This elected, twelve-member council was established primarily to serve the interests of the oil companies and functioned only at the tribal level, failing to respond to the needs of the agency superintendents or the problems of local communities.” Henry Chee Dodge (1857-1947), a wealthy stockman, was elected as Chairman. Dodge had been appointed as Navajo Head Chief by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1884 and had advocated for the establishment of a Grand Council since 1918. A split soon developed in the council. Dodge felt that the royalties should belong to all the Navajos and should be used to buy land for the impoverished Navajo stockmen. Another group, under the leadership of Jacob C. Morgan, a fundamentalist Protestant missionary, felt that traditionalists such as Dodge were not qualified to lead. Morgan favored the assimilation of the Navajos into American society, while Dodge wanted a unified Navajo nation. Dodge served as Chairman until 1928. More American Indian histories Indians 101: The Navajo Long Walk Indians 201: The Navajo and Mexico Indians 201: First U.S. treaties with the Navajo Indians 101: The Navajo and Oil in the 1920s Indians 101: The Navajo Reservation in the 1950s Indians 101: Boulder Dam and the Navajo Reservation Indians 101: Navajo Rugs [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/18/2164234/-Indians-101-The-U-S-government-replaces-the-Navajo-Council-in-1923 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/