Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - March - 2008 Issue
<i>Native Americans </i>from the William Reese Company
Increase Mather's account of King Philip's War.
Item 138 is one of the most important works concerning the American Indians. Thomas McKenney was the first head of the Office of Indian Affairs, but when Andrew Jackson (no great friend of the Indians) became President in 1829, he was dismissed from the post. McKenney then set out to capture as much knowledge of Indian culture as he could, for he correctly concluded that it would soon be substantially displaced by the culture of advancing white settlers. Along with James Hall, he created his History of the Indian Tribes, published from 1837-44. Most notably, the three volumes are filled with portraits of various chiefs and other leading Indians, including Sequoyah, Cornplanter and Osceola, most painted when they visited Washington. $150,000.
Item 189 is a 1794 report from Secretary of War Henry Knox, as presented to Congress by President George Washington. It is a fair and candid assessment of issues on the frontier with the Indians, a level of honesty that would fade in the years ahead as the Indians would be painted the aggressors to "justify" the taking of their land. Knox, however, was more honest in his assessment of the cause of Indian resentment. The report notes, "The desires of too many frontier White people to seize by force or fraud upon the neighboring Indian lands has been, and still continues to be, an unceasing cause of jealousy and hatred on the part of the Indians, and it would appear upon a calm investigation that until the Indians can be quieted upon this point and rely with confidence upon the protection of their lands by the United States, no well grounded hope of tranquility can be entertained. " The report goes on, "As we are more powerful and enlightened than they are, there is a responsibility of national character, that we should treat them with kindness and even liberality." $9,500.
Item 44 is a manuscript deed of sale for a large tract of land on Long Island, signed by several Indian leaders, to the Van Cortlandt family, a powerful clan in early New York. The date is June 1, 1703, and for 83 pounds, the Indians sold land on the south side of Long Island, in the area of today's Islip and Bay Shore. $37,500.
Item 32 was a duplicitously arranged treaty between the government and the Cherokees, a first step toward the forced removal that would be implemented in the 1830s. It is A Convention between the United States, and the Cherokee Nation of Indians, Concluded at the City of Washington, on the Seventh Day of January, 1806. In this treaty, signed by Secretary of War Henry Dearborn and Chief Doublehead, the Cherokees ceded their hunting lands in Alabama and Tennessee to the United States. The U.S. agent convinced the Cherokee Chiefs to sign the agreement by giving them bribes of money and land. The treaty so enraged many members of the tribe that they revolted against their leadership, with Doublehead being assassinated the following year. $9,500.
The Willam Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081, email amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is www.reeseco.com.
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