Brandon Public Library

Seeing red, Indigenous land, American expansion, and the political economy of plunder in North America, Michael John Witgen

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Seeing red

bibliography

1267403444

Michael John Witgen

Indigenous land, American expansion, and the political economy of plunder in North America

"Against long odds, the Anishinaabeg resisted removal, retaining thousands of acres of their homeland in what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Their success rested partly on their roles as sellers of natural resources and buyers of trade goods, which made them key players in the political economy of plunder that drove white settlement and U.S. development in the Old Northwest. But, as Michael Witgen demonstrates, the credit for Native persistence rested with the Anishinaabeg themselves. Outnumbering white settlers well into the nineteenth century, they leveraged their political savvy to advance a dual citizenship that enabled mixed-race tribal members to lay claim to a place in U.S. civil society. Telling the stories of mixed-race traders and missionaries, tribal leaders and territorial governors, Witgen challenges our assumptions about the inevitability of U.S. expansion. Deeply researched and passionately written, Seeing Red will command attention from readers who are invested in the enduring issues of equality, equity, and national belonging at its core"--, Provided by publisher

Prologue: The Indian Liberating Army: Re-imagining Native identity in Colonial North America -- Introduction: Indian country and the origins of the United States -- A nation of settlers -- Indigenous homelands and American homesteads -- The civilizing mission, women's labor, and the mixed-race families of the Old Northwest -- Justice weighed in two scales -- Indigenous land and black lives: the politics of exclusion and privilege in the Old Northwest -- Conclusion: Chief Buffalo goes to Washington -- Epilogue: The more things change, the more they stay the same: the legacy of the political economy of plunder -- Appendix: Summaries of select treaties between the United States and Indigenous Nations in the Old Northwest, 1795-1855

Indigenous land, American expansion, and the political economy of plunder in North America