1875 Report from the Committee on Indian Affairs on the Pottawatomie Indians

Lowe, D.P.. Pottawatommie Indians of Kansas, Report No. 319, House of Representatives, 43rd Congress, 2nd Session. March 3, 1875. 8.5" x 5" inches. 3 pages. A report submitted to the House of Representatives on behalf of the Pottawatomie Indians alleging outstanding sums of money and materials owed to them from treaties. The report does not conclude in agreement with any of the Pottawatomie's claims, claiming that in several situations they were even overpaid. The Pottawatomie are a tribe that congregated in the Great Lakes region that were forced on the "Pottawatomie Trail of Death", a forced march from Indiana to eastern Kansas. This forced march broke (truncated) the existing treaty between the tribe and the federal government, a detail omitted by the report's authors. Westward migration from white settlers who coveted the land of early Indians reservations in the Midwest, such as the one the Pottawatomie lived on in Indiana, created social pressure which eventually resulted in the military forcibly removing the tribe from their reservation. This dominant policy of this era would be to dominate and contain any tribes that remained out of the jurisdiction of Federal authority, and to eventually foster their dependence upon the state. Overall, this report is in very good condition. (Inventory #: 17756)