| Abstrakt: |
In the 1850s, a decade of great stress for Native North Americans, U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs George Manypenny preoccupied himself with Indigenous nations' supposed dependence on U.S. government annuities. Through new treaties he pressured or persuaded Native American leaders to convert annuities into term or lump-sum payments, or to accept agricultural training and equipment as payment. Native Americans saw annuities as emblems of sovereignty, tangible proof of sovereign-to-sovereign relations, and their distribution as opportunities to gather and affirm social unity. They proved willing to give them up only in return for other assets, like school funds, that could serve their people's adaptive agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
