But as the policy unfolded over the next decade, thousands of Native Americans died under the federal government's auspices, and thousands of others lost their possessions and homelands in an orgy of fraud, intimidation, and violence. Justified as a humanitarian enterprise, the undertaking was to be systematic and rational, overseen by Washington's small but growing bureaucracy. In May 1830, the United States formally launched a policy to expel Native Americans from the East to territories west of the Mississippi River. We must always remember the importance and needs of the people who were here first, to read, learn from, and act to improve our relationship with Indigenous communities as long as we share their land.īESTSELLER | Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt, W.W. While there are dedicated Native territories in Wisconsin, they are minuscule compared to the land from which Indigenous communities were displaced. We are reminded of Wisconsin’s first inhabitants in the names of rivers that crisscross our state, the town names we call home, the effigy mounds and stonework we pass, the artifacts we uncover, and the art, food, and people we see every day. We, across the United States but especially here in Wisconsin, owe a lot to the Native peoples who called this land home long before European colonization.
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