Blog – Page 8

Indian Religious Freedom and Indian Culture, Bureau of Indian Affairs Circular no. 2970

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

John Collier, Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs January 3, 1934. Circular No. 2970—Indian Religious Freedom and Indian Culture, 1934 Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, Washington, January 3, 1934. To Superintendents: On trips to jurisdictions, and through correspondence occasionally received at the Washington office, I have discovered that some Indian Service officals and employees, some missionaries, and many Indians are not clearly advised as to the policy of this office toward Indian religious expression and toward ceremonial…

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Witnessing Wovoka

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

Fast Thunder January 17, 1891 Fast Thunder, a Christian who performed the Ghost Dance, recounts his experience visiting with Wovoka, an Indian prophet: “As I looked upon his fair countenance, I wept, for there were nail prints in his hands and feet, where the cruel white men had fastened him to a large cross. There was a small wound in his side also, but as he kept his side covered with a beautiful blanket of feathers, this wound could only…

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Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1886

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1886 “[…] Everything in the way of persuasion and argument having failed, it became necessary to visit the camps unexpectedly with a detachment of police, and seize such children as were proper and take them away to school, willing or unwilling. Some hurried their children off to the mountains or hid them away in camp, and the police had to chase and capture them like so many wild rabbits. This unusual proceeding created quite an outcry….

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My Life by Sioux writer Zitkála-Šá

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

Zitkála-Šá Sioux writer Zitkála-Šá recalls hiding under a bed while attending Carlisle Indian Industrial School to avoid having her braids cut off. “I remember being dragged out, though I resisted by kicking and scratching wildly. In spite of myself, I was carried downstairs and tied fast in a chair. I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while, until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids….

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Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1887

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1887 […] Ample provision ought to be made to accommodate these 186 Indian children. We are told that the stability of the Government depends upon tho virtue and intelligence of the people, and that these are only the product of a healthful and intelligent education of the youth of the country. But higher results accrue to the lndian race by educating their children. Education cuts the cord which binds them to a pagan life, places the…

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Kill the Indian, and Save the Man

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

Capt. Richard Henry Pratt 1892 Richard Henry Pratt was one of the leading advocates of immersion education for Native Americans. He created the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be…

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Reynolds v. United States

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

United States Supreme Court 1879 The Mormons argued that since polygamy was not only a belief but also a religious duty, it was protected by the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. On January 6, 1879, the Court ruled, unanimously, against the Mormon Church. Reynolds v. United States upheld all of the anti-Mormon legislation. The opinion of Chief Justice Morrison Waite stated: […] Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions,…

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Speech of Hon. Justin S. Morrill, of Vermont, on Utah Territory and Its Law—Polygamy and Its License

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

Justin S. Morrill February 24, 1857 We are told, because our Constitution declares that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” that we must tamely submit to any burlesque, outrage, or indecency which artful men may seek to hide under the name of religion! But it is impossible to twist the Constitution into the service of polygamy by any fair construction. The fullest latitude of toleration in the exercise of religion…

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First Annual Message by President James Buchanan

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

President James Buchanan December 8, 1857 On July 18, 1857, President James Buchanan dispatched the Tenth Infantry Regiment from Fort Leavenworth, soon to be joined by the Fifth Infantry, 1,200 American soldiers. He exaggerated in calling the circumstance a “rebellion,” but it is true that Brigham Young was both the head of the church and the governor of the territory, and the church had been routinely undercutting the authority of the territorial courts and administrators. Here is Buchanan’s message to…

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Executive Order 44 — Mormon Extermination

January 21, 2019 Sacred Liberty

Lilburn W. Boggs October 27, 1838 In the face of the rising unpopularity of the Mormons in Missouri, Governor Lilburn Boggs issued one of the most notorious edicts in the history of religious freedom. Headquarters of the Militia, City of Jefferson, Oct. 27, 1838. Gen. John B. Clark: Sir: Since the order of this morning to you, directing you to cause four hundred mounted men to be raised within your division, I have received by Amos Reese, Esq., of Ray…

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