BOOK REVIEWS
List of Documents Concerning the
Negotiation of Ratified Indian
Treaties, 1801-1869. Compiled by John H. Martin. (Special List No. 6.
Washington, National Archives, 1949. iii
+ 175p., appendix.)
One of the most ambitious archival
endeavors in progress today is
being conducted by the United States
through its National Archives.
The methods of record keeping employed
are efficiently designed to make
possible a maximum use by scholars and
government officials. To obviate
the necessity of tediously searching
through hundreds of manuscripts in
the records and files of the various
governmental agencies and bureaus
therein deposited, the National Archives
has established a very laudable
program of compiling "finding
aids." The present work is the sixth of
such aids prepared on a special subject.
During the course of its history, the
United States has negotiated
approximately three hundred and seventy
treaties with the Indians re-
siding within its borders. In point of
time these have extended from the
September 17, 1778, treaty with the
Delaware to the Appropriation Act
of March 3, 1871, which provided for the
termination of treaty-making
with Indian tribes. All of these, except
for a few of the earlier ones for
which no significant supporting
documents have been found, are in-
cluded within the scope of this work.
One of the primary sources of
information of the policy of the
federal government toward the American
Indians is to be found in the
ratified treaties between the two
groups. In order to study and to under-
stand them it is necessary to determine
and to examine the circumstances
leading to, surrounding, and following
the accomplishment of these
treaties. Broadly there are three types
of documentation, in addition to
the treaty text itself, that are most
helpful in this respect.
A first group is made up of instructions
issued by the proper federal
officials, usually by the cabinet
officer under whose jurisdiction came the
supervision of Indian affairs, to a
commissioner or commissioners charged
with the authority to carry out the
negotiations. Instructions usually
outlined or perhaps described the
desired general character and form
that the treaty was to assume. Secondly,
there are the proceedings of
the treaty council itself, which
document the course of the negotiations.
101
102 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
In this category are included such
miscellany as journals, diaries,
speeches, and minutes of the meeting.
Unfortunately the materials in-
cluded under this heading, although
frequently the most important, are
often nonexistent for many of the
treaties. In some instances such records
were not made, and in others, if made,
have not been preserved. The
third type of documentation valuable in
the study of treaties includes
miscellaneous correspondence, unofficial
as well as official, of those
interested in, or to be affected by, the
outcome of the negotiations. Quite
often this category is more voluminous
and informative in the case of
a given treaty than are the other two.
These three are the types of records
with which, for the most part,
the present compilation is concerned.
All of the documents concerning
the negotiation of ratified Indian
treaties contained in the Records of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the
General Records of the Depart-
ment of the Interior are included in
this list. These are Record Groups
75 and 48, respectively, of the National
Archives.
It must be understood, however, the
chances are great that a com-
plete study cannot be made of any given
treaty by consultation of only
the manuscripts herein indicated.
Pertinent primary sources about Indian
affairs are probably more scattered than
for any other subject of com-
parable size in American history. Often
the perusal of hundreds of
manuscripts in a collection yields but a
few pertaining to the subject
at hand. Research on most phases of the
historic Indian usually involves
a patient "fine-tooth-combing"
process, not always fruitful. It is also
necessary to be aware that this list
does not exhaust all of the possibili-
ties even within the National Archives
itself. It is to be regretted that
the general records of the government
(Record Group 11), those of the
Secretary of War (Record Group 107), and
of the Senate (Record
Group 46), and also the segregated map
files of the various government
departments are not included, even
though they properly belong within
the scope of the present compilation.
The shortcomings of a work of this sort
are really but an indication
of what still needs to be done,
following a similar plan, to the other
record groups of the National Archives
containing pertinent manuscripts.
Within the scope of the two record
groups included, however, the contri-
bution made is a most valuable one. From
the research standpoint alone,
it is a tool of necessity. Without it,
for example, a count reveals that
the ninety-four treaties affecting the
Old Northwest could not be ade-
quately studied. As for the individual
states in the same region, it
Book Reviews 103
applies to seventeen treaties affecting
Ohio, thirty-five in Indiana, twenty-
two in Illinois, twenty-three in
Michigan, and twenty-six in Wisconsin.
A count of the coverage affecting other
states and sections would render
a similar result.
The documents concerned are listed
chronologically by treaties with
a brief description of each and the
location in the record group desig-
nated. The book is appended by a list of
Indian commissioners and other
pertinent officials. As a reference aid
to research in Indian affairs, the
List is invaluable.
DWIGHT L. SMITH
Ohio State University
South Bass Island and Islanders. By Thomas Huxley Langlois and
Marina Holmes Langlois. (Franz Theodore
Stone Laboratory, Contribu-
tion No. 10 [Columbus], Ohio State University, 1948. x + 139p.
illustra-
tions and maps.)
Pisciculturists observing the social
behavior of small-mouthed bass
in the limited area of an artificial
rearing pond, find that in the absence
of controls a few individual bass,
through predatory cannibalism, prosper
at the expense of their pond fellows and
grow to magnificent sizes. Given
the value that harvests of a maximum
number of fish with a maximum
mass weight is the goal of bass
cultivation, any social system which
fosters predatism, with resultant low
survival of the masses of bass fry
placed in the rearing pond, is
antagonistic to actualization of that value.
When the sequence of events leading to
cannibalism is prevented (by a
benevolent husbandman oriented to this
value) none of the fish grow to
magnificent proportions, but general
survival is high and the mass
poundage of the pond is maximized. To
attain this objective the con-
troller (a) uses the power of the masses
to make a few dominant indi-
viduals accept their "proper"
social role with the common lot, and (b)
provides an external food supply of such
amplitude that competition
yields no individual gain.
The restraining influences of definitely
limited space establish a
basis for comparison of people on an
island to fish in a pond. This is
the thesis developed by the Langlois in South
Bass Island and Islanders.
The people studied are the residents,
from 1811 to 1948, of South Bass
Island, the locus of Put-in-Bay, off the
Ohio shore of Lake Erie.
104 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
This analogy on the genesis of predation
among fish and men is
introduced (for fish) in the Foreword
and briefly developed (for man)
in a terminal Resume. The bulk of the
monograph is in the descriptive
language of local history-an
interesting, although often unconnected,
collection of statements about people,
places, and events. Following the
Foreword, topics considered are, by
chapter headings: The Land, Plants
and Animals, Air and Water, Growth and
Integration of an Aggregation
of People, The Role of Sub-groups Within
the Community, Government
and Politics, Schools and Education,
Public Health and Medical Services,
Domestic Water Supplies and the Disposal
of Wastes, Fires and the
Fire Deparmtent, Wars and Military
Organizations, The Real Estate
Industry, The Ice Industry, The Wine
Industry, The Fisheries Industry,
The Building Industry, The Hotel
Industry, The Retail Merchandising
Industry, The Transportation Industry,
Power and Communications, and
A Resume and Some Generalizations.
Fifteen pages of "Reference-Source
Records" conclude the study.
Throughout, the Langlois emphasize the
two-way relations between
the island environment and the human
community supported by the
island and its waters. In their
narration and analysis of these relation-
ships the authors make little use of the
technical apparatus and terminol-
ogy of the social sciences. No reference
is made to the large theoretical
literature on the use of organic analogy
in analysis of human behavior.
The early settlers on South Bass Island
were few and their adjust-
ments were principally adjustments to
the nonhuman environment. As
the community enlarged, the settlers
learned to get along with one another
and to cooperate in solution of common
problems. Competition for
economic advantage increased directly
with enlarged demands for local
products. This competition, plus effects
of the general depression of the
1930's, brought about a disintegration
of community interest and action.
During World War II and after, boom
times came to the islands, with
further acceleration of community
disintegration. Today, the authors
report, there is little regard for the
common welfare and no regard for
the future welfare of the group. Over a
century of occupation the effects
of human activities on the island mostly
have been destructive. And this
destruction has reduced the capacity of
the island to support a human
population.
From their observations on fish and men
the Langlois conclude that
an economic hierarchy results from
unequal ability of individuals to
compete in an open market. This unequal
individual ability leads to
Book Reviews 105
accumulations of capital by successful
competitors (predators), who
then have power to benefit or to harm
all other individuals within their
range of influence. Attention on
inter-individual competition leads to
heedless use of natural resources. In
the authors' opinion their study
questions the tenability of the value
judgement that every individual has
the social right to pursue his economic
self-interest as a priority to, and
independent of, his obligations for
behavior in a manner which will
benefit his fellow men.
J. N. SPUHLER
Ohio State University
The Native Forests of Cuyahoga
County, Ohio. By Arthur B.
Williams. (Scientific Publications of
the Cleveland Museum of Natural
History, Vol. IX. Cleveland, 1949. 90p., illustrations.)
Cuyahoga County occupies a unique
physiographic position at the
northwestern corner of the Allegheny
Plateau--here defined by the
Portage escarpment. Adjoining northward
is the lake plain, narrow in
the eastern half and up to fifteen miles
wide at the western boundary.
Three river valleys cross the county
from south to north; those of the
Rocky and Cuyahoga rivers are generally
broad, while that of the
Chagrin is narrow with steep slopes and
tributary gorges. Some of the
tributaries of the Rocky and Cuyahoga
likewise have cut gorges in the
plateau. But not all of the plateau was
well drained.
The proximity of Lake Erie materially
prolongs the period of warm
weather in autumn and retards thawing in
spring beyond the period of
late frosts. The lake shore east of
Cleveland extends northeastward, and
winds from the lake materially increase
precipitation on the eastern
plateau of the county.
Cuyahoga County thus includes an unusual
variety of plant habitats
and a strategic position with reference
to postglacial migrations of plant
species from the interior lowland on the
lake plain and from the plateau;
consequently the county had an unusual
number of minor and major
plant communities at the time when Moses
Cleaveland founded his settle-
ment at the mouth of the Cuyahoga for
the Connecticut Land Company
in 1796. Since then the city of
Cleveland has spread in all directions
and much of the original vegetation has
been either destroyed or greatly
altered.
106 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
From pollen records we know that the
area was once dominated by
spruce and fir, but these forests had
disappeared before 1796. The pine,
hemlock, and birch which followed them
left many relict stands of these
trees, some of which still remain. The
oak, hickory, and chestnut suc-
ceeded them in many situations, and the
beech, maple, tulip, walnut,
elm, and ash soon followed. Beech-maple
became the dominant forest
type on the upland, while local poorly
drained areas supported various
phases of the swamp forest. The river
valleys and parts of the lake
plain likewise were occupied by swamp
forest communities. During the
period of oak dominance prairie and
prairie border species moved east-
ward particularly on the beach ridges.
As the lake plain was much wider
in prehistoric time, this was a major
highway by which these species
moved eastward into New York state.
There is historical evidence for at
least one prairie area near the mouth of
the Cuyahoga.
Dr. Williams has attempted to
reconstruct the vegetation from land-
survey records, from early descriptions
of local areas, the recollections
of old settlers, and the detailed survey
of existing remnants of plant
communities.
He describes the present or former
distribution of many communi-
ties, among which are oak-hickory,
oak-chestnut, white oak-beech-maple,
beech-maple, hemlock-white pine-hardwoods,
several phases of the swamp
forest, and the mixed mesophytic forest.
The local reader will find much
information concerning the former
location of various vegetation types by
reference to named roads and
streets. There are numerous interesting
pictures of veteran trees and
forest remnants. It is to be hoped that
the author will carry out his
seventh objective (p. 23) and provide
his readers with a general map of
the reconstructed vegetation. No one
else can possibly draw one so nearly
correct as he.
EDGAR N. TRANSEAU
Ohio State University
Indiana Politics During the Civil
War. By Kenneth M. Stampp.
(Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XXXI. Indianapolis, Indiana His-
torical Bureau, 1949. 300p.,
bibliography and index. $3.00.)
One who has lived through World War II
and witnessed the whole-
hearted, practically unanimous support
which the American people gave
to their government in an hour of
crisis, cannot help but be amazed at
Book Reviews 107
the lack of such support given to
Lincoln during the Civil War. The
contrast shows how American nationalism
has matured and the founda-
tions of liberty and constitutional
government tested and made more
secure. Nowhere in Lincoln's time did
intensely bitter partisanship
manifest itself more than in Indiana.
Governor Morton's Republican or
"Union" party was willing to
charge its foes with treason and support
court-martial death sentences. Democrats
charged their opponents with
destroying constitutional government and
the sacred liberties of the
people. The poison of war hysteria
inevitably endangers democratic
ideals. In a superb case study, this
volume deals with these vital prob-
lems.
Indiana could not escape sectional
strife. Rivers linked the southern
portion to natural markets in the South
and farmers feared the growth
of railroads and the money power of the
East. To northern Indiana the
dawn of the new industrial age,
supported by great railroads to the East,
was envisioned, even if often but dimly.
It would be wrong to emphasize
this cleavage too much in relation to
the Civil War, for the overwhelming
majority of Hoosiers of both sections
and parties basically agreed that
the Union had to be preserved.
Extremists on both sides by their louder
voices tended to obscure this fact.
Fortunately for Lincoln's cause, there
emerged in Indiana one of
the great war governors in American
history, Oliver P. Morton. Stampp
characterizes him as a political genius
whose realistic mind clearly
understood his party's quandary and
whose strong will, matchless energy,
and boundless ambition fitted him for
revolutionary times. Blunt and
ruthless, he would not tolerate
opposition. When the Democrats in the
middle of the war captured the lower
house of the state's legislature
and blocked appropriation bills to force
action on their demands, Morton
saved his war effort by borrowing
personally from wealthy friends of the
Union. Democratic newspapers suffered,
citizens lived in panicky fear
of their neighbors, and critics were
labeled as traitors. The governor
appointed company and regimental
officers and meddled in military
affairs. Graft and the insistence on
states rights characterized bounty
payments for volunteering, contracts for
war materials, and even "the
ministrations of mercy on the
battlefields."
Professor Stampp has combined literary
excellence with sound
scholarship in this monograph. It deals
with questions still fundamental
to American democracy today. How can
government be made strong
enough to meet danger without
threatening the loss of civil rights and
108 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
individual liberty and freedom? The
citizen of today who views this
problem with despair when he reads of
specific instances when these two
objectives inevitably clash, will have
his faith in the survival of American
democracy strengthened by reading this
book.
A. T. VOLWILER
Ohio University
The Maryland Germans. By Dieter Cunz. (Princeton, Princeton
University Press, 1948. xi + 449p.,
illustrations, appendix, bibliography,
and index. $5.00.)
The author, a member of the German
department of the University
of Maryland, has engaged in much careful
research, utilizing almost
every type of available source. The
volume is divided into three fairly
equal parts (with slightly less emphasis
on the last): (1) The Colonial
Period, 1640-1790; (2) The Middle Ages
of Immigration, 1790-1865;
(3) The Last Generations, 1865-1940.
In dealing with the Colonial Period
considerable attention is given
to the career of Augustin Herrman, whose
place of birth is disputed and
whose nationality has been claimed by
both Germans and Czechs. He
eventually became the owner of 25,000
acres in Maryland. Beginning
in 1732, Germans, largely Lutheran or
Reformed, began to go to what
was then the back country, the Monocacy
Valley, and soon farther to the
west, where Hagerstown took its name
from Jonathan Hager, an early
German pioneer.
Most Maryland Germans sided with the
Patriots in the Revolutionary
War, and four all-German companies were
recruited in Maryland. After
the Revolution, the Germans began to
participate actively in public
affairs.
From 1789 to 1815 was a period of meager
migration. But after
1815 an increasing wave developed, and
from 1830 to 1860 about 200,000
German newcomers landed it, Maryland. Many, destined to go on to the
Middle West, received aid and protection
from the German Society of
Maryland.
For many years prior to 1815 important
congregations of the Lutheran
and Reformed faiths were already
flourishing (not without some tension
between the two). German Roman Catholics
had earlier been few in
number, but with their rapid increase,
after 1840 Catholic authorities
Book Reviews 109
provided German-speaking congregations,
a practice earlier adopted by
Protestant communions.
Before the Civil War, Germans of
Frederick and western Maryland
lived relatively austere lives, which
found social expression in church
activities, but in more sophisticated
Baltimore the definite development
of a wide variety of clubs was
noticeable after 1840. Singing societies
and the Turnvereine with their
gymnastic, educational, and political
aspects were especially conspicuous.
After 1840 German-language publi-
cations attained increasing importance
until practically the end of the
century.
Maryland Germans early affiliated with
the Democratic party, and
few had become Republicans in western
Maryland as late as 1860. Dur-
ing the Civil War most Maryland Germans
definitely supported the
Union, but some, especially among the
wealthy residents of Baltimore,
favored the Confederacy.
From 1860 to 1920 Baltimore Germans were
rather self-consciously
German-Americans, a situation which did
not develop in Hagerstown and
Frederick. During this period the German
vote was a powerful factor,
especially in Baltimore.
During World War I Maryland Germans
tended to sympathize
ardently with the Central Powers until
the entry of the United States into
the struggle required a prompt and
difficult readjustment. The war
effectively ended many German
publications and societies. After the war
some singing and other organizations
were revived, but by this time
most members were native-born.
During the 1930's groups favoring and
opposed to Naziism were
formed in Baltimore. At the same time,
perhaps fifteen hundred refugees
from Hitlerism settled in Maryland.
Oddly enough the largest group
of those of German blood to come
recently into Maryland was composed
of Amishmen who came down from
Pennsylvania.
Much attention is given to many
different individuals who have
served church, state, science,
journalism, or in other walks of life. Among
these is Henry L. Mencken, a descendant
of Maryland Germans.
All in all the volume is a valuable
addition to scholarly studies of
immigrant groups in the United States.
FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER
Ohio State University
110 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
The Catholic Church and The Knights
of Labor. By Henry J.
Browne. (The Catholic University of
America Studies in American
Church History, Vol. XXXVII. Washington, Catholic University of
America, 1949. xvi + 395p.,
illustrations and index. Paper, $4; cloth
[with foreword by John P. Monaghan],
$4.50.)
This is a scholarly volume based upon a
careful study of printed
and manuscript materials. Of special
importance for the work were:
(1) a collection of perhaps 75,000
letters and papers (in the possession
of the Catholic University of America)
of Terence Vincent Powderly,
from 1879 to 1893 the leader of the
Knights of Labor; (2) the widely
scattered correspondence and related
documents of many Catholic bishops
who were concerned with the problem of
the Knights of Labor.
The story is an important one in the
industrial and religious history
of the United States and Canada. The
central problem presented in this
study involves the fact that the
Catholic Church has forbidden its mem-
bers to belong to secret organizations
with oaths and rituals objection-
able to the Catholic faith; yet to many
loyal Catholics the oath-bound
Knights of Labor seemed necessary to prevent
the economic exploitation
of Catholic and other laborers. The
order derived some degree of strength
from its secret character, and its
leader, Powderly, as a Catholic, en-
deavored to persuade leaders of the
hierarchy of the Church that the
organization could modify its forms so
as to be acceptable to reasonable
demands of church authorities. Powderly
exhibited great patience during
a period of years when he found some
priests and bishops far from
friendly to the Knights, while some of
his co-workers in the order deemed
him too subservient to clerical
authority.
After much uncertainty, in Canada an
inquiry was directed to Rome,
and a condemnation of the order in
Quebec resulted. Ecclesiastical au-
thorities in Ontario and even in
Montreal were more favorable to labor's
problems, however, and the situation
became one that the author has
termed "Canadian confusion."
In the United States there had long been
marked differences of opinion, and the
archbishop of Quebec had deemed
it "most urgent that the Holy See
put an end to this scandal as soon as
possible" (p. 168). Archbishop
Corrigan of New York wrote that he
considered "the society as undoubtedly
forbidden," and he indicated that
he had "answered all inquiries of
the clergy in this sense" (p. 179).
Other bishops, notably James Gibbons of
Baltimore (who during the
struggle was made a Cardinal), saw great
danger to the relations between
Book Reviews 111
church and labor in an outright
condemnation of the order. Gibbons
struggled zealously and at times with a
finesse that may have eluded
strict canonical procedure, and by 1888
a qualified acceptance of the
order was secured from Rome. The author
believes that the result was
important not only for church-labor
relations in the United States but
as an indication of the beginning of the
powerful influence that Gibbons
and his friends were to have in shaping
the later trend of papal pro-
nouncements on labor.
Many readers doubtless will be surprised
at the extent to which
during this struggle faithful Catholics
found the discipline of their
church far from uniform on a matter of
great practical moment. Pow-
derly finally left the Catholic Church
in 1901 (p. 355).
The author, a prominent Roman Catholic
scholar of the archdiocese
of New York, states that he has
endeavored to tell the truth objectively
so as "neither to defend nor to
edify" but to "teach sound lessons to
those of both the Church and labor who
would learn from the experiences
of their predecessors." In this
endeavor he has, on the whole, attained
noteworthy success.
FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER
Ohio State University
The British Post Office: A History. By Howard Robinson. (Prince-
ton, Princeton University Press, 1948.
xvii + 467p. $7.50.)
The volume is distinguished in format
and type. The numerous illus-
trations are as well selected as they
are well executed; the maps, a
valuable aid to the student of
communications. Pity 'tis that this price
is asked for a good book, but the
purchaser does receive good contempo-
rary value. An extensive bibliography is
clearly related, by a note, to
the footnote citations, which it does
not duplicate. "Sources" include
only official documents, but the work
levies heavily upon, and acknowl-
edges, the many other sources, literary
included, whose use clothes the
official skeleton with historic life.
The otherwise useful index must be
used with some caution. Of names
occurring in the text, only the his-
torically important are indexed; treated
as partners in parasitism on
pp. 53 and 79 are the Duchess of
Cleveland and Lady Frances Green, but
only the greater sinner achieves the
index. Charles Dickens appears in
the text in only two of four index
references.
112 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly
That culture trait, the postage stamp,
of which Professor Robinson
is a keen amateur, and how it was made
what it is, the world over, by
the evolution of what he might have
called "the Mother of ModeRN
Postal Systems," is the theme under
which all else finds subordination.
Fortunately, as a veteran historian of
England, he writes as the intelligent
amateur often does not, with keen
consciousness of the multiform factors
which have operated over centuries. The
numerous literary references,
for example, show how far the complete
scholar must go. The need for
excluding some others may cause regret.
The noblest lines of all on
posting systems, Milton's
"thousands at his bidding speed," might have
been used in the chapters which show
that "Stuart Tyranny," more than
parliamentary victory, founded a system
concerned with the public in-
terest. Even more sparkle might have
been added to the fascinating
chapters telling how the mail coach era
resulted from John Palmer's
idea, by a reference to DeQuincey's
"English Mail Coach" or to Dickens'
picture of the Dover mail (Tale of
Two Cities) which anticipated by
nearly a decade the first actual mail
coach which rolled the Bristol road
in August 1784.
No brief review can summarize the
fact-packed and well-outlined
account of a service which grew from
narrow and political conception,
cramped by bureaucracy, under the
influence of technological, cultural,
and political forces, nor comment on the
philosophy of the facts that
the external entrepreneur, like Dockwra
and his London Penny Post, was
highly influential; that the mails
overseas led to an international postal
union; that the dilemma of a post office
which is both a purveyor of
public service and a producer of revenue
is still with us. Only one slight
error in proof reading ("port"
for "post" on p. 29) was noted. There is
contradiction in the definitions of
"country letters" on pp. 102 and 105.
Apart from its interest to the
philatellist and the general historian,
the work is important as institutional
history. The human personality,
that inevitable nexus between reality
and institutional evolution, is ably
sketched in numerous examples,
especially of course, in Sir Rowland
Hill. Curious it is, that, when he
sought to make a career by translating
urges of the Era of Reform into
practice, he was the most obscure of
three men bearing the same name, and
now, thanks to Penny Post
(authorized in 1839 and effectuated in
1840) and to the adhesive stamp
(the Penny Black was first licked in
1840), he is the only one known to
the general historian. He was swept to
his shore by the agitation pre-
viously led by Robert Wallace against
the resistances described in a
Book Reviews 113
"chapter of abuses" (x),
intensified by war and official convenience.
Britons will rejoice to read that
"franking" was as abusive in contem-
porary America, and the system quite as
irrational. Perhaps some of the
rather slight political credit which
Melbourne's feckless and moribund
administration garnered from a reform
for which they made no adequate
financial provision, is due to Peel, who
carried it through the Hungry
Forties with their recurring deficits.
Something more might be said about
the post office and the cabinet in
modern times. Further criticism would
be inexcusable carping, further citation
of fact a mere excuse to those
who, on the strength of reviews perused,
would pass as readers of books
like this, which they should read with
gratitude.
WARNER F. WOODRING
Ohio State University
BOOK REVIEWS
List of Documents Concerning the
Negotiation of Ratified Indian
Treaties, 1801-1869. Compiled by John H. Martin. (Special List No. 6.
Washington, National Archives, 1949. iii
+ 175p., appendix.)
One of the most ambitious archival
endeavors in progress today is
being conducted by the United States
through its National Archives.
The methods of record keeping employed
are efficiently designed to make
possible a maximum use by scholars and
government officials. To obviate
the necessity of tediously searching
through hundreds of manuscripts in
the records and files of the various
governmental agencies and bureaus
therein deposited, the National Archives
has established a very laudable
program of compiling "finding
aids." The present work is the sixth of
such aids prepared on a special subject.
During the course of its history, the
United States has negotiated
approximately three hundred and seventy
treaties with the Indians re-
siding within its borders. In point of
time these have extended from the
September 17, 1778, treaty with the
Delaware to the Appropriation Act
of March 3, 1871, which provided for the
termination of treaty-making
with Indian tribes. All of these, except
for a few of the earlier ones for
which no significant supporting
documents have been found, are in-
cluded within the scope of this work.
One of the primary sources of
information of the policy of the
federal government toward the American
Indians is to be found in the
ratified treaties between the two
groups. In order to study and to under-
stand them it is necessary to determine
and to examine the circumstances
leading to, surrounding, and following
the accomplishment of these
treaties. Broadly there are three types
of documentation, in addition to
the treaty text itself, that are most
helpful in this respect.
A first group is made up of instructions
issued by the proper federal
officials, usually by the cabinet
officer under whose jurisdiction came the
supervision of Indian affairs, to a
commissioner or commissioners charged
with the authority to carry out the
negotiations. Instructions usually
outlined or perhaps described the
desired general character and form
that the treaty was to assume. Secondly,
there are the proceedings of
the treaty council itself, which
document the course of the negotiations.
101