Chief Seattle Quotes
Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun.
Smith, Henry A. "Early Reminiscences. Number Ten." Seattle Sunday Star, 29 Oct. 1887, p. 10.
This quotation is often used as the greatest evidence the white usurpation of Indian land and the dubious value of all the treaties that had been made with the Indians guaranteeing them specific lands. Jackson, however, was not completely accurate. The Iroquois who fought on the American side in the Revolution were still on their lands in New York State. However, the Iriquois had their dealings with the State and local governments, and fared better than those tribes that depended in the Federal Government—especially with racists like Jackson in the Presidency.
First Published American Indian Author
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.
Shabonee in a warning ride reminiscent of Paul Revere, warned many white settlers of an impending attack by unfriendly Indians. He also gave an eyewitness account of the Battle of Tippecanoe which propelled Harrison to the Presidency. The U. S. Navy named a ship in his honor in the 1940s. Several schools are named for him also.
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.
This is a very interesting quotation because it shows that the South American Indians were not only the victims of Spanish colonialism, but before Europeans ever set foot in the New World, expansionism, conquest and colonialism was alive and well. It was just that one Indian people imposed it on others. Note also the techniques of sending colonists to the new colonies to “civilize” the conquered peoples. Although this was common in Western History (even Alexander the Great used it, it was independently created as a colonial technique in the New World. The most extensive use of this technique was used by the Russians as that expanded to the Soviet Union the consequences of which we see in ethnic strife in the Balkans and the Ukraine even into the 21st century. Often these colonists were used as spies as well, in Peru {641657} as in all the Western examples.
Chief Seattle was a Suquamish and Duwamish chief. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, was named after him. A widely publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility and respect of Native Americans' land rights had been attributed to him; however what he actually said has been lost through translation and rewriting.
