Reference Reviews

Lawrence Looks at Books

Treaties with American Indians: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflicts, and Sovereignty, edited by Donald L. Fixico. 3 vols. 1,052p. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. 978-1-57607-881-5; 2007-27797. $285.

Treaties with American Indians: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflicts, and Sovereignty Between the Revolution and the end of negotiated agreements in 1917, Congress ratified 374 treaties and 16 agreements with Native American tribes. In most of these transactions, native groups ceded large tracts of territory in return for "peace and friendship," gifts, payments, or reservations. Other treaties addressed questions of sovereignty, removal, land boundaries, or hunting and fishing rights. From the beginning, these binding agreements between unequal partners were used to bully tribes into directions that the federal government desired. However, in recent years those same agreements have also served to help Native Americans reassert both rights and cultural traditions.
This comprehensive survey of the history of American Indian treaties in the United States and Canada ranges from colonial times to the present. The scope includes formally negotiated agreements as well as the executive decisions, legislation and court cases that have shaped government policy for much of the last century. Arranged thematically, the first volume consists of 22 substantial essays that broadly examine the treaty making process and its historical development. The essays include regional and period perspectives in addition to examinations of such issues as property, tribal authority and assimilation from both the Native American and federal points of view. The second volume chronologically provides the details of 413 American and Canadian treaties, from the 1684 Treaty of Albany with the Five Nations to the Nisga's Final Agreement with the government of Canada in 1999. Brief articles describe the content, background and participants in each treaty. Excerpts of 40 documents illustrate their nature. Selected entries describe 28 important treaty sites, which were frequently chosen because of their cultural significance to the tribes involved. The final volume provides historical background on race relations through the twentieth century with articles on 84 historic events and 133 key individuals. An additional 33 essays explain such concepts as guardianship, plenary power and rights of the soil. Supplemental materials repeated in each volume include a selected bibliography, index, and lists of alternative tribal names and their associated treaties.
Together these volumes provide a foundation for the better understanding of one of the crucial conflicts in North American history. What might easily have become a trail of tears and broken promises is in fact a remarkably balanced attempt to portray the differing points of view in a long-running confrontation of cultures. The set is highly recommended for high school, public and academic libraries.

— John Lawrence