Alexandra Harmon’s Rich Indians: Native People and the Problem of Wealth in American History is a historically significant chronology of Native American wealth in US history from the colonization at Jamestown Virginia in the seventeenth century to the wealth acquired from tribal casinos in the present day. Rich Indians is divided into seven case histories that examine how Euro-Americans responded to Indian’s economic conduct and what those responses said in regards to both societies from first contact through the present. After a discourse of Indian-white relations in provincial Virginia, the essays move to the second chapter of "Indian Gentry," exemplified by Joseph Brant, among others, before taking up the hardship of southern Indians removal.
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The basis of starting with the seventeenth century provides grounding and reactions of the years to follow to the wealth that Indians accumulated through the centuries to follow. Harmon states, “while the colonists were assessing the Indians’ economic status, Indians were measuring their prosperity against that of the intruders, and both groups hoped to improve their fortunes by drawing their new neighbors’ resources and desirable possessions into their own exchange networks” (19). Careful analysis of primary and secondary sources of the seventeenth century interactions of the Indians and Euro-Americans shows from the beginning common preconceptions and prejudices. Harmon determines that, “the English deemed the Indians’ economic culture inferior to their own in essential ways, and such disdain was apparently reciprocated, the Indians’ dismal destiny was attributed largely to a defective culture, conceived as sinful savagery” (19). These prejudices are carried throughout the rest of the book into the twentieth century, along with the tribulations within a tribal society and also among non-Indians too, over the ethical issues that affected their inspirations and activities as they accumulated and managed their property. It is those moments that confirm many of the negative stereotypes of Indians instead of dislodging …show more content…
How wealth is translated by Indian and non-Indian populaces at certain times and the degree to which it was viewed as a "problem" reflected diverse cultural qualities and social relations. The proper views encompassing local riches displays a window onto more extensive topics including how non-Indians envisioned how Indian groups ought to act, think, and socially relate and the degree to which they should to be permitted to partake in standard society. Indians occasionally contended that tribal societies did not allow a strong desire or any sort of individual greed important to succeed in the American economy. Many debates followed suit not only in economics, but additionally much more extensive inquiries of race, Indian character, and the governmental issues of Indian affairs. An example Harmon uses is the oil rich Osage Indians in Oklahoma their reservation was split relatively and assigned to members of the tribe in 1907, when the recently well off Osage were censured for squandering their wealth, as the press referred to as luxurious purchases. In 1921 Congress passed a law to "protect" the Osage from themselves restricting installments from oil to a maximum of $4,000 for every year. While tribes imposed a need for financial resources to retain their self-rule, wealth reliably served as a pretext for activities that extended Indian
The basis of starting with the seventeenth century provides grounding and reactions of the years to follow to the wealth that Indians accumulated through the centuries to follow. Harmon states, “while the colonists were assessing the Indians’ economic status, Indians were measuring their prosperity against that of the intruders, and both groups hoped to improve their fortunes by drawing their new neighbors’ resources and desirable possessions into their own exchange networks” (19). Careful analysis of primary and secondary sources of the seventeenth century interactions of the Indians and Euro-Americans shows from the beginning common preconceptions and prejudices. Harmon determines that, “the English deemed the Indians’ economic culture inferior to their own in essential ways, and such disdain was apparently reciprocated, the Indians’ dismal destiny was attributed largely to a defective culture, conceived as sinful savagery” (19). These prejudices are carried throughout the rest of the book into the twentieth century, along with the tribulations within a tribal society and also among non-Indians too, over the ethical issues that affected their inspirations and activities as they accumulated and managed their property. It is those moments that confirm many of the negative stereotypes of Indians instead of dislodging …show more content…
How wealth is translated by Indian and non-Indian populaces at certain times and the degree to which it was viewed as a "problem" reflected diverse cultural qualities and social relations. The proper views encompassing local riches displays a window onto more extensive topics including how non-Indians envisioned how Indian groups ought to act, think, and socially relate and the degree to which they should to be permitted to partake in standard society. Indians occasionally contended that tribal societies did not allow a strong desire or any sort of individual greed important to succeed in the American economy. Many debates followed suit not only in economics, but additionally much more extensive inquiries of race, Indian character, and the governmental issues of Indian affairs. An example Harmon uses is the oil rich Osage Indians in Oklahoma their reservation was split relatively and assigned to members of the tribe in 1907, when the recently well off Osage were censured for squandering their wealth, as the press referred to as luxurious purchases. In 1921 Congress passed a law to "protect" the Osage from themselves restricting installments from oil to a maximum of $4,000 for every year. While tribes imposed a need for financial resources to retain their self-rule, wealth reliably served as a pretext for activities that extended Indian